Strengthening Worker Rights and Well-Being in Agriculture
Through certification, landscape and community programs, tailored supply chain services, and advocacy, we are helping to protect and promote the rights of farmworkers around the world.
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The production of many commonly traded goods—coffee, chocolate, tea, bananas, palm oil, and timber—often involves human rights abuses. While progress has been made in recent years, thorny problems such as child labor, forced labor, poor working conditions, low wages, gender inequality, and the violation of Indigenous land rights are still embedded in many supply chains.
Advancing the rights of rural people goes hand-in-hand with improving planetary health. Project Drawdown cites gender equality, for instance, as one of the top climate solutions, and in our own work, we have seen that farmers and forest communities can better steward their land when their human rights are respected. Everyone deserves to live and work with dignity, agency, and self-determination—and promoting the rights of rural people is key to a sustainable future.
Improving lives and promoting rights of rural communities is a central part of our mission. Our field results, backed by independent studies, demonstrate, for instance, that workers on certified farms are more likely to enjoy better working conditions and important protections.
of workers on Rainforest Alliance Certified tea estates in Tamil Nadu, India, receive paid annual and sick leave*
In Tamil Nadu, India, a study of 300 farmworkers on seven Rainforest Alliance Certified tea estates and one noncertified estate found a significantly higher percentage of workers on certified estates had contracts and annual paid leave, sick leave, and maternity leave.
*Source: Lalitha N, Nelson V, Martin A, Posthumus H. 2013. Assessing the poverty impact of sustainability standards: Indian tea. Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, London.
of Rainforest Alliance Certified banana farms studied in Colombia have a health and safety professional for their workers*
A study of 13 newly certified banana plantations in Colombia found health and safety professionals to be practicing on all the farms. These professionals identify risks, conduct trainings, and facilitate medical exams. 50 percent more managers on certified farms than non-certified also reported providing in-kind health benefits to permanent workers.
*Based on 2018 survey of newly certified farms in Colombia (Beekman, G. M. Dekkers, and T. Koster (2019). Towards a sustainable banana supply chain in Colombia; Rainforest Alliance certification and economic, social and environmental conditions on small-scale banana plantations in Magdalena, Colombia. Wageningen, Wageningen Economic Research, Report 2019-019: 1-49)
The Rainforest Alliance brings together producers, companies, governments, nonprofit organizations, and consumers to advance human rights in the landscapes where we work. We work both to transform business practices and government policy, as well as promote the rights of our partner communities within our certification system and sustainable development initiatives.
Through certification, landscape and community programs, tailored supply chain services, and advocacy, we are helping to protect and promote the rights of farmworkers around the world.
Addressing human rights abuses in agriculture and forestry is a key focus of our work to make responsible business the new normal.
We can all play a crucial role to ensure that all children grow up in dignity. So, who’s with us?
Meet 5 incredible women in sustainability who have successfully transformed their communities and the landscapes around them.
In our 2020 Certification Program, we are going further to promote gender equality by giving farms and companies new tools to understand the gender gaps and issues in their operations and how to address them. They will also be required to appoint a person or committee dedicated to addressing gender equality and actively promoting women’s […]
Our 2020 Certification Program—published June 30, 2020, and mandatory for audits beginning July 1, 2021—adopts an “assess-and-address” approach to tackling human rights issues such as forced labor, which will not be tolerated on certified farms or in companies. Rather than imposing a simple prohibition, which often drives the problem underground, the “assess-and-address” approach goes much […]
Child labor, forced labor, discrimination, and workplace violence and harassment have never been—and will never be—tolerated by the Rainforest Alliance. We’ve learned through many years of experience that simply prohibiting these human rights violations in our standard is not enough. That’s why our 2020 Certification Program promotes an assess-and-address approach to tackling these issues. This […]
The Rainforest Alliance envisions a world in which people and nature thrive in harmony. Critical to achieving this is ensuring that the agricultural producers, workers, and communities whose livelihoods are intricately linked to some of the world’s most diverse ecosystems are able to achieve a decent and sustainable livelihood for themselves and their families. For […]
An equitable future for women means a livable future for all of us.
Rainforest Alliance will start rolling out the 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard worldwide in September. Food Navigator speaks with the NGO's Director of Standards and Assurance, Ruth Rennie, to find out.