Improving Access and Equity for Smallholder Carbon Projects

Jeff Hayward, director of the Rainforest Alliance’s climate program, weighs in on the challenges facing smallholders interested in participating in carbon projects. 

It is abundantly clear that there are systematic barriers to entry preventing smallholder participation in carbon projects. We’ve seen this firsthand, whether validating forest carbon projects or helping communities and smallholder farmers in the field in Mexico and Ghana to develop their own projects.

The Rainforest Alliance is tackling some of these barriers in an effort to make the Climate Community and Biodiversity (CCB) Standards more accessible for smallholder-led projects.  We’re doing this through a new project with the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA), the Nature Conservation Research Centre (NCRC) Ghana, and hand-in-hand with our staff in Ghana.

One of the smallholder projects studied was the Rainforest Alliance’s Forest, Communities, Climate Alliance Project in Ghana.

Challenges Faced by Smallholders

Through an in-depth analysis of smallholder projects and an assessment of how various voluntary standards (like the Forest Stewardship Council, the Sustainable Agriculture Network, the Voluntary Carbon Standard and the Gold Standard) enable smallholder participation, several factors have emerged as challenges:

• Unique characteristics of smallholder communities can result in difficulties in organization and preparation required to meet carbon standards.
• The complex nature of smallholder governance structures can make it hard for them to manage a carbon project on their own.
• The financial and technical requirements needed to obtain validation are often too challenging for smallholders to face on their own.
• Communities usually do not have the skills needed to determine difficult calculations, such as baselines or carbon leakage, and must hire or partner with outside experts.
• Grouping multiple small parcels of land to encompass one “project” adds complexity.
• Land tenure and use rights are often not clear or resolved.

Addressing Smallholder Challenges within Carbon Standards

The barriers to implementing a community-led carbon project are substantial and won’t be reconciled overnight. However, by revising the CCB standards we can help alleviate some of these issues by making the standards more suitable for communities.

To get a better sense of the real-life challenges projects face, the Rainforest Alliance, CCBA and NCRC facilitated a learning exchange workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for 16 smallholder carbon project managers. These project managers provided first-hand accounts of project challenges and helped us to identify strategies for increasing smallholder access and benefits to the CCB Standards, including:

• Developing tools, guidance and capacity building to benefit community- and smallholder-led projects. Guidance related to calculating leakage and developing monitoring and evaluation tools were found to be particularly important.
• Relieving the cost barriers of coming into compliance, auditing and earning benefits from being validated and verified to the CCB Standards. This could include developing special provisions for smallholder projects that allow new parcels of land to be added to grouped projects. This would reduce the overall cost of validation and would promote growth of the project over time.
• Collaborating with other standards to create guidelines for projects seeking dual certifications and thus alleviate duplication of information.

A Look Ahead

Building on this analysis, the Rainforest Alliance’s climate program is providing guidance to the revision of the CCB Standards. Next, we will apply lessons learned to support the development of a CCB validated project in the Juabeso-Bia region of Ghana, encompassing thousands of smallholder cocoa farmers. Lastly, we’ll look for pilot opportunities for current and new Rainforest Alliance projects designed to engage rural communities in REDD+ programs and carbon projects.

Ready to learn more? Visit the CCBA website to explore the CCBA Smallholders project and visit our website to access our climate standards review study.  

Hope in the Shade of Cocoa Trees

Ouedraogo Boureima was just four years old when, in 1985, his family left their village in Burkina Faso and walked across the border and into Côte d’Ivoire. They brought only the clothes on their backs, two sheep, four cooking pots, food for travel and a picture of their ancestors. The family traveled south and then west, finally settling in the rural community of Blolequin, where Ouedraogo’s father declared that he would support them as a cocoa farmer.

Ouedraogo’s family planted and then cultivated cocoa trees, and they built a new life for themselves. Ouedraogo came of age and eventually joined his father in the cocoa fields. Then in 2011, the Second Ivoirian Civil War broke out, leaving Blolequin in shambles with dozens killed, and forcing the family to retreat to Burkina Faso. Last year, as a measure of peace began to settle back over the land, Ouedraogo returned to Côte d’Ivoire.

“My heart, my loyalty and my livelihood lies among the shade of my cocoa trees and the blood red earth of Western Côte d’Ivoire,” explains Ouedraogo Boureima.

“My heart, my loyalty and my livelihood lies among the shade of my cocoa trees and the blood red earth of Western Côte d’Ivoire,” he explains. Now 31, Ouedraogo is carrying his father’s dream forward. It is a dream shared by more than 4.5 million people in Côte d’Ivoire, who depend on cocoa for their livelihoods. But as the Boureima family knows well, cocoa is an industry fraught with challenges, including price volatility, farmer exploitation, low wages and child labor, in a country plagued by political instability.

Despite the war’s end, political unrest continues to threaten Côte d’Ivoire’s cocoa crop—already under pressure from pests, fungi, unsustainable farming techniques, climate change and drought—while global cocoa demand climbs steadily at a rate of three percent a year. At the same time, increasingly low yields raise concerns about future cocoa shortages and hurt the incomes and aspirations of millions of Ivoirians.

In 2008, the Rainforest Alliance began to introduce socially, environmentally and economically sustainable practices to farmers in Côte d’Ivoire—helping farmers increase their yields and their profits, and improve their lives. Ouedraogo is one of tens of thousands of farmers in Côte d’Ivoire who have benefited from Rainforest Alliance certification.

In an effort to improve his family’s life, in 2011 he joined a cooperative of cocoa farmers working toward Rainforest Alliance certification. Many farmers in his community were initially skeptical of certification. The country’s history of violence and political unrest colored their perception; over the years, they had been approached by a number of NGOs offering aid, but in the end, they all failed to deliver on their promises. Desperate to support his family, Ouedraogo was willing to accept the possibility that certification would not pan out.

Ouedraogo Boureima (third row center, yellow shirt) with Rainforest Alliance staff and other members of the COABOB co-op.

Just one year later, Ouedraogo’s understanding of certification has evolved substantially. As with many farmers, it was initially talk of a price premium that attracted him. In actuality, certification does not guarantee a price premium, but higher yields resulting from the techniques promoted by the Rainforest Alliance have improved farmers lives. A 2012 study found that net income on Rainforest Alliance Certified farms in Côte d’Ivoire was 291 percent higher than on noncertified farms.

As Ouedraogo and other farmers have learned, however, higher incomes are just one aspect of the complex journey to sustainability. Now in its second year, Ouedraogo’s Rainforest Alliance Certified cooperative COABOB is composed of 798 farmers who have a much deeper understanding of the challenges and benefits of certification. It was a struggle, for example, for many farmers to accept certification requirements that prohibit the use of toxic agrochemicals and encourage the use of alternative methods to control pests and add nutrients to the soil. With decreasing yields, many farmers felt pressure to increase their use of pesticide and chemical fertilizers on cocoa trees “It takes the Rainforest Alliance training and an outside perspective to understand that these chemicals are not long term solutions,” explains Ouedraogo.

Certification has led to other on-farm improvements, as well. Through his work with the Rainforest Alliance, Ouedraogo learned to prune his trees (cutting away old, dead and diseased branches) and put a mixture of wood shavings and composted cocoa pods around the base of each cocoa tree (helping to keep the soil around the trees’ roots moist).  He has also planted a variety of trees on his farm to protect his cocoa from the sun and enrich his soil.

This year, Ouedraogo noticed that his trees had sprouted new, healthy growth. He is hopeful that his harvest will be larger as a result. If other certified farms in the country are any indication, he will get his wish. Certified cocoa farms in Côte d’Ivoire have produced 72 percent more than their uncertified counterparts.

“I am starting to believe that I can think long term, something that I have never been able to do before,” Ouedraogo says. “I want to practice farming techniques that will allow my son to have a future on this same land.” He feels hopeful knowing that there are consumers demanding certified products. “There are people who believe in what I am doing,” he says, smiling.  “This makes the world feel smaller and gives me pride in my work.”

Thanks to commitments from leading brands like Mars, Unilever, Kraft and Hershey, the Rainforest Alliance’s certification work in Côte d’Ivoire has experienced remarkable growth. Over the last six years, 85,000 Ivorian farms covering more than one million acres (410,000 hectares) have become Rainforest Alliance Certified.  Companies now recognize that environmental, social and economic sustainability are essential to securing the global cocoa supply—and that Rainforest Alliance certification can help to accomplish these goals.

In West Africa, A Cocoa Farmer Learns to Love Sustainability

We asked Peter Dabanka—a Ghanaian cocoa farmer with a love for sustainable farming—to share his story in honor of Valentine’s Day. He writes…

I have lived for over 30 years in Nyame Nnae in Ghana. I came as a migrant farmer from Kumasi to start cocoa farming. However, I stopped a few years later when I realized the sale of the yield from my farm was not profitable enough to make a living as a young man. My father advised me to come back home and continue from where I left off, so long as it could put food on the table.

I did not believe that cocoa farming alone could be possible, so I engaged in the sale of pesticides and pharmaceuticals and got myself hired as a purchasing clerk for a licensed buying company. I still could not achieve the kind of income I wanted.

Today, Peter earns a decent living from his cocoa trees–something he once thought impossible.

My sale of pharmaceuticals and my basic dispensary services gave me the name ‘doctor’ in my village. Back then, I was the only doctor that many people in the community had access to, and I treated many children and adults.

However, my role as our community doctor came to an end with the introduction of a sustainable cocoa project, which resulted in the building of a community health planning services facility for the region. This indeed came as relief to me and the other farmers in our cluster.

Chocolate giant Mars Inc. is working on establishing sustainable cocoa as the industry standard. A recent effort brought together a coalition of groups whose goal was to ensure future supplies of cocoa and a responsible approach to its production so that communities in which it is produced can thrive. Through its Sustainable Cocoa Initiative, Mars has made a commitment to source 100 percent of its cocoa from sustainable sources [including Rainforest Alliance Certified farms], by 2020.

Peter is one of many farmers benefiting from Mars’ commitment to source 100% of its cocoa from sustainable sources by 2020.

Nyame Nnae was one of the communities to benefit from Mars’s emphasis on sustainable cocoa. I approached it just as I did with all intervention projects, thinking “just be a part of it, who knows, they may give out fertilizers and pesticides and even loans.” That was the extent of my expectations.

They started with training on good agricultural practices, but I had great doubts if the practices they were talking about really could lead to increased productivity. I started losing interest when my aim for joining the group wasn’t coming in to fruition. To my surprise, the demonstration farm showed good results, so I decided to apply the practices to one of my farms and it worked too; I quickly extended the practices to my other farms. I then encouraged my wife, Esther Amoako, to volunteer and take part in the training of trainers program to become a lead farmer and trainer for the community.

In two years, my farms that [once] yielded 40 bags of cocoa produced 145 bags. I used part of the money from the sale to invest in building a six-bedroom apartment in Kumasi –a project that only took me three years to complete thanks to this initiative!

Esther Amoako introduces a group of farmers to sustainable production practices.

I now see cocoa farming as a business and have decided to do as much to maximize my income while cutting down cost. That is why I am replanting one of my farms that is over 25-years-old. I have gone back into swine production, an enterprise I quit some years ago. Trainings from Farmer Business School sessions revealed I was simply not doing things right. Starting with one male and two female, I now have about 20 animals in just two years. Part of their feed comes from the pod placenta that was considered waste from cocoa.

As the current chief farmer in my area, I motivate young people to take up farming as a full time business because it is profitable when done the right way. With the support of training on sustainable practices and implementation, farmers can increase production and elevate their income just like I am telling you now.

My wife Esther is not only a mother, but also a trainer and lead farmer. Like me, she feels so proud of these sustainable cocoa initiatives and how they have enabled us to develop the capacity of communities to identify and improve our social, economic and environmental situation now and for the future.

Today, Peter’s cocoa farm is Rainforest Alliance Certified. Explore the results of a new study from the Committee on Sustainability Assessment to learn more about the benefits of certification for farmers in West Africa. 

A Green Revolution in Production and Consumption

Our vice president of sustainable tourism, Ronald Sanabria, reflects on the Rainforest Alliance’s role as a catalyst of sustainable production and consumption.

The 21^st century has been a period of transformation in agriculture, production and consumption. This “green revolution” has created a green economy, in which consumers are more aware of the origins of the products and services they purchase. In turn, producers, intermediaries and consumers have formed new relationships.

The Río+20 summit, held in June to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the first Earth Summit in Brazil, was an important moment to reflect back on the role of the Rainforest Alliance during two decades of change. With the support of the Mitsubishi Foundation, we participated in the International Sustainable Tourism Conference — organized by the Responsible Tourism Center at Leeds Metropolitan University and the Tourism, Knowledge, and Innovation group at Each/São Paulo University — in order to discuss the lessons learned during our 25 years of promoting sustainable production and consumption in the global marketplace.

The past has taught us that the green revolution should not be limited to the environment. We must also prioritize people. While we are alarmed at how quickly the planet is losing forest coverage and wildlife habitat , we should be equally concerned that 30 percent of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean live on less than $2 a day. Indeed, fifty-one million people in rural areas and 26 million people in urban areas lack things as basic as potable water. These marginalized people are critically dependent on increasingly threatened natural resources.

It is evident that the struggle for the environment will only be effective if we all play a part in the solution. If we want to reduce stress on natural resources, we must begin by eradicating poverty and providing alternative sustainable lifestyles to those who often have no alternative but to clear forests or hunt valuable species in order to provide for their families.

Over the past 25 years, the Rainforest Alliance has worked specifically to conserve biodiversity while identifying ways for communities to live sustainably. We also act as diplomats of change, helping to balance various agendas within different conservation and industrial sectors, and working to transform the way we all produce and consume.

We are active in more than 80 countries, promoting sustainable production in sectors like farming, silviculture and tourism. The Rainforest Alliance provides training and technical assistance to thousands of farmers, forest communities and tourism businesses in order to help them implement socially, environmentally and economically sustainable practices that lead to worker well-being, local development and the protection of nature.

Some 4.2 million acres of sustainable agricultural land (producing tea, coffee, spices, banana, pineapple and other fruits, flowers, palm oil, and livestock) in 36 countries around the world have been Rainforest Alliance Certified™. Through our work in sustainable tourism, we have contributed to the protection of an additional 3.3 million acres of land. And thanks to our work with the forestry industry, more than 169 million acres of forestland are under sustainable production. In total, the Rainforest Alliance’s programs directly affect more than 4.7 million people — including nearly one million full- and part-time workers and their family members.

To make sustainability marketable, we must find ways to ensure that on-the-ground efforts benefit both those in the field and those on the business side.

We must identify and bring together the key forces that benefit sustainable production, including market forces, business risks and public policies. To achieve large-scale success, we must work with institutions, authorities and local governments to show businesses that sustainability is the best economic option.

Consumer education and investment in sustainability is also critical because consumer behavior motivates businesses to transform their business practices. As consumers, we have the power to reward the efforts of responsible producers, suppliers and service providers, thereby bringing benefits to the communities in which the goods are produced.

As the world’s population continues to grow, so too will the demand for food and other products and services.  We can’t stop this growth, but we can work to protect ecosystems, wildlife and the rights and well-being of workers and their families.

Learn more about the Rainforest Alliance’s unique approach.