Leaves and Twigs: A Weekly Roundup of the Best Sustainability Stories on the Web

What captivated the conservation community this week? 

Conservationists at CITES voted to regulate the trade of three types of hammerhead sharks.

• Dozens of species earned new trade protection at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).  These include, for the first time ever, protections to trade in mantas and five shark species, the oceanic whitip, the porbeagle and three types of hammerhead sharks. [NY Times]
• The 178 nations present at CITES—the world’s biggest wildlife summit—agreed unanimously to “strictly regulate the international trade in mahogany timber.” [The Guardian]
• Following a trip to Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms and Rainforest Alliance Verified™ hotels, a reporter reveals that “workers learn sustainable practices that they can bring home, like conserving water and recycling.” [Family Focus Blog]
• “According to a new report by NBC News’ Kerry Sanders, the welfare and existence of at least half of the world’s 18 penguin species will be negatively impacted if the warming of the Antarctic Peninsula persists.” [Huffington Post]
• Canada’s glaciers appear to be headed “for an irreversible melt” according to a new study published by the Geophysical Research Letters. Specifically, “20 percent of all the ice contained in Canada’s glaciers could melt by the end of this century if global average temperatures increased by 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 F). [Treehugger]
• Scientists can now more accurately estimate the variety of distinct species that existed centuries ago with mitochondrial DNA analysis. “What does that tell us about our impact on the natural world and our own future?” [Environment 360]
• Is the world imagined in Jurassic Park becoming a reality? National Geographic explores the scientific possibility of reviving endangered species and asks “But is it a good idea?” [National Geographic]
• “Tropical forests may  be less sensitive to global warming than previously thought argues a new study published in Nature Geoscience. [Mongabay]
• Colombia is being reborn in the eyes of the world as an excellent tourist destination. Between 2001 and 2011, the number of visitors to Colombia grew by 10 percent a year on average (four times the world average). [Sustainable Trip]

In California, Credible Carbon Projects Help to Tackle Climate Change

As an independent, third-party auditor, the Rainforest Alliance offers validation and verification services* against six leading carbon standards. One such standard, the Climate Action Reserve (CAR), has recently garnered substantial attention for its potential to become integrated into the United State’s first state level cap-and-trade program in California. Kassy Holmes, a member of the Rainforest Alliance’s climate program, summarizes recent developments surrounding California’s policies and discusses how carbon project auditing services, such as those conducted by the Rainforest Alliance, can confirm a project’s credibility and play an increasingly valuable role within emerging carbon offset programs.

Projects like this IFM project can avoid the release of hundreds of thousands of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere while helping polluters to offset their emissions.

California’s Cap-and-Trade Program and the CAR Standard

In 2006, California became the first state to pass legislation aimed at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and mitigating the effects of climate change. Under Assembly Bill 32 (AB32), California plans to reduce its GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and then to levels 80 percent less than those of 1990 by 2050. As part of these efforts, California will implement a cap-and-trade program managed through the California Air Resource Board (ARB). Cap-and-trade schemes set a “cap” on allowable GHG emission levels for covered entities, such as polluting industries.  Covered entities can then buy, sell and trade GHG offsets to “offset” a portion of their emissions to remain within the levels set by the cap. Polluters will also have the option to offset eight percent of their emissions through the purchase of carbon credits.

CAR began in 2001 and was in many ways a precursor to ARB’s protocols. It has greatly influenced California’s approach and four of CAR’s protocols have been adopted for use in ARB regulation. CAR is also an approved Offset Project Registry (OPR) under ARB, which means that CAR projects can now generate credits that can be used by industries being regulated under the ARB offset scheme.

California is also pursuing agreements to utilize carbon credits from international Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) projects and has established a REDD Offset Working Group (ROW) to further explore sourcing credits from Chiapas and Acre in Mexico. ROW has released its “Draft Recommendations from the REDD Offset Working Group” which describes options for linking jurisdictional REDD+ projects to California’s cap-and-trade program and is available for public comment until April 30, 2013. Although no final decision has been made regarding REDD+ offsets, allowing such projects to participate in the ARB compliance market could provide a substantial incentive for REDD+. There has, however, been some debate over ability to ensure credibility with these projects. Independent, third-party auditing can help to address these concerns by confirming a project’s credibility through its adherence to the rigorous requirements of a carbon standard.

Rainforest Alliance auditor Lawson Henderson uses a hypsometer to calculate the height of trees.

The Role of Independent Auditing Services

In order for California’s compliance offset plans to work, there must be effective, legitimate carbon projects to buy credits from in the first place. In addition to being authorized to audit forest carbon projects against the CAR standard, the Rainforest Alliance recently became an ARB accredited verification body. This means that we are authorized to conduct verification audits of forest carbon projects against the requirements of ARB protocols. Our auditors, partners and consultants undertake critical steps to ensure that projects conform to the requirements of a standard’s protocols. I recently observed some of this work on a field visit to an improved forest management (IFM) project in Greenville, Maine that is seeking verification against CAR.

During this three-day field visit, the audit team replicated the project developer’s methodology and collected a range of data from a sample of forest inventory plots, including tree species, diameter at breast height (DBH), tree height and the stage of decay for dead or dying trees. All of this information is used to measure the amount of carbon sequestered in a tree. This information is then analyzed and compared to the forest inventory data utilized on the project to determine whether or not the project developer’s inventory methods and data is sound–just one of the many essential activities that auditors carry out to confirm a project’s conformance to a standard and assure its credibility.

Forest carbon projects across the US and REDD projects in Mexico could soon become integrated into California’s emissions reduction efforts. It will be fascinating to see how this all plays out over the next year. Strong, independent auditing will certainly play a crucial role in providing quality assurance and credibility concerning GHG emissions reduction and sequestration claims. As a leader in REDD+ and carbon project verifications and validations, the Rainforest Alliance is well positioned to help steward the success of these efforts.

Visit our website to learn more about Rainforest Alliance’s carbon project validation and verification services.

 

*Validation is third-party evaluation that confirms that a project uses recognized and reliable methods for reducing greenhouse gases or demonstrating community and biodiversity benefit. Verification is third-party verification of the GHG reductions and community and biodiversity benefits that have occurred.

From the President: What’s in Store for 2013?

This piece by Rainforest Alliance president Tensie Whelan has been reprinted with permission from The Guardian.

[Well,] the Mayans got it wrong, and we are still here in 2013, [but] the move to a more sustainable world will be slowed by continued economic and political turmoil (the former in Europe, China and America and the latter in Africa and the Middle East). Our political leaders, for the most part, are playing a defensive game on sustainability so innovation will continue to come from business and civil society. Pressure will mount on government to provide incentives for sustainable consumption and production, though getting rid of bad incentives such as subsidies for unsustainable agriculture will continue to feel like Don Quixote tilting at windmills.

The private sector and civil society will partner around water conservation and quality, aim to reduce industrial use and contamination, increase agricultural efficiency (the sector uses 60 percent of the world’s freshwater) improve access to potable water and ensure long term supply. Energy use and emissions reductions will continue to be a priority, though the sheer scale of the change needed will continue in a  depressingly insufficient mode. For example, deforestation is responsible for 20 percent of the world’s emissions and could be much reduced with government and market incentives for sustainably produced wood and agriculture products and forest carbon. The recent United Nations negotiations in Doha however did not move this forward appreciably, and 2013 is unlikely to see this improve.

We will continue to look for technological fixes to limited resources – modified seeds, more chemicals, information technology, miracle cleanup technologies, but our efforts will be frustrated unless we also begin to recreate the natural systems we have blithely destroyed. In one example, the protection against storm surges of wetlands buffering cities such as New York and New Orleans have been mostly destroyed. Any solution aimed at protected waterfront property against sea level rise and climate change, will need to include the restoration of key wetland and mangrove habitat as buffers in addition to creating sea walls, inflatable balloons that protect underground tunnels, etc.

Work on sustainability in 2013 will increasingly become a focus for innovation, for bright people who are problem solving – redesigning and making their businesses more competitive. This is happening at large companies such as Unilever, where the CEO Paul Polman has reshaped the company’s business and strategic plan to double its business, while aiming to halve the environmental footprint and source 100 percent sustainably. In the process he and his team are redesigning engagements with suppliers, taking cost out of the system, delivering good value to shareholders and protecting water, soil, biodiversity and providing sustainable livelihoods.

Redesign is also happening at the field level, such as in Kenya where small flower farmers are transforming their land so it protects the community watershed, composts waste, creates closed loop systems where tilapia waste is used as fertilizer, and provides good jobs for the community. Or in the cocoa industry, where demand for sustainable cocoa from companies such as Mars, Kraft and Hershey’s means intermediaries are learning new skills in sustainable practices and passing their lessons on.

In [the coming year], we will see more recognition that sustainability can be a source of innovation, not just risk avoidance and we should expect to see more scaling up and greater engagement across sectors, including the laggards such as electronics and mining.

Leaves and Twigs: A Weekly Roundup of the Best Sustainability Stories on the Web

Last week, The Guardian revealed that common pesticides could kill frogs within an hour; BBC reported that glaciers in the Andes have shrunk by 30 to 50 percent since the 1970s; and Treehugger shared an incredible video of an injured dolphin approaching human divers for help. A roundup of these and other sustainability stories…

• New research suggests that common pesticides can kill frogs within an hour. [The Guardian]
• Glaciers in the Andes have shrunk by 30 to 50 percent since the 1970s. [BBC]
• “We will respond to the threat of climate change” – President Barack Obama [Treehugger]
• NASA warns that the Amazon is already showing signs of degradation due to climate change. [The Guardian]
• Watch as an injured dolphin asks for (and receives) help from human divers. [Treehugger]
• The long-lasting effects of drought in the Amazon. [University of Oxford]
• Some 87 percent of households near the Kanha Tiger Reserve in Central India experience conflict with wild animals. [Mongabay]
• Sydney, Australia is hotter than ever before. [Huffington Post]
• You can help to shape the future of your favorite travel destinations. [National Geographic]
• See how the Rainforest Alliance is working with cattle ranchers in Latin America to protect wildlife habitat, minimize GHG emissions and ensure that livestock are well-treated. [Frog Blog]
• One “Ecuadorian tribe will die fighting to defend rainforest.” [The Guardian]
• How can ecotourism help to promote gender equality? [Ecotourism]
• The number of projects that pay communities to protect or revive water supplies has doubled over the past four years. [The Guardian]
• Meet a community committed to forest conservation in Oaxaca, Mexico. [Frog Blog]

What stories captured your attention? Tell us in the comments!

Good News for Cocoa and the Global Food System

Eric Servat, senior manager of the Rainforest Alliance’s cocoa program, talks about the growth and challenges of our cocoa work.

While Halloween is the peak time for chocolate news in the US, the holidays are  our peak chocolate eating season.   Any chocolate enjoyed in the US is likely to contain cocoa grown in Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s largest cocoa producer.  And cocoa beans from Côte d’Ivoire are now increasingly likely to be grown on Rainforest Alliance Certified^TM farms.

Rainforest Alliance certification has grown phenomenally in Côte d’Ivoire since leading brands such as Mars, Unilever, Kraft and Hershey, and processors such as Barry Callebaut, the world’s largest chocolate manufacturer, committed to sourcing their cocoa from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms. Some 75,000 Ivorian farms, covering more than 1.2 million acres (500,000 hectares), have become Rainforest Alliance Certified in just the last six years.  This massive expansion is driven by the recognition that cocoa farmers’ incomes and yields need to rise dramatically to make cocoa production  sustainable, and that certification can help accomplish these goals.

There are more than a million cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire, the vast majority of them smallholders, plus another 3.5 million Ivorians who depend on income from cocoa-related activities.  After a brief spike during the 2011 civil conflict, prices paid to farmers for cocoa beans are again low. Until recently, Ivorian farmers received a fraction of what cocoa sold for on commodities markets in London and New York.  Côte d’Ivoire has a long history of price volatility, exploited smallholders earning low wages and child labor.

These are intertwined, systemic and longstanding problems.  But they’re problems with consequences too severe to tolerate, and the new Ivorian government acknowledges that they must be remedied.  Unfair cocoa prices and poverty wages for cocoa farmers have been cited as important factors in Côte d’Ivoire’s political instability during the last 11 years of civil war.  The Nation wrote in 2011, “The fundamental reason that fighting is breaking out again [in Côte d'Ivoire is] a profoundly unjust international economic order that pays the people who supply our primary products a pittance and leaves their nations chronically ill with unemployment and poverty, and with people who will fight one another over scarce resources.”

Unrest in Côte d’Ivoire threatened disruptions in cocoa supply, already under long-term pressure from pests, fungi, unsustainable farming techniques and, increasingly, climate change and drought.  Supply will have to increase steadily to meet progressively climbing demand  — for the last century, cocoa demand has grown consistently at a rate of 3 percent a year.   Low yields have raised speculation about future cocoa shortages.  More fundamentally, low yields and inadequate incomes undercut the aspirations of millions of Ivorians for better lives for themselves and their families, and basic equity for growers of this $5 billion global commodity.

The key to achieving justice for Ivorians and an adequate future supply of cocoa for consumers is to raise yields dramatically.  It can certainly be done.  After working with USDA and IBM to map the cocoa genome, Mars announced this year it knows how to raise yields from 400 kg per hectare to 1,500 kg. Beyond assuring future supply, higher yields generate higher income for farmers, and reduce economic pressures that exploit smallholders and draw children into working on the farms.

Since 2008 the Rainforest Alliance has worked with multiple stakeholders to make cocoa production sustainable and raise yields and profitability. In Côte d’Ivoire and elsewhere, Rainforest Alliance Certified farms rely on sustainable soil, crop, pest, water and energy management to cut costs and raise yields on existing farmland, without clearing forestland for crops or resorting to damaging slash-and-burn, chemical-intensive methods.  The Committee on Sustainability Assessment (COSA) recently studied the impact of Rainforest Alliance certification on cocoa farming in Côte d’Ivoire.   It found that after adopting sustainable techniques and becoming certified, farms increased their yields 58 percent, and raised their net incomes by almost a factor of four.

Meanwhile, the Coffee and Cocoa Council issued this new reform, which  has raised expectations; their objectives are to promote transparency, sustainability, fair pricing and farmers group strengthening.   We’re confident that as certification grows, and collaboration continues to improve among the key actors, so will the lives of cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire.

Problems there remain entrenched — prices and yields generally are low, farms are vulnerable, examples of child labor and other abuses aren’t yet hard to find, future and sustainable supply isn’t yet secure.  Farmers and those who depend on them are still poor and competing for scarce resources.  But certification has proven an efficient tool for increasing yields and multiplying farmers’ incomes, putting more farms and livelihoods on a sustainable footing.

Globally, we’re facing rising food demand as the population heads to 10 billion by mid-century and emerging economies eat higher on the food chain.  To meet this demand, the global food system must do what Côte d’Ivoire is now doing: working with stakeholders to raise yields on existing farmland sustainably, without clearing more forests, degrading more grazing land or exacerbating climate change and biodiversity loss. Rainforest Alliance certification offers a body of evidence that argues this can be done, and is being done, by adopting environmentally and socially sustainable farming practices that help local ecosystems and communities thrive together.

Leaves and Twigs: An Unscientific Roundup of the Best Sustainability Stories on the Web

This week, Live Science busted 10 myths about climate change; a UN report revealed the impact of organized crime on tropical forest cover; and scientists identified one unique way that species are adapting to global warming.

• Do you want to get serious about sustainability? Start on your next trip to the grocery store. [The Wall Street Journal]
• Scientists have discovered a menagerie of new mammals in a remote Peruvian cloud forest, including probable species of night monkeys, porcupines, marsupials and gray foxes. [Mongabay]
• Are species shifting the timing of important life cycle events in response to global warming? [Conservation Magazine]
• Explore the week in wildlife, including lion cubs fighting, a seal awaiting treatment and a turtle hatchling making its way to the sea.  [The Guardian]
• 10 myths about climate change. [Live Science]
• Why does Rainforest Alliance certification matter? [Triple Pundit]
• Big sustainable business news: Hershey has committed to sourcing 100 percent certified sustainable cocoa by 2020. [Business Wire]
• Illegal logging is worth somewhere between $30 and $100 billion annually. [Mongabay]
• Vietnam has a vibrant coffee culture – and a budding commitment to conservation. [Frog Blog]
• How are these two hotels sustaining the planet and their local communities? [Triple Pundit]
• A new United Nations report indicates that organized crime is responsible for up to 90 percent of all tropical forest loss. [Huffington Post]
• The Great Barrier Reef has lost more than half of its coral cover. [The Guardian]
• Can choosing Rainforest Alliance Certified chocolate help to keep forests standing? [Christina Cooks]
• One project utilizes fishing to feed a community and enhance local biodiversity. [Frog Blog]

Tell us what stories captivated you this week!

Leaves and Twigs: An Unscientific Round-Up of the Best Sustainability Stories on the Web

We’re back with our weekly review of a few of the best new sustainability stories, videos, photos and tools floating around the internet.

• “Conservation shouldn’t be like a club that only lets pretty people in,” says Treehugger. Ugly species need love, too.
• How green is your travel? Calculate the carbon footprint of your last vacation with this great online tool from Sustainable Travel International. [And use it to find out how you can cut back on emissions the next time you travel!]
• In a fascinating new article, Scientific American explores the way that biodiversity keeps the Earth alive.
• Discover this month’s “Making a Difference” award winner – Hidden Valley Inn, a luxury eco-chic resort in the Belizean jungle.
• Treehugger reminds us why we should reconnect with nature in a new piece, “If More of Us Love Nature, The Environment Will Take Care of Itself.”
• Our president, Tensie Whelan, discusses Rio+20 and the role of sustainable agriculture in protecting the world’s rainforest in an editorial for Devex.
• According to Treehugger, Google Earth is turning into a tool for conservation and saving species and habitats.
• A new infographic from Good explores the problems with our food system.
• Leading scientists are urging governments to focus on growing demands for water and energy, natural disasters, and measuring carbon dioxide. [Article from The Guardian.]
• Scientists discovered an astounding assortment of previously unknown species in 2011. Our Amazing Planet highlights 11 of them in a slide show.

Find other great articles, photos or videos on the internet this week? Tell us about them in the comments!

Dispatch from the Forested Farms of Madagascar

Chatting with a group of local farmers on a forested farm in Madagascar, Noah Jackson — a trainer and auditor for the Rainforest Alliance — shares a few words about his surroundings and the Rainforest Alliance’s work in the country.

Dispatch from Madagascar: Jumping Rivers and Crossing Fire Lines

Noah Jackson – photographer, blogger, trainer and auditor for the Rainforest Alliance – continues his report from Madagascar’s vanilla trails.

My obsession with vanilla is more than professional. Last year, during my second visit to Madagascar, I used the tale of vanilla to court my girlfriend, talking about the aroma, describing my walks across vanilla forest trails, and detailing the beauty of the orchid that grows organically under a mixture of shade fruits and plants. I even sent vanilla and clove samples, harvested from these farm plots, in my letters.

On my third visit for the Rainforest Alliance, I have to dig deeper and explore the more challenging aspects of vanilla. Today, our team followed new farmer field teams, who help to organize farmers and monitor their compliance with the standards required for Rainforest Alliance certification, across the vanilla trail. It was an adventurous trek — we found ourselves jumping across small rivers, climbing steep slopes and nearing the boundary of Marojejy National Park.

The forest damaged by fire.

As we walked, we crossed charred rice fields that had burned when planned fires had jumped fire lines — gaps in vegetation that act as a barrier to slow the progress of fires.  Hillsides and entire stream gullies were destroyed.  This happened because the fires, which were set to clear land for rice, did not follow the intended course. Instead, they crossed fire lines, reducing secondary forest and damaging soil fertility. Burning land to clear it for rice cultivation is a symptom of a larger problem; communities do not have enough land and, as a result, are experiencing rice shortages.

Along the trail, we stopped and talked with farmers, sharing thoughts, ideas and seeds. Tucked away in a seed store compartment in my luggage, I had seeds from my home garden to share with community members.  Small gifts – like seeds for squash and beans – help me to build relationships with locals.

To one farmer, I commented that the vanilla these farmers are growing is well-suited to agroforestry practices. Another vanilla variety, introduced nearly two decades ago, has been modified to grow under full sun conditions, without forest cover.  This variety could mean the end of forest vanilla farming in Madagascar. It could also mean a shift to plantation conditions, where shade-grown practices are discouraged.

In a country where virtually no crop has a stable market price, this change could have disastrous effects on the landscape, crop and farmer livelihoods.  It would certainly mean more forest loss.  This is something that Madagascar cannot afford.

A farmer carrying his vanilla harvest.

We also spoke of planting indigenous trees, and discussed ways to restore very small valleys and gullies.  On one farm, I used a stick to sketch out a way to slow water down and use the extra nutrients to grow sugarcane in the soil. Later, I added the sketch to my notebook.

We didn’t spend a lot of time together, maybe no more than an hour, but it was my favorite hour of the day. It was spent wandering the vanilla trail that wove around fish pounds, through coffee and cloves, past animals and organic composting, and beyond a large fruit home garden.  These sites provide inspiration about the kind of environmentally, socially and economically sustainable farming the people of Madagascar are capable of.

In the evening, showered and back from a long walk, I spoke with the director of the park, Jean Hervé Bakarizafy, about building relationships one family, one community and one farm at a time.  One way to do this is to allow farmers to plant agroforestry crops, such as coffee, cloves, pepper and fruit, within the park buffer zone.

A lemur in Marojejy National Park.

Rice lands, both irrigated wet rice and upland rice, would migrate to lower elevations where the crop could be nurtured on more fertile soil. Fewer fire lines would be crossed and lemurs in the park would have a chance of continuing their march across a park corridor that spans these vanilla lands.

Ready to continue your stroll across the vanilla trail? Watch a short video narrated by Noah Jackson.

How Do You Say “Carbon” in Twi?

Back from an inspiring trip to Ghana – where she shared lessons on climate and conservation with local students and teachers – Rainforest Alliance education manager Maria Ghiso recounts her experience…

“There is carbon in the atmosphere, run, run, run…” Students are chanting these words and clapping and laughing as they play an adaptation of musical chairs created by teachers in Ghana to help students understand the carbon cycle.

For three days, the Rainforest Alliance team has been working with a dynamic group of teachers from Ghana’s Western Region, sharing lessons on the carbon cycle and the role that trees play in climate change.  During the workshop, we analyze observed changes in climate, graph real world data of historical carbon concentrations in the atmosphere, talk about the world’s forests and look at Ghana’s changing forest landscape.  To bring theoretical concepts into practice, participants measure the amount of carbon stored in trees around the workshop site.

Today, teachers are putting their learning into action and leading activities for 100 students in a school in Adaikrom.  I am sitting in the back of a classroom listening to one of the teachers lead an activity about the value of forests, watching the students volunteer more ideas about why trees are important and add to the growing list on the blackboard.  Another set of students uses a carbon meter to make the invisible carbon dioxide a little more tangible, measuring the carbon produced by their breath and the exhaust from a car.

This moment is by far my favorite part of the trip.  I am enjoying spending time with this committed group of students, who came in on a Saturday to help their teachers and continue to learn.  It is inspiring to watch these educators, clearly in their element, put into practice concepts we learned only hours ago — concepts that they will continue teaching throughout the school year.  They will also help to share our curricula with other educators at their school and will participate in community meetings about climate change.

We have used these lessons in classrooms in Colombia, Ghana, Guatemala and the US.  Now, you can use them, too – we’ve added new, free climate curricula to the Rainforest Alliance Learning Site.

Do you want to learn more about cocoa farming in Ghana? Check out our new third grade unit, and share it with the budding environmentalists in your life.