It’s Arbor Day!

We thought we’d celebrate by sharing facts and photos about a few of our favorite trees.

The big-leaf mahogany tree–which can live upward of 350 years–is an integral part of the rainforest ecosystem and an important resource for local communities.

Famous for reaching heights of over 160 feet, the Brazil nut tree towers above other trees in the Amazon rainforest. During January and February, its fruit–which is the size of a baseball and can weigh up to 5 pounds–ripens and falls to the ground, reaching speeds of up to 50 mph on descent.

During cork harvest, the cork oak tree remains standing while large sections of its outer bark–the cork itself–are cut and peeled from the tree. Cork oak is unique in its ability to regenerate its outer bark. Cork oak is found through southwestern Europe and into northwestern Africa in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.

A giant of the rainforest, the kapok tree can reach up to 200 feet in height, sometimes growing as much as 13 feet per year. Due to its extreme height, the kapok, or ceiba tree, towers over the other rainforest vegetation. In the nooks and grooves of this huge plant live a diverse number of species including frogs, birds and bromeliads.

Discover more incredible biodiversity by exploring our species profiles.

 

 

Following the Frog: Jessica Hickman of Allegheny Mountain Hardwood Flooring

In early April, Rainforest Alliance staffer Hope Saginario caught up with Jessica Hickman of Allegheny Mountain Hardwood Flooring at the National Wood Flooring Association Expo in Dallas, TX. The two chatted about Allegheny’s historic commitment to certification and sustainable forestry. In 1999, Hickman Lumber (Allegheny’s parent company) became the first forest manager in Pennsylvania to earn Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification from the Rainforest Alliance.

 

The Rainforest Alliance is the world’s leading FSC Forest Management certifier, with more than 20 years of certification experience. We’ve worked in over 70 countries and all forest types, with small businesses, indigenous communities and Fortune 500 companies alike.

Always Learning and Growing

It’s rare for an organization to take a thorough look at what it is doing and ask, “Is it up to snuff?”  However, the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN)–the international coalition that owns the standard to which all Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms are audited—is currently doing just that. Here, Oliver Bach, the SAN’s director of standards and policy, tells us what’s happening in the world of Rainforest Alliance certification this year.

Pluckers on a Rainforest Alliance Certified tea farm in India.

The Sustainable Agriculture Network standards and principles were first developed in Latin America in 1993 and encompass comprehensive criteria for social, environmental and economic sustainability. In 1994, the first certifications took place on banana plantations. Nearly two decades later, more than 600 producer groups and 800,000 farms covering over 6.4 million acres (2.6 million hectares) in 43 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America have been certified. The SAN standards are adapted to local conditions; a regional multi-stakeholder process leads to the publication and implementation of local interpretation guidelines for specific crops and specific countries.

One of the strengths of the standard is its focus on continuous, evidence-based improvement coupled with regular reviews of the standards based on extensive consultation and stakeholder discussion.  This allows us to ensure that the standards are both innovative and adaptive.

Our current standard was published in 2010, and while we have made amendments and published additional elements to that standard—for example, publishing our standards for cattle production systems and group certification—it’s once again time to take a thorough look at all of our standards. We need to refresh, renew and ensure that they include the latest knowledge and understanding. That means that 2013 will be a big year for the SAN, the Rainforest Alliance and certification.

Starting this month, we are holding a public consultation process covering all three of our standards (Sustainable Agriculture Standard, Standard for Sustainable Cattle Production Systems and Group Certification Standard). These three standards will be reviewed together along with our Certification Policy and Conformity Indicators which are applicable to all crops in all countries. This process will lead to a new SAN Standard which we aim to publish in 2014. After one year, the new standard will be binding for all audits—including audits on farms that are already Rainforest Alliance Certified.

One of the SAN’s priorities is making its Sustainable Agriculture Standard more adaptable to smallholder farms and ranches.  The public consultation process includes workshops with a wide spectrum of local stakeholders from around the globe designed to expand the source of views and comments on that first draft. SAN stakeholders will also be able to post comments online at SAN Public Consultations.

Addressing Living Wages

The beauty—and challenge–of this process is that it enables us to address a number of thorny issues that have arisen since the last version of our standard was published.  One of these is the issue of what constitutes a “living wage.”

At the SAN, we are seeking to establish a revised Living Wage standard that equitably balances the livelihood and sustainability of farmers and the quality of life for workers and their families.

The SAN Living Wage Progression will cover eight basic needs that build on the current requirement that workers on certified farms be paid at least the locally defined minimum wage. In addition to those critieria set in the 2010 Standard (potable water, access to education and health services, decent housing), the SAN International Standards Committee is proposing that a Living Wage be calculated to cover the worker and and his/her family’s costs for transport to and from work, clothing, adequate food and some savings for emergencies (including, for example, lack of income from unemployment or natural catastrophes). We propose that all certified farms reach this Living Wage Progression within a framework of five years.

One of our biggest challenges is the lack of an internationally agreed upon approach to identifying a living wage for each country and each circumstance.  During 2013, various calculation methodologies will be reviewed and recommended to support the local implementation and auditing of the SAN’s Living Wage Progression. The SAN will also be developing conformity indicators for this process so that local calibrations are approximately equalized. The SAN will continue to rely on its successful local interpretation guideline development processes, involving multi-stakeholder participation, to help local farms to meet their living wage progression plans.  Our aim is to ensure that certification properly ensures that workers have access to a truly livable wage in the future.

We look forward to your participation in the standards development process, and to sharing the revised, strengthened standards when they are available!

12 Easy Ways to Save the Planet

In honor of Earth Day, we’ve come up with 12 easy ways you can celebrate Mother Earth every day of the year.

1. Wake up with a cup of Rainforest Alliance Certified™ coffee, tea or hot chocolate!
2. Before you head out the door, turn off all of your energy-efficient lights and flick off your power strip to avoid losing energy to vampires.
3. Leave the car at home and bike to work today!
4. Think before you print–and always choose the double-sided, narrow-margined printing option. (Get additional green office tips.)
5. Skip the takeout (and all the associated waste), and eat your own lunch packed in a reusable container.
6. Head to the grocery store with your reusable tote bags. Shop mostly on the periphery of the store, where you’ll find the freshest foods with the least packaging. Choose Rainforest Alliance Certified items whenever available.
7. Replace paper dinner napkins with cloth, and paper towels with a stash of inexpensive dishtowels.
8. Divide your waste and recyclables into categories: paper and cardboard, plastics and metals, compostable foods and plain-old garbage.
9. Switch to simple, inexpensive cleaning solutions. (Hint: vinegar and baking soda can really do it all.)
10. Teach your children about their local and global environments. Visit our Kids’ Corner to get started.
11. Adopt-A-Rainforest to contribute much-needed funding to small, local conservation groups working to end rainforest destruction in the tropics.
12. Feeling creative? Find ways to reuse things you already have at home, rather than purchasing something shiny and new.

Need more ideas? Head to the Green Living section of our website.

Welcome to the Rainforest Alliance’s New Home

Last night, the Rainforest Alliance team welcomed donors, supporters, partners and friends to come visit us in our new headquarters within the historic Woolworth Building. Guests enjoyed hors d’oeuvres, drinks and good company–plus a warm welcome speech from our president Tensie Whelan.

Here, we share her words of welcome.

The Rainforest Alliance’s new headquarters in New York City recently achieved Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC) Project certification, making it the first building in the region to achieve this distinction. 

 

15 Things You Might Not Know About Cinnamon

You know it gives chai tea, cinnamon buns and snickerdoodles a special kick. Now, 15 things you might not know about one of the world’s most popular spices.

A pile of cinnamon bark on one of the world’s first Rainforest Alliance Certified cinnamon farms.

1. Cinnamon is the common name for nearly a dozen species of evergreen trees in the genus cinnamomum. Just a few of these trees are grown commercially for spice.
2. In Indonesian, the cinnamomum burmannii tree is known as kayu manis or sweet wood.
3. The first-ever Rainforest Alliance Certified™ cinnamon farms are situated in Kerinci, Indonesia, and belong to a group of 268 cinnamon farmers.
4. The bark of the cinnamon tree is stripped, dried and ground to make the fine powder most think of as cinnamon.
5. Cinnamon is harvested just once every 10 to 15 years, so most producers see only two or three harvests in their lifetime.
6. The earliest the first harvest can take place is eight years after planting, when young trees yield about 5 kgs (11 lbs) of dry cinnamon.
7. When cinnamon trees are young, their thin bark naturally curls into tight rolls which are sold as “cinnamon sticks” in grocery stores.
8. Production increases and bark thickens over time–improving the concentration of volatile oils and giving cinnamon a richer, more intense flavor.
9. Cinnamon forests grow naturally, without the aid of agrochemicals, and are intercropped with other trees.
10. In Indonesia, locals call cinnamon the “grass of Kerinci” because it begins to grow back almost immediately after it is cut.
11. Most Indonesian cinnamon farmers grow their trees on small, remote parcels of land (known as bidangs) alongside other native species like surian, jati and malaku.
12. Producers in Indonesia consider cinnamon to be a “savings account.” They hire a team to harvest their forests only when additional income is necessary. A farmer might, for example, utilize his cinnamon to finance a family wedding.
13. Since Indonesian cinnamon plots are usually located outside of villages, water buffalo are used to transport the bark to collection points in villages.
14. A typical cinnamon harvest yields about 450 kgs (1,000 lbs) of cinnamon, but production can vary greatly depending on the age of cinnamon trees.
15. In Indonesia, harvesters say they prefer to work on Rainforest Alliance Certified cinnamon plots because they are paid 9 percent more per kg harvested on this land. They are also being good neighbors to wildlife–including the endangered Sumatran tiger–and the environment.

 

What Does It Take to Be a Rainforest Alliance Auditor?

Follow a group of new auditors on a training session in China.

The Rainforest Alliance’s audit team recently joined executives from a local tea company and the Fengquing village council to walk through tea plots just outside of a small community in China’s Yunnan Province.

The team was in Yunnan for a week-long training to introduce new auditors to the ins and outs of Rainforest Alliance certification. Led by long-time trainer and auditor Noah Jackson, the participants included Jean Zhang and Shao Meng of China Quality Mark (CQM), the Rainforest Alliance’s new certification partner in China.

In 2012, the Lincang region of Yunnan became home to the first Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farm in China: Green Fountain Tea Estate. Through trainings like this one, the Rainforest Alliance is working to expand its certification program in China with a host of new locally based auditors.

Before joining the CQM audit team, Zhang worked for years outside of China inspecting factories and ensuring the safety of factory machinery. She brings years of experience in designing management systems to her new position as leader of a team of Rainforest Alliance auditors in China.

Hu Zhengwei, another new addition to the audit team, previously worked as an organic auditor. Here, he stands next to a water tank used for irrigation during the dry season.

Mao Xiaoti (nicknamed Tete) has worked as an auditor for CQM for three years. “The Sustainable Agriculture Network Standard [which Rainforest Alliance Certified farms are audited against] involves the auditor gathering evidence based not just on documentation, but interviews with farmers,” she reflects, after participating in two audits with the Rainforest Alliance certification team. “This is different from the other standards I have learned in China.”

Tang Yi Cong, who prefers to be called Hunter, has a background in organic auditing and currently manages and schedules audits for CQM. “With other forms of auditing, you can get a lot of the work done just by evaluating documentation, like water test reports and factory records,” he says. “With the Rainforest Alliance, you’ve got to use your head. You need field experience.”

The team stopped at the home of a local farmer working toward Rainforest Alliance certification to conduct an interview. It was a learning experience for Zhang, who, like all auditors participating in the training, will eventually conduct these interviews alone as part of the formal on-farm audit process.

Auditors must learn to build trust and rapport with farmers. During the interview process, they will need farmers to open up about crop diversity, pest management, farm goals and challenges. Lead auditor and trainer Noah Jackson often breaks the ice by trading his personal collection of seeds with farmers.

To ensure that certified and noncertified tea remains separate, auditors analyze traceability records from a factory against farmer sale records. This measure ensures that products stamped with the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal actually contain Rainforest Alliance Certified ingredients.

Farm and company representatives must also carefully note any issues found on a farm during an initial diagnostic audit. They will have an opportunity to correct these issues — which can include agrochemical use, drought and labor concerns — before auditors return for a follow-up visit. Farms must meet the SAN’s comprehensive set of social, environmental and economic criteria before they can earn the green frog seal.

Unlike audits conducted by other certification bodies, Rainforest Alliance audits focus on all crops grown on a farm rather than individual crops. This corn is genetically modified and would not be permitted on a Rainforest Alliance Certified farm.

To diversify their output and reduce chemical inputs, many Rainforest Alliance Certified farmers raise cattle. Manure is composted and, in some cases, can completely eliminate the need for chemical fertilizer.

If all agrochemicals cannot be eliminated, farms must at a minimum learn to reduce pesticide use and eliminate any of the “dirty dozen” agrochemicals. Farmers must also ensure that their workers have protective equipment while applying chemicals. Here, a new Rainforest Alliance trainee pulls up the translation of an agrochemical during a farm visit.

Smallholder farmers in China grow more than tea. They often produce a variety of vegetables to supplement their diets and diversify their income.

Erosion is a huge problem in Southern China and often stems from new road construction and issues associated with planting on steep slopes. All Rainforest Alliance Certified farms must have an erosion control program.

New auditors must also analyze how tea farmers work and live within their community, and must understand the labor supply and demand in the regions where they work. In China, for example, there are often labor shortages caused by decades of mass migration from rural to urban areas.

At the end of a long day, new auditors enjoy a walk with tea farmers and managers to learn more about how tea is grown and farms are managed. Auditors need to understand more than the audit process and the SAN standards. They must understand the nuances of tea, farmers and local communities. Pictured here, Jean Zhang (front, purple), Tang Yi Cong (white shirt, right), Xioti Ma (pink jacket, center) and Meng Shao (stripped shirt, rear).

All photos by Rainforest Alliance trainer and auditor Noah Jackson.