STiR coffee and tea magazine

STiR coffee and tea 17 NEWS sustainability approach that aims to both conserve biodiversity and improve rural livelihoods. Add to this a rigorous monitoring and evaluation system that tracks the degree to which the organization is—or isn't—reaching those goals. Certification is an important tool for making sectors more sustain- able. It helps all the players to work towards unified standards: it sets the standards and provides independent verification against them. From a long-term perspective, certification helps ensure the future viability of farming and agriculture, which will confront increasing pressures from climate change and socioeconomic factors. By applying good practices related to environmental management, worker health and safety, and farm productivity, certified farms are preparing to be able to deliver high-quality, sustainable produce into the future. Rainforest Alliance Certification ensures that the coffee is grown on farms that meet social and environmental standards designed to protect forests, soil, water, wildlife and the people and communities who live and work in forests and farms. To achieve certification, Rainforest Alliance trains farmers in the sustainable methods of the Rainforest Alliance Agriculture standard and conducts audits to monitor compliance. Farms that earn the Rainforest Alliance certification can sell their products with the certified green frog seal. Companies and retailers that sell Rainforest Alliance certified products [or products containing certified ingredients] may use the green frog seal on retail packaging and in marketing materials, to signal that the product was certified. STiR: Rainforest offers a new strategic vision following the merger with UTZ. Please elaborate. Harbour: When Rainforest Alliance and UTZ merged earlier this year, we knew that together we could better fulfill our joint vision for a world in which people and nature thrive in harmony. Having pooled both organizations' deep wells of talent and expertise, we are now in an even better position to scale up positive impacts on rural liveli- hoods and biodiversity around the world. Together with our diverse allies, we are working to make responsible business the new normal. In order to achieve this, we are implementing a new strategy to deliver more value to our partners. We aim to harness the power of the market to drive positive social, economic, and environmental change. We recognize that we cannot transform landscapes by only working at the sector level. We need strong local organizations and communities, an enabling financial sector—as well as enabling government policies—to complement market approaches. This is why our new strategy includes advocacy and tailored services for companies. Learn more at: www.rainforest-alliance.org/approach. In November the Global Coffee Platform (GCP) and Rainforest Alliance (RA) signed a partnership agreement for the next five years to support 'National Platforms' in coffee producing countries, as well as to identify opportu- nities at the country level and tackle local priorities. The announcement was made during the Global Cof- fee Sustainability Conference 2018 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Han de Groot, c.e.o. of the Rainforest Alliance, and Annette Pensel, executive director of GCP, signed the partnership agreement, a milestone for coffee sus- tainability. In a statement released at the conference Rainfor- est Alliances executives said the conference was "the perfect venue to convey this key message to the whole coffee sector: if we work together, we will significantly contribute to making coffee the first sustainable com- modity in the world." The partnership agreement seeks to intensify their joint projects to benefit coffee farming families around the globe. GCP tackles the biggest issues relevant to their business, share the costs, make smarter investments, and achieve greater impact on farmer livelihoods. According to Rogier Eijkens, GCP director of pro- grams: "We need to capitalize on each other's strengths. GCP and [RA] believe that aligning at global and national levels will set a new bar in the way we should work to- gether on coffee sustainability." Action alliance Based on findings and recommendations from a learn- ing assessment, the organizations reviewed their cur- rent partnership and high-level strategic exchange. As a conclusion, GCP and RA decided to engage in a broad and long-term partnership to capitalize on each other's strengths and previous collaboration experiences. The agreement pursues the consolidation of National Coffee Platforms and their secretariat as facilitators of multi-stakeholder dialogues in different coffee producing countries. At a global scale, RA and GCP will also orga- nize regular strategic sessions to promote exchange and learning between platforms in producing countries. Both organizations will also identify new opportunities at the country level and support collective member initiatives among coffee stakeholders based on local priorities. The agreement is effective January 1. The ex- pectation is that by 2024, the collective work from the Rainforest Alliance and GCP's 150+ members will have made key contributions toward a more sustain- able coffee sector.

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