The Rainforest Alliance has entered into a partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to promote and sell sustainably produced certified timber, banana and coffee from Central America and Mexico.
Known as the Certified Sustainable Products Alliance, the three year program, announced late last month, is funded with an $8.6 million grant from USAID.
The Certified Sustainable Products Alliance project is focusing on areas of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, especially on the outskirts of parks, in priority watersheds and as part of biological corridors.
During the three year activity period, over 300,000 acres of forest and farmland are expected to be certified as sustainably managed.
International manufacturers and retailers such as IKEA, Gibson Musical Instruments, Kraft Foods, Millstone and Chiquita Brands International have signed up as partners. They will increase the amount of certified sustainable products in the supply stream, and in certain cases, to providing technical assistance to farms.
Based on partner purchases, over four million board feet of certified timber, 90 million boxes of certified bananas and 30,000 metric tons of sustainable coffee are expected to be sold through sourcing contracts.
In the words of Glenn Anders, USAID's mission director for Guatemala and Central American Programs, "By linking responsible buyers for certified products with responsible suppliers in these global markets, the Alliance constructs and seals a circuit in which all players – producers, purchasers, distributors and consumers – are winners."
The goal of the partnership is to transform the way that participating companies source products, establishing alternative ways of doing business that the companies can replicate after the completion of the three year effort. ]
Communities and cooperatives involved in the Certified Sustainable Products Alliance will see an increase in income that will provide them with an added incentive to practice sustainable agriculture and forestry," said Rainforest Alliance Executive Director Tensie Whelan.
The Rainforest Alliance's sustainable agriculture certification program has certified almost 1,000 farms and has benefited over 95,000 farm families in the tropics.
Over 30 million forested acres are now managed according to the highest standards through the Rainforest Alliance's SmartWood program. The USAID Guatemala and Central American Programs Mission is located in Guatemala and manages programs in the six Central America region countries. USAID/G-CAP will manage the grant to Rainforest Alliance to implement the new Certified Sustainable Products Alliance. By strengthening the competitiveness and sustainability of agriculture and timber operations, this partnership intends to bring new investment and trade to the region while supporting practices that benefit the environment and protecting the rights and resources of workers and local communities, both organizations said.
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