To celebrate International Day of Biological Diversity, today’s blog focusses on Bosque El Imposible National Park in El Salvador, a tiny country with the highest population density (245 people per square kilometre) and the smallest amount of primary forest remaining (about 2%) in all of Latin America. Much of the country is intensely farmed, even on its steepest slopes. Read the rest of this entry »
Celebrating International Day for Biological Diversity
22/05/2013Women’s Talk: Women Leaders and Work From a Nonprofit Perspective
21/05/2013
Our president Tensie Whelan recently took to the Huffington Post to weigh in on the unique challenges facing women in the workplace. Here, we’ve reprinted her thoughtful piece, which includes some great tips for women looking to rise to the top in a nonprofit setting…
Having listened to months of impassioned exchange following the Sandberg-Slaughter sallies on women and work, I have decided to speak up, as a woman and CEO of the Rainforest Alliance, a global nonprofit that works to transform natural resource based industries into sustainable enterprises. Read the rest of this entry »
Get Ready to Follow the Frog – 16th to 22nd September 2013!
20/05/2013
Coffee shops, cafes and other food service businesses will have the chance to bring sustainability to their customers once again this September, during the Rainforest Alliance’s 3rd annual Follow the Frog Week. The announcement came during last week’s Caffe Culture Show at Olympia, London. Read the rest of this entry »
The Rainforest Alliance Visits Folly Farm
01/05/2013
One of Folly Farm’s resident Capybaras…normally found in South America
Today’s blog comes from Alison Young, our Assistant, External Communications for Europe and Australia, following her recent visit to Wales to speak to over 200 children about the importance of looking after the rainforest.
Last week saw Folly Farm in Pembrokeshire, South Wales hold their first ever Rainforest Day. This educational event, which was aimed at children between the ages of three and nine years of age, welcomed several schools from the local area to attend a fun and interactive day learning all about the rainforest.
I was delighted to be able to attend the day and give a talk about the work we do here at Rainforest Alliance, but more importantly to emphasise just how vital the rainforest is to our survival. Besides, you are never too young to start shopping for the little green frog. Read the rest of this entry »
Who We Work With – Everylastbean
30/04/2013As coffee lovers up and down the UK celebrated Coffee Week last week, we thought that it was only right that a coffee company should be the focus of this month’s Who We Work With blog…
What is Everylastbean?
Everylastbean is a small artisan coffee supplier based in the south of England. We supply only 100 percent Arabica coffee. Read the rest of this entry »
Introducing Certified Cinnamon in Indonesia
29/04/2013
Chai tea, fruit buns and many other sweet and savoury dishes would all want for flavour without the aromatic bark of the cinnamomum burmannii tree. The bark of the evergreen cinnamon tree — known as kayu manis, or sweet wood, in Indonesian — is harvested, dried and ground into a fine powder to make one of the world’s most popular spices.
Now, the spice is sweeter than ever with the introduction of the world’s first Rainforest Alliance Certified™ cinnamon farms in Kerinci, Indonesia. Located on the island of Sumatra, Kerinci is an important centre for global cinnamon production, as well as the home of Indonesia’s highest volcano and one of the few remaining pockets of habitat for the critically endangered Sumatran tiger. Read the rest of this entry »
A Big Year For Certification
23/04/2013
It is rare for an organisation to take a thorough look at what it does and ask itself, “is it up to scratch?” This is exactly what the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) is doing; looking at the standards they set and that farms have to meet if they are going to become Rainforest Alliance Certified™. Here Oliver Bach, Director of Standards and Policy at the Sustainable Agriculture Network, tells us why this is a big year for certification and the thorny issues he is aiming to address. Read the rest of this entry »
