Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

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Portrait of Madagascar: Land, Lives & Livelihoods

28/05/2012

Noah Jackson — a trainer and auditor for the Rainforest Alliance – shares a series of stunning images from a recent trip to Madagascar.

Outside the small room where I’m sleeping, chickens have begun to stir and scratch.  The soundtrack of the day is drifting through my window — the first bush taxis have started running and the diesel engines of pickup trucks are rumbling.  The smell of raw cocoa and coffee mixes with the diesel, dust, eggs, vanilla and other scents.

I climb out of bed, still tired. The days have begun to mix in my mind. I’m on my second waterproof field notebook and, before my time is finished in these forest and farm trails, I’ll fill another notebook with questions and observations.

We’ve been tackling some hard questions lately: How do you get products to market?  How do you grow rice – a staple crop in this country — without enough land? How do you ensure a supply for wood construction? How can you protect farms from cyclones? How do you build forests? How do you grow enough food?

These are the questions that plague farmers. We discuss them openly, in village movie halls and while touring the landscape.

In the first part of this photo essay, I share some behind-the-scenes images…

 

A boy and his dog take shelter under a mix of coffee plants and fruit trees while gathering firewood.

Read the rest of this entry ?

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Tensie Whelan Visits Dominican Republic

09/05/2012

Rainforest Alliance president, Tensie Whelan with Nell Newman, founder of Newman’s Own Organics

Last week, I was lucky enough to go on a field visit to the Dominican Republic to visit Rainforest Alliance Certified cocoa farms as part of a conference organised by the Sustainable Food Lab.  About 15 people were on our two-day “Learning Journey,” including Nell Newman of Newman’s Own Organics, whose organic, Rainforest Alliance certified chocolate contains cocoa produced by the farmers we visited. Read the rest of this entry ?

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Rolling out the Nescafé Plan in Mexico

08/05/2012

In today’s blog, our communications person in Latin America, Yessenia Soto writes about her recent trip as part of the Nescafé Plan project – delivered by the Rainforest Alliance and Nestlé.  During the trip, Yessenia met agronomists participating in training sessions and had the opportunity visit to Finca Santa Eloisa in Zongolica, Veracruz…

Pedro Nicolas Santiago is the son of a coffee farmer. He may be just 26 years old, but the bright-eyed young man is working day after day with hundreds of coffee growers in the state of Guerrero, Mexico. Most of them are twice his age and have been growing coffee twice as long as he has, yet they are still interested in what he has to say.

Pedro is an agronomist with a coffee exporting company who I met when I had the opportunity to attend the first training workshop for the Nescafé Plan, held in Cordoba, a warm Mexican town nestled at the base of the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range, in the state of Veracruz. Read the rest of this entry ?

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In Ghana, Cocoa Leads to Conservation

03/05/2012

Some of the world’s last remaining forest elephants and leopards roam what is left of Ghana’s highly degraded and fragmented forests. And while the need to protect these dwindling areas is undeniable, the relationship between local communities and the forests is fraught with challenges.

Ghanaian citizens lack even the most basic ownership rights when it comes to their forests; the government owns all native trees. As a result, farmers are often compelled to remove the trees that dot their land — a preemptive measure to avoid possible incursion on their farms by government-authorised loggers.

Mindful of these major conservation disincentives, the Rainforest Alliance set out to find a way to work with local farmers to restore forest cover, improve livelihoods and mitigate climate change. The natural starting point: cocoa, a crop that forms the basis of many local incomes. Read the rest of this entry ?

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How We Are…Transforming Business Practices

30/04/2012
In our fifth and final installment of our How We Are series, we take a look at how we are transforming business practices. Throughout April, the How We Are series focused on what we are doing in areas such as climate change, forestry, poverty alleviation and wildlife protection, and the impacts we are achieving along the way.
Business as usual is no longer an option. To succeed in the long-term, companies must safeguard their reputations, ensure the resources they need are responsibly sourced and available for the future, and keep their employees healthy, happy and productive.
Read the rest of this entry ?
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World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2012

27/04/2012

Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms have met rigorous social and environmental standards set by the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN), a coalition of nonprofit conservation organisations, which address social, economic and environmental criteria. To mark World Day for Safety and Health at Work this weekend, we’re taking a look at the SAN standard for occupational health and safety.

All certified farms have an occupational health and safety programme to reduce or prevent the risk of accidents in the workplace. All workers receive training on how to do their work safely, especially regarding the application of agrochemicals. Read the rest of this entry ?

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Dispatch from Madagascar’s Vanilla Trail

25/04/2012

Noah Jackson – an independent trainer and auditor for the Rainforest Alliance, and a regular blog contributor – contemplates the dilemmas faced by smallholder farmers in Madagascar.

Much as my travels to remote and exotic corners of the Earth make for thrilling adventures, they don’t tend to make for a very glamorous life. Take, for example, my recent fall – camera in hand — through a bamboo bridge and into a river, where I flailed and floundered until a farmer plunged his arm through the water and pulled me to solid ground.

While my camera wouldn’t fully dry out until a couple of days later, this moment set the stage for my trip to Madagascar.  The line between a successful crop and a failed one can be defined by a simple mistake or a slight weather shift.


Read the rest of this entry ?

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How We Are…Alleviating Poverty

23/04/2012

In the fourth instalment of our How We Are series, we look at how we are working to alleviate poverty. The How We Are series is a chance for you to find out what we are doing in areas such as climate change, forestry, poverty alleviation and business transformation, and the impacts we are achieving along the way.

 

Around the world, 1.4 billion people — many of whom depend on agriculture for their survival — live on less than $1.25 a day. Left with few options, they resort to clearing land for subsistence agriculture, cutting down trees for firewood and selling illegal timber on the black market, often at prices far below the wood’s real value. The small income they derive from these destructive activities is rarely enough to lift them out of poverty and only serves to perpetuate the problem. Read the rest of this entry ?

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How We Are…Keeping Forests Standing

18/04/2012

In the third instalment of our How We Are series, we look at how we are working to keep forests standing. The How We Are series is a chance for you to find out what we are doing in areas such as climate change, forestry, poverty alleviation and business transformation, and the impacts we are achieving along the way.

 

Illegal logging. Over-harvesting. Agricultural conversion. Forests are disappearing before our eyes. The result? Wildlife habitat is destroyed, species are becoming extinct at unprecedented rates, soils are eroded, water safety is compromised and climate change is exacerbated. Read the rest of this entry ?

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Be A Sustainable Consumer – Shop the Frog!

16/04/2012

We’re pleased to announce the launch of Shop the Frog, a new, easy-to-navigate, consumer directory of Rainforest Alliance CertifiedTM products available around the world. In addition to helping conscientious consumers locate sustainably produced goods that support a healthy environment and good conditions for workers, families and communities, this new database will increase exposure of the Rainforest Alliance Certified green frog seal while enabling companies that carry and sell certified products to expand their market reach. Read the rest of this entry ?

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