From United Students for Fairtrade (US)
Rainforest Alliance (RA) is a certification that is mostly applied to estate, or large-scale, coffee operations. It establishes conservation and pest management standards which improve the environmental stewardship practices of estates. RA certification also includes considerations for workers’ rights and basic necessities. These are minimal with no spending requirements and often amount to compliance with national laws in the producing country. Additionally, producers are only required to comply with 70% of the certification guidelines, so it is possible for an estate to become certified while ignoring key standards.
Fair Trade Certification (FTC) offers the combination of relatively strong social and environmental standards. It is an empowerment model that helps family farmers gain direct access to international markets and develop necessary business capacity for competing in the global marketplace. The guaranteed Fair Trade floor price ($1.26 for coffee) allows farmers to cover production costs and invest in business capacity in pursuit of financial stability and independence. In short, Fair Trade is the only certification that focuses on empowerment and funds its mandate. Trade Certified products.
Why are so many large-scale coffee companies using Rainforest Alliance products?
Recently, many businesses have started to promote Rainforest Alliance certified coffee. This upsurge is driven by pure business logic: Rainforest Alliance products are cheaper than high-bar sustainability initiatives like Fair Trade Certified. They know there is demand for Fair Trade but assume consumers won’t do their homework. Their logic goes like this: if we put a ‘sustainable’ label on our package, customers will be satisfied, so let’s choose the cheapest. What do customers know about different certification standards?
Why is Rainforest Alliance cheaper?
It is true that Rainforest Alliance certification has strong environmental standards. But, they provide no price guarantee for farmers, and thus farmers still fall victim to highly volatile commodity markets. Rainforest Alliance guarantees the national minimum wage for workers (which isn’t much; currently $1.38 per day in Nicaragua) and basic necessities, but has no specific spending requirements for basic necessities and provides no guarantee of financial returns to farmers. They instead rely on market mechanisms alone. It’s no wonder that Rainforest Alliance is a cheaper option for businesses. This is not Fair Trade.
Do I Have to Choose Farmers Over the Environment?
Absolutely not. Most people associate Fair Trade with farmer empowerment, but it’s important to remember that protecting the earth is a fundamental tenant of Fair Trade as well. Fair Trade farming organizations are inspected on an annual basis for compliance with standards that require:
1. Protection of valuable ecosystems including virgin forests and waterways
2. Limited use of agrochemicals (In fact, a longer list of restricted chemicals than Rainforest Alliance standards.)
3. Waste management and recycling initiatives
4. Guaranteed financial premium for organic conversion
5. Strict prohibition of any GMO material in production or processing (Rainforest Alliance does not restrict GMOs.)
Like Fair Trade certification, Rainforest Alliance has strong environmental standards, but it does not take into account the link between financial stability and environmental protection. When farmers have no financial guarantee, they experience pressure to destroy their natural surroundings for short term financial gain. Fair Trade relieves financial burdens that are often the motivation for destroying the environment.
Rainforest Alliance
Fair Trade
The Rainforest Alliance does not protect the rainforest it only checks that a minimum standard of coco is from a stainable source but does not care about any other ingredient used. For instance Palm Oil is used in nearly every chocolate bar and is the largest contributor to the destruction of the south East Asian rainforests. The Rainforest alliance has known this is the case for a very long time but deliberately ignore this fact as they do not actually care about the environment as they are actually not a environmental organisation but a brand.
ReplyDeleteBe aware that manufactures now can call Palm Oil, vegetable fat/oil so that you as a consumer are not aware, if you want to eat chocolate you are going to have to spend some money and get handmade ones from a proper confectioner (who will never use palm oil) and not the supermarkets, as not one brand in the supermarket is actually helping the environment rather they are pushing the destruction on the rainforests.
Rainforest Alliance isn't a brand, it's a non-profit organization, and it doesn't use certification money from farmers for marketing, as Transfair does.
ReplyDeleteAlso the Rainforest Alliance is an independent third party certifier for farms that practice environmentally, socially responsible agriculture-- they have no control over what other ingredients (such as palm oil) chocolate producers use.