RAINFOREST ALLIANCE SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE STANDARD introduction ABOUT THE rainforest ALLIANCE table OF contents The Rainforest Alliance is creating a more sustainable world by using social and market forces Our Vision: Reimagining Certification 3 to protect nature and improve the lives of farmers and forest communities. 2020 Certification Program 4 Structural Innovations 6 Contextualization 6 Applicability of requirements 6 Context-specific targets using Smart Meters 6 ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT Risk-Based assurance 6 Supply Chain Risk Assessment (SCRA) This document accompanies the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard for Supply Chain Actors 6 (including its two constituent parts, the Farm Requirements and the Supply Chain Require ments), Data 6 which forms a key element of the Rainforest Alliance 2020 Certification Program. Geospatial Data 6 Farm Intelligence App 7 It aims to provide readers with an overview of the standard’s key features and innovations, Stepwise Approach 7 along with an understanding of the guiding ‘’reimagining certification” vision that has Thematic Innovations 8 shaped the development of the program. Theme: Livelihoods 8 Shared Responsibility 8 Living Wage & Living Income 8 Boosting productivity and better farm management 9 Theme: Human Rights 9 Due diligence approach for social issues 9 Supporting gender equity 9 Inclusion of Social Requirements for High-Risk Operations Supply Chain Actors 9 Theme: Climate 10 Climate-smart agriculture 10 Theme: Forests & Biodiversity 10 Biodiversity 10 Areas of High Conservation Value 10 Pesticides 10 Deforestation 11 Standard development 12 Continuous improvement of the 2020 Certification Program 12 2 OF 12 Rainforest Alliance | 2020 Standard About OUR VISION: REIMAGINING CERTIFICATION The need for sustainable agriculture has never rights, including safe and healthy working and living This vision for the future of certification is rooted been greater. Climate change is placing increasing conditions. Sustainable agriculture means constant in several key principles: pressure on the natural environment across the progress to improving producers incomes & workers • Continuous improvement – Sustainability is a world, threatening agricultural production systems, wages. Forced labor and child labor have no place journey, not an end in itself. Accordingly, we are biodiversity and natural resource use. These changes in sustainable agricultural systems and men and moving beyond the classic pass/fail model and in turn create pressure on food security and living women must be accorded equal rights and adopting an approach that incentivizes conditions for millions of people, with poor opportunities. Only then can agriculture-based continuous improvement. communities in commodity producing countries communities engage in sustainable development • Data driven – Our new certification program often the worst affected. Almost a quarter of total and truly thrive. embraces the power of data—meaning better anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are analysis of risks and measurement of per- generated from agriculture, forestry and other land The merger of the Rainforest Alliance and UTZ in formance, new digital tools for farmers, clearer use, mainly from deforestation and agricultural 2018 was a natural moment for us to combine our performance insights for companies, and more. emissions from livestock, soil and nutrient experience and develop a strong, forward-looking This digital shift to a more data-driven approach, management. Indeed, agriculture is responsible approach to certification that is fit for these in turn, supports our new risk-based assurance for around 75 percent of global deforestation. challenges now facing sustainable agriculture and model as geospatial technologies, among others, related supply chains. Certification has had a huge will help certificate holders, auditors and Optimizing harvests on existing cropland is critical impact in bringing sustainability to the forefront of companies make better-informed decisions. to achieve global food security. The race to feed the business thinking, but it must continue to evolve to • Contextualized approach – We also want to move world’s growing population (projected to be 9.8 billion provide more value to farmers and companies and beyond the one-size-fits-all model to provide a by 2050), while increasing the resilience of farms to ensure that people and nature can thrive in harmony. program that is context adaptable, reflecting the climate change, is an urgent priority. Reducing the vastly different on-the-ground realities between environmental impact of farming by stopping That is why the Rainforest Alliance is “reimagining different types of farms and supply chain actors, deforestation, protecting natural ecosystems, certification” to define and implement our long-term and the countries and production sectors we work in. reducing the use of harmful agrochemicals and vision for the future of certification. It is part of • Shared responsibility – Finally, our new encouraging more effective conservation and use Rainforest Alliance’s wider strategy to drive certification program promotes a greater sense of natural resources is also critical to enable people sustainability at scale in the sectors in which we of shared responsibility across the entire supply and nature thrive in harmony. operate through interconnected interventions chain and encourages companies to invest in supporting certification, tailored supply chain and reward more sustainable production through Agriculture is not truly sustainable if farmers continue services, landscapes and communities and different mechanisms. to live in poverty and agricultural producers and advocacy. workers do not enjoy fundamental human and labor 3 OF 12 Rainforest Alliance | 2020 Standard Introduction 2020 CERTIFICATION PROGRAM The Rainforest Alliance 2020 Certification Program technology systems are designed to deliver more agricultural production and supply chains. provides the foundation for our approach to value to the many people and businesses around Our 2020 Certification Program is made up of reimagining certification. The new standard, the world that use Rainforest Alliance certification three principal components that are designed assurance system and related data and as an essential tool to support sustainable to work closely with each other: SUSTAINABLE ASSURANCE DATA SYSTEMS AGRICULTURE STANDARD SYSTEM AND TOOLS FARM SUPPLY CHAIN • Certification Rules to set out how Certificate holders at Farm and REQUIREMENTS REQUIREMENTS auditors evaluate compliance Supply Chain level will register with the farm and supply chain for membership, manage audit requirements; processes and record sales • Auditing Rules to ensure that transactions of certified products Certification Bodies consistently in a new IT platform. deliver Rainforest Alliance audits of the highest quality; New IT-based tools will progressively Annexes (binding): • be made available to farmers, Compliance with the content of the annexes is required in order to be certified. Rules for Authorizing Certification Bodies to determine which organi- certificate holders and supply chain zations can carry out audits against actors to better track and manage Guidances (non-binding): the new Rainforest Alliance standard sustainability performance against Documents to help users understand, interpret and implement the requirements, • the requirements of the Sustainable but are not binding for audits. Requirements for Certification Bodies’ Personnel Agriculture Standard. 4 OF 12 Rainforest Alliance | 2020 Standard Introduction The Sustainable Agriculture Standard is split into The Supply Chain Requirements (formerly called two constituent documents which work together Chain of Custody) and supporting documents to promote sustainable agriculture – the Farm develop these aims into a compre hensive set of Requirements and the Supply Chain Requirements. requirements that better target companies’ sustainability investments at farm level, promote By providing a framework of sustainable agri- responsible business conduct within and outside of culture, the Farm Requirements can help farmers companies’ operations and there with create more produce better crops, adapt to climate change, structurally balanced supply chains. The Supply increase their productivity, and reduce costs. The Chain Requirements therefore address more standard is designed to support certificate holders topics than the ‘traditional’ traceability rules. to maximize the positive social, environmental, and economic impact of agriculture, while offering The Farm Requirements and the Supply Chain farmers an enhanced framework to improve their Requirements both contain significant structural livelihoods and protecting the landscapes where and thematic innovations that support the vision they live and work. of ‘reimagining certification’. Sustainability shouldn’t stop being a focus after the farm gate, and buyers in certified supply chains must provide increased support to farmers to work more sustainably. With the Rainforest Alliance’s 2020 Certification Program, we’re aiming to foster transparency, responsible business practices, and shared responsibility by companies throughout the supply chain. 5 OF 12 Rainforest Alliance | 2020 Standard Introduction STRUCTURAL INNOVATIONS CONTEXTUALIZATION measure their performance against their own questionnaire is based on the activities, location By introducing a system that uses a goals and build up better