The Rainforest Alliance and the Citi Foundation Sustainable Value Chain Finance Workshop held on April 20, 2011, in New York City, brought together actors in agriculture value chains -- representing buyers, exporters, retailers, producers, insurers, the financial sector, civil society and development partners. Although individual participants had begun to discuss sustainability and value chain finance in their own work, this was the first time that a diverse group of stakeholders from different parts of the value chain had gathered to discuss the topic.
Since 2009, the Rainforest Alliance has been working with businesses and community organizations known as Agrupaciones Sociales del Lugar (ASLs), which hold logging concessions for much of the forest in the region. With support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Tinker Foundation, the Rainforest Alliance has helped those organizations to improve their stewardship of the land, worker conditions and market competitiveness.
In an effort to help coffee farmers conserve their forest landscapes, reduce emissions and receive payments for the climate services provided by their sustainably managed farms, the Rainforest Alliance has teamed up with local partners in Mexico as well as a coffee-industry leader on an innovative reforestation project in the state of Oaxaca.
