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Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Botanicals Initiative

The Rainforest Alliance recently completed a study of the fascinating world of botanicals -- those forest-based products such as nuts, herbs and extracts -- used widely in cosmetics, supplements, and pharmaceuticals all over the world. The study conducted a survey of representatives from industry, nonprofit organizations, community groups and scientists on five continents to determine the social and environmental impacts of this industry, particularly those products that come from developing countries with high biodiversity.

The Rainforest Alliance is interested in finding out how to make the production, harvesting and marketing of botanicals more sustainable for the land these products grow on, more valuable for the communities where they grow, and in helping businesses contribute to strategies that will work to do these things.

The primary questions this project asked were:

How industry decides who and where they get their botanicals from, and what the opportunities exist for getting materials from more sustainable sources;
What members of this sector are doing to promote sustainable and ethical sourcing of raw material;
Exploring strategies that might be most effective in promoting sustainable and ethical sourcing.

Results from this study are posted below for downloading. This report, and accompanying documents, incorporates findings and products from the above activities, and makes recommendations for future activities of the Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Botanicals Initiative.

	Promoting Sustainable and Ethical Botanicals: Strategies to Improve Commercial Raw Material Sourcing Results from the Sustainable Botanicals Pilot Project Industry Surveys, Case Studies, and Standards Collection Download as PDF [~698 KB]
	Guidelines, Standards, and Regulations for Trade in Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) and Botanicals Download as PDF [~308 KB]