The Rainforest Alliance is strengthening its pioneering cocoa certification program, which is the world’s largest scale initiative to drive more sustainable cocoa farming. Key priorities of the cocoa strategy are assurance, shared responsibility, supply chain transparency, and profitability and resilience.
With the support of the cocoa industry, the Rainforest Alliance is taking this unprecedented action to facilitate greater accountability and oversight in the cocoa sector. The organization’s goal is to improve the economic, social, and environmental conditions of the cocoa industry – beginning with the millions of smallholder farmers in the first mile of cocoa production.
Phase 3 of our Cocoa Assurance Plan invites new groups from West Africa to become certified, provides an updated policy for farm and supply chain certification, and further addresses farm encroachment in protected areas and deforestation.
This Q&A has been developed to provide guidance to certificate holders and certification bodies with regards to the Measures to Strengthen the Cocoa Sector.
This policy sets out specific implementation requirements for certificate holders at both producer and supply chain actor levels (Certification Criteria) and for reinforcing the assurance process (Assurance Process Rules).
Information about a new approach we will implement in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana beginning in June 2020 to strengthen assurance of our certification system.
Amid Ghana’s tropical forests and lush hills, the cocoa and gold industries are booming. Ghana is the largest gold producer in Africa, and Ghana and Côte D'Ivoire account for over 60% of global cocoa production. [Read more...]
Topics: CocoaGhanaIn the Field
With the launch of the new Standard, we will shift to Full Mutual Recognition for all Rainforest Alliance mass balance products throughout the entire supply chain. This page describes how Full Mutual Recognition will be implemented in cocoa. [Read more...]
Topics: CertificationCocoa
This Q&A has been developed to provide guidance to certificate holders and certification bodies with regards to the Measures to Strengthen the Cocoa Sector.[Read more...]
Topics: CertificationCocoa
The Sui River landscape in the Western North region of Ghana spans 244,000 hectares—including five forest reserves—and is one of West Africa’s most important cocoa-growing areas. However, the practice
View: Building Climate Resilience in Ghana’s Sui River Landscape
Ambitious legislation is needed to drive sustainability transformation across global cocoa supply chains. In this joint position paper—from a unique coalition of companies, NGOs, certification
View: Joint Position Paper on the EU’s Policy and Regulatory Approach to Cocoa
The Rainforest Alliance has launched a project to tackle forced and child labour in the cocoa and gold mining sectors of Ghana.
