Thriving Communities, Healthy Landscapes
We're helping more than two million farmers embrace more sustainable growing practices that can help build resilience to climate change and boost yields.
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What's at Stake
Across the tropics, farming and forest communities face a daily struggle to cover life’s basic needs. Breaking the cycle of rural poverty—and tackling the ensuing impacts for people and nature—is critical for a more sustainable future for us all.
RURAL POVERTY, DEFORESTATION, AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Rural poverty is at the root of many of our most pressing global challenges, from child labor and poor working conditions to deforestation for agricultural expansion. Economic desperation exacerbates these complex issues, which are deeply embedded in global supply chains. The result is a vicious cycle of environmental destruction and human suffering.
Our Work: Livelihoods
The Rainforest Alliance partners with frontline communities to build thriving rural economies rooted in more sustainable growing practices and forest stewardship. We also promote responsible business practices to ensure that companies recognize and reward sustainability transformation—in the field as well as the boardroom.
Our Work to Improve Rural Livelihoods
To improve rural livelihoods, we foster deep collaboration between farmers, civil society organizations, companies, and governments.
Our Work with the Global Living Wage Coalition
The Rainforest Alliance believes that workers around the world should be paid enough money to provide a decent life for themselves and their families.
Innovative Ways to Enhance Living Income for Cocoa Farmers
At the Rainforest Alliance, we believe in a shared responsibility approach that encourages companies to do their part in ensuring a living income for farmers. This is the basis of our initiatives, the Living Income Module and the Living Income Fund.
All resources for Livelihoods
Raising the Bar on Sustainability Standards
The Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) and the Rainforest Alliance announced today a newly revised certification standard, which encompasses existing best practices and recent innovations in sustainable agriculture.
What is Sustainable Forestry?
The only realistic way to conserve forests is to apply sustainable forest management practices.... Continue Reading
Smallholder Palm Oil Financing in Indonesia
Over the summer of 2015, the Rainforest Alliance researched palm oil financing in Indonesia in order to better understand the financing needs of smallholder palm oil producers and to identify opportunities for supporting these producers in accessing short term and long term financing.
Unlocking Investment for Landscape Restoration at Scale in the Amazon
The Business Case and Investment Opportunities for the Public and Private Sectors to Restore Degraded Ranching Lands In Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, and across the Amazon, there is a growing trend to restore degraded lands to productive uses as part of the agendas for national economic development and climate change mitigation.
SAN/Rainforest Alliance Impacts Report 2015
In this first-ever SAN/Rainforest Alliance Impacts Report, we summarize the effects of SAN/Rainforest Alliance farmer training and certification through an exhaustive review of nearly two dozen scientific studies and the audit data from over 200 certified farms and farmer groups. After presenting a global snapshot of the scope and geographic distribution of certified farms, the […]
Biodiversity Conservation in Coffee: Transforming Productive Practices in the Coffee Sector by Increasing Market Demand for Certified Sustainable Coffee 2006–2013
The livelihoods of more than 25 million people in the tropics depend on coffee, one of the world’s most widely traded commodities. Coffee is farmed on approximately 12 million hectares worldwide, an area nearly the size of England. In Latin America, producers traditionally grew coffee under the canopy of old-growth forests. As logging, cattle grazing, […]