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
Baseline Evaluation of the RA2020 Living Wage Strategy
This report, commissioned by the Rainforest Alliance (RA), offers a baseline study analyzing the dispositions of Certificate Holders and Supply Chain Actors against the living wage requirements and tools in the RA 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Standard. The study was commissioned to the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), which worked with their local partners in Indonesia, […]
Can Fish Farming Help Protect the Rainforest of the Congo Basin?
Together, we have begun exploring how more sustainable solutions, like community forestry and fish farming—can help protect the rainforest of the Congo Basin and strengthen livelihoods. ... Continue Reading
What’s It Like to Work on a Rainforest Alliance Certified Coffee Farm? Six Migrant Workers Share Their Stories
Migrant workers from Guatemala talk about working on certified farms in Chiapas, Mexico. ... Continue Reading
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.... Continue Reading
2022 Annual Report: We’re all in.
Dive into our 2022 Annual Report—and discover the extraordinary people and places at the heart of our global mission. We’re all in. Are you?
The Prohibition of Paraquat: A Global Call to Action
Paraquat is a herbicide-widely used by industrial agricultural plantations and smallholder farmers alike due to its low cost and broad-spectrum efficacy. While an effective herbicide, it is harmful for the environment, the farm ecosystem and highly toxic to humans. Small quantities of paraquat are fatal, and there is no antidote for it, making it a […]