Asia

Staggering biodiversity, urgent threats

Photo credit: Noah Jackson

What's at Stake

The vast continent of Asia contains an astonishing diversity of landscapes and distinct ethnic groups—as well as wildly divergent threats to its forests, people, and wildlife. Asia’s abundance of plant and animal species, as well as its wealth of indigenous knowledge, hangs in the balance.

Rapid forest loss

The world’s third largest tropical forest, after the Amazon and Congo rainforests, is in the archipelago of Indonesia. But forests here have been cleared at an alarming rate to make way for paper pulp and oil palm plantations. And every fall, fires set to clear forests for agricultural expansion rage, threatening not only precious forests and wildlife, but the communities in the region.

Our Impact

The Rainforest Alliance works across many commodities in Asia, from forestry to tea and coffee production. Despite centuries-old challenges in some countries, we’ve achieved substantive gains in livelihoods and the health of forests and biodiversity.

Better working conditions on certified tea estates

2X as likely to have access to maternity leave

on certified farms vs. noncertified farms*

In Tamil Nadu, India, a study of 300 farmworkers on seven Rainforest Alliance Certified tea estates and one noncertified estate found a significantly higher percentage of workers on certified estates had contracts and annual paid leave, sick leave, and maternity leave. Read the report

*Source: 2013. Assessing the poverty impact of sustainability standards: Indian tea. Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, London.

Decrease in deforestation and air pollution in Kalimantan, Indonesia

31% decrease in air pollution

on FSC certified forests in Kalimantan*

In Kalimantan, Indonesia, FSC® certification significantly reduced deforestation by five percentage points and air pollution by 31 percent, compared to the rates of control villages in noncertified logging concessions. Read the report

*Source: 2015. Social and Environmental Impacts of Forest Management Certification in Indonesia. PLoS ONE

 

Our Work: Asia

The Rainforest Alliance works with farm and forest communities across Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Viet Nam, Myanmar, and China. While training and certification cannot solve entrenched poverty or systemic inequities, they are powerful tools for widespread, incremental improvement to the health of ecosystems and communities.

All resources for Asia

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Rainforest Alliance Certified Cocoa

We work with almost one million cocoa farmers to build thriving livelihoods and climate resilience through certification and training.