The Rainforest Alliance launched the long-awaited Accountability Framework initiative (AFi) in June at ceremonies at George Washington University.
The collaborative effort is designed to help fulfill commitments for ethical agriculture and forestry supply chains.
Coffee and tea are prominent.
“There has been a proliferation of corporate commitments to limit deforestation, other environmental degradation, and human rights,” according to Rainforest Alliance spokesman Ian Patton. “Growing public concern, coupled with international directives like the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the New York Declaration on Forests have elevated these human rights and zero-deforestation commitments to urgent imperatives, he said.
“Corporations with that kind of power have the potential to make real, systemic changes,” writes Patton. “But what if McDonald’s definition of ‘no-deforestation’ is one thing, and Bunge’s is another? What if both corporations have different definitions for something seemingly as simple as ‘forest,’ for that matter?”
“We’ve all seen consumer pressure alter corporate behavior, but without standardization or transparent reporting, we lose this powerful tool for change,” writes Patton.
“Noticing this critical gap, a coalition of leading environmental and social NGOs created the Accountability Framework, the first undertaking of its kind,” he said.
Learn more: accountability-framework.org