Rainforest Alliance and the Coffee Industry
If you haven’t heard of Rainforest Alliance and the work they’re doing to protect the world’s greenest spaces, now’s the time for you to get familiar! Rainforest Alliance have been working for over 30 years in 70 different countries, creating partnerships between businesses, farmers, forest communities, governments, civil societies, and millions of individuals.
The Rainforest Alliance approach is far more than performative, or reflective of simply throwing money at a problem, but is instead focused on truly understanding the spaces they work in and the people they work with.
They have four key impact areas that they hope to positively influence with their work, being:
Forests & Biodiversity: Rainforest Alliance works with farmers and businesses to ensure that methods are sustainable and that landscapes aren’t ravaged in the name of industry.
Climate: One of their other key focuses is on maintaining a healthier climate through their treatment of their forest sites. This includes planting and maintaining more trees to help keep carbon stores healthy, along with having 20 shade trees per hectare, to allow for crops that thrive in shade to stay healthy.
Rural Livelihoods: This is the practice of ensuring that farmers are getting a better share of the profits than the traditional industry might offer them, along with generally making the rainforest economy more sustainable.
Human Rights: Finally, Rainforest Alliance is taking steps to ensure that those working in protected areas have better, more well-protected human rights. This includes guaranteeing sick leave, health & safety measures, and days off for workers.
So far, Rainforest Alliance has benefited 4 million farmers and workers, 14.2 million hectares of managed rainforests, and 6 million hectares of farmland.
Influence on the Coffee Industry
Even if you weren’t clued up about Rainforest Alliance and the work they do in a more literal sense, you may well have seen the “Rainforest Alliance Certified” symbol on various products, including coffee. But what does this mean?
Rainforest Alliance certified coffee provides us with a certainty that the coffee has been produced in accordance with their key impact areas. This means that the beans have been harvested in safe and healthy working conditions, with the farmers getting a fair share of the profits, along with sustainable, climate-friendly practices being used at every stage in the game. It’s a hot, invigorating shot of honesty in an industry that’s so often riddled with exploitation.
At iKhofi we’re proud to be a seller of Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee beans because we feel the land and the people that provide us with our favourite morning beverage deserve just as much love and respect as our customers!
For more information on Rainforest Alliance, check out their website, and visit ours to browse our products and learn more about the coffee industry as a whole!