Rainforest Alliance

The Rainforest Alliance is deeply concerned about the extreme flooding across Assam, India, following heavy monsoon rains that pushed the Brahmaputra River and its tributaries above danger levels earlier this month. Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, and Charaideo—home to many tea estates in our certification programs—are among the hardest-hit districts. According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, the floods have claimed an ever-escalating number of lives and have displaced approximately 700,000 people across 16 districts. The impact on housing, clean water access, and basic infrastructure has been severe, and authorities warn that the situation could worsen with continued rain. Within the Rainforest Alliance Certification Program, we anticipate delays to scheduled certification activities on tea estates and plantations in Assam and other affected regions. Local certification bodies may be unable to travel to the field until conditions improve and roads are confirmed safe. For audits that can still take place, certification bodies will take into consideration the extent of the damage caused by the floods. Delays in commodity exports are also likely, as access to affected areas remains difficult. We are actively exploring how best to support our local partners through this crisis. We wish safety and strength to our staff, partners, and their families in Assam and neighboring regions. We will continue to monitor the situation and share updates as it develops. #AssamFloods #India #SustainableTea

Landscape assessments generate valuable data. But what actually happens with it after the assessment is done? 🌿 Our partners at LandScale are running a short survey to better understand how landscape assessment results are being used in practice, and how they can better support action, resilience, and investment on the ground. If you work with landscape initiatives, as a practitioner, investor, business, NGO, or other stakeholder, your perspective matters. The survey covers how assessment findings inform decision-making, what barriers exist to using landscape-level data effectively, and how frameworks and tools can better translate insights into impact. It takes just a few minutes and the findings will directly shape the guidance and support available to landscape initiatives worldwide. Share your experience here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eRN7r2WA #LandScale #LandscapeAssessment #Sustainability #Landscapes #Conservation

The future of African coffee and tea was the conversation in Kigali earlier this month. 🌿☕ From July 8-10, the Rainforest Alliance participated in the Africa Coffee and Tea Expo in Kigali, Rwanda, connecting with producers, buyers, investors, and policymakers advancing sustainable growth across the coffee and tea sectors. Some highlights from our time there: 🐸 We engaged with Rwanda's Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Telesphore Ndabamenye, to showcase the value of Rainforest Alliance certification for farmers, businesses, and the environment. 📈 We met with Claude Bizimana, CEO of the National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB), to explore opportunities to strengthen collaboration and expand market access for Rwanda's horticulture sector. 🌱 We delivered a technical presentation on our Regenerative Agriculture Standard, spotlighting climate resilience and ecosystem restoration as the next frontier for the region's coffee and tea industries. 🍃 And we conducted knowledge exchange visits with Mulindi Teas and RWACOF Exports Ltd. (Sucafina), exploring landscape management, farmer digitalization, and sustainability on the ground. Rwanda's coffee and tea sector is moving in the right direction and we're proud to be part of that momentum. 🌿 National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB) Board #Rwanda #Coffee #Tea #RegenerativeAgriculture #Sustainability #PeopleAndNature #Certification

Meet the world's first Rainforest Alliance Certified Regenerative farm. 🌱 In September 2025, we published our Regenerative Agriculture Standard, a science-based pathway for farming that goes beyond sustainability to actively restore soil, increase biodiversity, and strengthen climate resilience. La Cumplida, a 2,200-hectare coffee farm in Nicaragua's northern highlands, was the first to earn it. Already certified under our Sustainable Agriculture Standard for more than 20 years, the new standard pushed them further. The results are already showing: healthier soil, stronger plants, and the return of bees, spiders, and bird species that now naturally control pests. For farm owner Eric Poncon, it's about more than productivity. "We learned from my father that sustainability is not an end goal. It's a journey, a spiritual route, and a commitment to future generations." That's what regenerative agriculture looks like in practice. It’s not just a label, but a commitment that keeps deepening. 🔗 Read more about our Regenerative Agriculture Standard and La Cumplida's story in our 2025 Annual Report: https://lnkd.in/gzSY-C94 Photo credit: Pedro J. Chavarría #RainforestAlliance #RegenerativeAgriculture #AnnualReport2025 #RegenerationTakesRoot #Coffee #Nicaragua #Sustainability #Certification #PeopleAndNature #FollowTheFrog

What does sustainability training look like when creativity and collaboration take the lead over a slide deck? That's what we found out at a recent training in Dak Lak Province—Vietnam's coffee capital—where our Rainforest Alliance APAC Assurance team brought together auditors from five certification bodies for Vietnam's annual calibration training. Over five days, participants got up to speed on updates to our Sustainable Agriculture Standard (SAS) and our new Regenerative Agriculture Standard (RAS). And what stood out most wasn't the content, but the energy, creativity, and collaboration participants brought into the room—turning complex concepts into visual stories with real plant samples, sketched insects, and sticky notes covered in diagrams. Training doesn't always mean presenting through a screen. It can also look like a space where people can question, connect ideas, and translate technical knowledge through group work. Many thanks to Preferred by Nature, Control Union, ECOCERT Group, CAFECONTROL - CERTIFICATION, and Vietnam Commodity Control and Certification—the certification bodies who help carry these standards from the training room to the field! #RainforestAlliance #RegenerativeAgriculture #Certification #Sustainability #Training #Vietnam #Coffee #SupplyChains

Regenerative agriculture is taking root on the slopes of Mount Kenya, one of Africa's most important landscapes. 🌿⛰️ The Mt. Kenya Sustainable Landscape and Livelihoods Program recently brought together stakeholders for a two-day learning and exchange workshop focused on regenerative agriculture, climate-smart agriculture, and landscape restoration. And the results so far speak for themselves: 🌱 55,039 farmers reached through training in regenerative and climate-smart agriculture 👩🌾 531 jobs created and 93 enterprises supported 🌳 588 hectares restored with native tree species 🤝 The Mt. Kenya Landscape Management Board formally institutionalized 💰 More than $2 million in additional funds mobilized But beyond the numbers, this program is proof of what becomes possible when farmers, communities, and partners invest in the long term together. And as the workshop reminded us, this is just the beginning. Read more about the program here: https://lnkd.in/eRKmVPkK IKEA Foundation Sauti Ya Kahawa KENYA SCOUTS ASSOCIATION KTDA Holdings Limited kenya forest service Water Resources Authority (WRA) Farm Africa Kilimo Trust KALRO FARMING LMB University of Embu Zawiri Kenya LandScale #MountKenya #RegenerativeAgriculture #ClimateSmartAgriculture #LandscapeRestoration #PeopleAndNature #IKEAFoundation

Meet Emily Chase, the person making sure our donors feel the impact of every contribution. 🌿 As Senior Associate of Donor Stewardship, Emily works behind the scenes connecting the people who believe in our mission to the real change happening on the ground. From strengthening stewardship strategies to sharing stories from farmers and communities around the world, her work connects donors to the real change their contributions make possible. Her favorite part? The colleagues and the stories that remind her every day why this work matters. 🐸 #DayInTheLife #RainforestAlliance #DonorStewardship #PeopleAndNature #OurAlliance

Why do millions of farmers and thousands of companies choose Rainforest Alliance certification? 🌿 The short answer: credibility matters. Watch to find out what makes the little green frog the world's leading sustainability framework and what it could mean for your business. 🐸 #RainforestAlliance #Certification #Sustainability #SupplyChain #RegenerativeAgriculture #FollowTheFrog #ESG

What can a centuries-old Indigenous principle teach today's industries about the future of cocoa? 🌿 Our CEO Santiago Gowland explores that question in a recent Forbes piece, drawing on a visit to Chumbaquihui, an Indigenous Kichwa community in the Amazon that has long practiced "minka"—collective labor for the common good. Shared roads, restored watersheds, conserved forest, and a cocoa system that gives individual farmers bargaining power none of them could build alone. The cocoa industry needs this same mindset now. Farmer poverty, climate pressure, and ecosystem degradation are systemic challenges that no single company can solve. The communities who have managed these landscapes for generations already know what the sector is just beginning to learn: lasting progress requires collective responsibility for the foundations of shared prosperity. Some call it pre-competitive collaboration in business, but these communities were practicing it long before the term even existed. Read Santiago's full piece in Forbes: https://bit.ly/4vosiFZ 📸 Photo credit: Marlon Del Aguila #Cocoa #IndigenousKnowledge #SupplyChain #Sustainability #RainforestAlliance #RegenerativeAgriculture #Kichwa

In the heart of Mexico's largest tropical rainforest, a new kind of ambassador is taking flight. 🐝 Last week, the Rainforest Alliance and Mexico's Commission for Natural Protected Areas (CONANP -Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas) presented Origen Selva Maya, a wild honey born in the heart of more than 1.4 million continuous hectares of tropical rainforest, the biocultural corridor Mexico shares with Guatemala and Belize. 🍯 This honey never touches farmland. It comes from 91 native species in a forest where agrochemicals have been banned since 2015, producing a honey of exceptional purity. Behind every jar: 11 years of planning, 1,282 registered producers, and a rule that every apiary must conserve five hectares of forest, helping avoid more than 1.9 million tons of carbon emissions. Calakmul honey is Mexico's first UNESCO Mixed World Heritage Site, where nature and centuries of Indigenous knowledge sustain one another. Communities work for the forest. The forest, through honey, works for them. This is what thriving landscapes look like in practice. 🌿 Explore the full story: https://bit.ly/4asAJsw #RainforestAlliance #Calakmul #SelvaMaya #Mexico #Beekeeping #Sustainability #Indigenous #Conservation