RAINFOREST ALLIANCE

Agriculture -- farming and grazing -- already uses 38 percent of the Earth's lands. Industrial agriculture is a leading polluter and a rapacious user of water. As population pressures increase everywhere, and the pace of conversion from forests to farmland accelerates, current practices will only continue to accelerate the cycle of poverty experienced by most farmers, especially in and around our planet's most sensitive and unique ecosystems.
 But Rainforest Alliance Certified (http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/certification) farms have reduced environmental footprints, are good neighbors to human and wild communities, and are often integral parts of regional conservation initiatives.

Climate change disproportionately affects the world’s most vulnerable people -- especially poor rural communities that depend on the land for their livelihoods. Farmers and forest communities all over the world are fighting changing weather patterns caused by climate change: higher temperatures, drought, unpredictable rainfall, wildfires, and extreme weather events like hurricanes and floods. These changing conditions present huge challenges to farmers who depend on specific weather conditions to grow their crops, and can also lead to the spread of pests and diseases to new regions, damaging and sometimes completely decimating crops. Our programs provide training and guidance to farmers on how to assess the risks posed by climate change, and then to adopt climate-smart farming methods that increase their resilience while protecting the environment -- for example, planting new trees, introducing new crop varieties, good soil management.

The Rainforest Alliance partners with indigenous and local communities in our efforts to increase sustainability. Because we work closely with farmers and other community members in our certification program, the scope of our work becomes wider than agriculture and forestry. We also focus on various human rights issues, including child labor, forced labor, workplace violence and harassment, and gender inequality. Partnering with communities to address these issues leads to better, more productive farming and improved livelihoods for families and communities.