ANNUAL REPORT - Rainforest Alliance

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ships with investors and buyers for long-term recovery of affected forests. 22 Native to the Neotropics, bromeliads are like small, self-contained ecosystems; animals such as tree frogs, snails, flatworms, tiny crabs and salamanders might spend their entire lives inside one. Bolivia Turns a Deeper Shade of Green SumaPacha, which means “good omen” in Aymará, a local indigenous language, manufactures and distributes highquality FSC-certified outdoor furniture made from tropical hardwoods. Thanks to a new agreement with the Rainforest Alliance, the Bolivia-based company is increasing the amount of wood it buys from FSC-certified forests, bringing nearly 100,000 acres (40,000 hectares) of additional forestland up to FSC standards. The agreement directly benefits SumaPacha’s 500 employees as well as the many indigenous communities that supply raw materials for Suma- Pacha furniture. SumaPacha is helping these communities obtain FSC certification, which will give them better prices for their wood and access to new markets. Demand for FSC-certified products currently outstrips supply, and until now, SumaPacha has been unable to meet this demand. As the company ramps up its production, large American retailers like Home Depot, which already buys more than 70 percent of SumaPacha’s production, will be ready to increase their purchases. For 20 years the main source of income for the families with whom we work was clear-cutting and deforestation. We have convinced people to return to cocoa cultivation to make their living and conserve the environment. Felipe Noboa, with Rainforest Alliance’s Ecuadorian partner organization Conservación y Desarrollo With more than 130 million acres (53 million hectares) of forestland, Bolivia is home to a wealth of biodiversity that includes more than 40 percent of all bird species in South America. More than five million acres (two million hectares) of this land is FSC-certified — making Bolivia second only to Brazil in area of FSC-certified tropical forest. 08 Rainforest Alliance Annual Report
The Amazon Basin Provides Fertile Ground for Environmentally Friendly Forestry & Farming To conserve the Amazon Basin’s fragile and complex ecological balance, the Rainforest Alliance is working with the Initiative for Conservation in the Andean Amazon to guide local organizations and communities down a path toward long-term sustainability in farming, forestry and tourism. • In Bolivia, where certified forestlands include a range of endangered ecosystems, such as Amazonian forest and Chiquitano dry forest, we are continuing to promote sustainable forestry and biodiversity conservation, helping foresters to earn certification and helping forestry operations adopt responsible business practices. • In Peru’s Madre de Dios, we are helping a number of forest concessions work toward eventual FSC certification. Within five years, we aim to have certified 494,200 acres (200,000 hectares) of forestland and to be in the process of certifying an additional 494,200 acres (200,000 hectares). Guatemala’s FSC-Certified Forests Fare Better Than Protected Reserves According to a new study by the Rainforest Alliance, certification has been more effective than strict protection in conserving rainforests in Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve. The study found that FSC-certified forests in the 5 million-acre (2 million-hectare) reserve, where local communities are involved in protecting the land, have seen twenty times less deforestation than those areas of the reserve that are in protected areas. The Rainforest Alliance has been working in the area for more than a decade, training foresters, certifying land, supporting community enterprises and building links between FSC-certified businesses and markets, toward the goal of helping communities conserve their forests even as they increase their profits. 23 • In Ecuador, where we have been working with our partner group Conservación y Desarrollo since 1997 to support the country’s traditional cocoa farmers, we trained an additional 400 local farmers to grow their cocoa in harmony with the environment and to provide workers with decent living conditions. More than 3,000 cocoa growers in six communities have improved their farming practices, upgraded their drying and fermenting technology and sold Rainforest Alliance Certified cocoa at a premium price. First Palm Leaf Businesses Certified In Guatemala’s tropical state of Petén — home to the 5-million acre (2.1-million hectare) Maya Biosphere Reserve — the Rainforest Alliance is teaching members of local forest communities to sustainably and efficiently gather xate, a palm leaf sold in the US and Europe for use in floral arrangements. Responsible harvesting techniques protect the habitat of wildlife such as howler monkeys and sloths and the additional income provides community members with an incentive to keep their forests standing. This year, three xate harvesting businesses became the first in the world to achieve FSC certification. 08 Rainforest Alliance Annual Report
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Page 3 and 4: led workshops—are enjoying newfou
Page 5 and 6: Ethiopian coffee regions are a biod
Page 7 and 8: Stepping Up to Sustainable Forest M
Page 9 and 10: Aceh is serious about leading the w
Page 11 and 12: The project in Aceh gives local res
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Page 15 and 16: • McDonald’s commitment to sour
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Page 19 and 20: The Maple Leaf Goes Green Canada is
Page 21 and 22: SmartLogging in the South “Loggin
Page 23: People are seeing that the product
Page 27 and 28: Responsible Tourism in Latin Americ
Page 29 and 30: Our Global Reach Environmental prob
Page 31 and 32: • To begin establishing STSC guid
Page 33 and 34: Richard A. Schneider Robert Schuman
Page 35 and 36: FINANCIAL SUMMARY As of June 30, 20

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