Post by account_disabled on Mar 13, 2024 1:21:41 GMT -5
Globally less than 15 percent are landowners. On larger farms, women farmworkers often lack the right to maternity leave, childcare, and equal opportunities for advancement. Moreover, women can face gender-based violence and sexual harassment at the hands of superiors or other workers. Protecting the human rights of rural people is at the core of the Rainforest Alliance's mission Women of the Alimentos Nutri-Naturales S.A. (ANSA) cooperative, located on the edge of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, sorting ramon nuts, an important source of nutrition and income for local families. For years the Rainforest Alliance has worked with farmers and many other stakeholders to improve gender equality through certification, training, and advocacy. Our certification program requires equal pay for equal work and tackles discrimination and sexual harassment. Here, too, the program uses an assess-and-address approach, requiring farms and farm groups to appoint a person or committee to take charge of combating gender-based discrimination, sexual violence, and harassment.
It also gives farms and companies tools to understand the gender gaps and issues in their operations and how to address them. We also promote and measure women’s participation in our farmer training programs, which provide concrete instruction on best farming practices, climate-smart methods, financial literacy, and more. Women’s participation is just as central to our work with forest communities. In Guatemala and Mexico, we support women-run forest businesses and women’s leadership in forest enterprises. Indigenous rights Since its BYB Directory founding in 1987, the Rainforest Alliance has worked to uphold land rights for Indigenous peoples, who manage or own more than a third of the world’s remaining intact forests. The very first forestry standard, which was created in 1989 by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) (co-founded by the Rainforest Alliance) required land tenure to be clear, and to this day, a forestry operation with outstanding land claims or conflicts cannot achieve FSC certification. The Rainforest Alliance also partners with Indigenous communities from the Amazon to Indonesia to cultivate strong local economies that are rooted in Indigenous values and traditions—and linked to the global marketplace.
In the San Martín region of Peru, for example, we work with eight Indigenous communities to bring their more sustainable products—from coffee to cocoa to the medicinal sangre de grado—to market. We also provided training in business management and digital skills to Warmi Awadora, a collective of Kichwa women who create bags, belts, and necklaces using traditional weaving techniques. Being able to use social media and ship their products around the world was particularly crucial during the early pandemic, when tourism to their area declined sharply. With thriving local economies, Indigenous communities can better withstand threats to their way of life and the health of their land. Youth inclusion More and more, rural young people who don’t see a viable livelihood in their communities are moving away to cities to seek work—leaving local family farms and forest businesses without the youthful energy and skills needed to carry on and flourish.
It also gives farms and companies tools to understand the gender gaps and issues in their operations and how to address them. We also promote and measure women’s participation in our farmer training programs, which provide concrete instruction on best farming practices, climate-smart methods, financial literacy, and more. Women’s participation is just as central to our work with forest communities. In Guatemala and Mexico, we support women-run forest businesses and women’s leadership in forest enterprises. Indigenous rights Since its BYB Directory founding in 1987, the Rainforest Alliance has worked to uphold land rights for Indigenous peoples, who manage or own more than a third of the world’s remaining intact forests. The very first forestry standard, which was created in 1989 by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) (co-founded by the Rainforest Alliance) required land tenure to be clear, and to this day, a forestry operation with outstanding land claims or conflicts cannot achieve FSC certification. The Rainforest Alliance also partners with Indigenous communities from the Amazon to Indonesia to cultivate strong local economies that are rooted in Indigenous values and traditions—and linked to the global marketplace.
In the San Martín region of Peru, for example, we work with eight Indigenous communities to bring their more sustainable products—from coffee to cocoa to the medicinal sangre de grado—to market. We also provided training in business management and digital skills to Warmi Awadora, a collective of Kichwa women who create bags, belts, and necklaces using traditional weaving techniques. Being able to use social media and ship their products around the world was particularly crucial during the early pandemic, when tourism to their area declined sharply. With thriving local economies, Indigenous communities can better withstand threats to their way of life and the health of their land. Youth inclusion More and more, rural young people who don’t see a viable livelihood in their communities are moving away to cities to seek work—leaving local family farms and forest businesses without the youthful energy and skills needed to carry on and flourish.