The Rainforest Alliance has succeeded in driving widespread adoption of sustainable practices in forests, farms, and businesses around the world. Their work transforming land use and business practices to be more sustainable has been at the forefront of efforts to tip the balance towards a sustainable future. They have brought billions in benefits through conserving over 100 million acres of land and improving lives of over 1 million workers and families. Looking ahead, they believe sustainability will become the norm in key industries by making responsible production an integral part of successful economic activity in the 21st century.

1. vision
for s u s ta i n a b i l i t y
White logo

2. “ The long-awaited tipping point
is at hand. We now live in a unique
moment, pulsing with the need
and the opportunity to radically
redesign the world for our children
and their children. The Rainforest
Alliance’s work to transform land
use and business practices has been
in the forefront of the effort to tip
the balance decisively towards
a sustainable future. Today,
the scales are moving our way.”
tensie whelan,
President, Rainforest Alliance
passionate
More than a theoretical exercise:
The Rainforest Alliance Vision For A Sustainable Future
If you were asked to reengineer the entire global economy and set
it on a path toward sustainability within just a few short years, where
would you begin? How would you leverage rapid, widespread change
so businesses could thrive while conserving natural resources and
ensuring workers and their families were well-treated?
In a very real sense, this is exactly the mission that the Rainforest Alliance
set for itself when it was launched in 1987.

3. Rainforest Alliance - Vision for Sustainability 1
In the late 1980s, the world woke up to the alarming fact that we
were losing 72,000 acres of rainforest a day to logging and agricultural
conversion. While many nonprofits advocated boycotts, the Rainforest
Alliance recognized that people in the Amazon Basin were earning
a living by selling their natural resources. So instead of destroying economic
activity in an effort to protect forests, we concluded more could be achieved
by making these resource-dependent economic activities sustainable.
Provide people with the means to extract a sustainable livelihood from
the land, give businesses the opportunity to source responsibly produced
goods, make sustainable goods and services available and affordable
to consumers, and you have connected the supply and demand sides
of a market-driven engine for a sustainable economy.
T The Rainforest Alliance Strategy
he Rainforest Alliance has succeeded
in igniting this market engine and using
A
it to drive the widespread adoption of bout a third of the world’s population –
sustainable practices at astonishing speed – some two billion people – draw their
not only in the Amazon, but in forests, on farms livelihoods from arable land, forests and
and throughout businesses and markets worldwide. water. And that number – along with the global
Each dollar invested in the Rainforest Alliance population – is rapidly growing. How we manage
protects roughly five acres of forest and farm the production, consumption and renewal of natural
land. Every $20 makes significant and lasting resources will determine the social condition of
improvements in the life of a farm worker. billions, the environmental condition of the planet
and our collective future.
We have brought billions of dollars worth of benefits
to key, resource-intensive industries, conserved
The human activities with the greatest impact by
biodiversity on over a hundred million acres and
far are farming and forestry, while the largest global
improved the lives of more than a million workers
industry bar none is tourism. By focusing on these
and their families. In recent years, production and
sectors, the Rainforest Alliance pursues a coherent
sales of Rainforest Alliance Certified sustainable
strategy for leveraging far-reaching, systemic changes
goods have experienced phenomenal growth,
that can “tip” key markets toward sustainability,
exploding into mainstream markets and becoming
which can in turn change mankind’s relationship
part of widespread consumer consciousness. In the
to the planet.
years ahead, we believe we have the potential to make
sustainability the norm in key industries, making
socially and environmentally responsible production
an integral aspect of successful economic activity in
the 21st century.

4. Certification helped Chiquita cut costs, for example
saving $5 million a year in reduced agrochemical
use and $3 million a year in pallet recycling in its
European operations. From 1995 to 2005, even as
Chiquita was making major investments so that its
company-owned farms could become Rainforest
Alliance Certified, it was able to cut costs 12 percent
collaborative
and increase productivity 27 percent.
Global purchases of coffee beans
Cultivating Conservation 2007
from Rainforest Alliance
on Farms Certified farms
T
he principle agent of ecosystem destruction 2006
and species extinction is not the emission of
greenhouse gasses or global warming; it is
2005
agriculture. Farming has the largest environmental
footprint of any industry. Occupying 38 percent of
the Earth’s land area, agriculture uses more fresh 2004
water, destroys more forests and affects more of the 2003
planet’s surface than any other single activity.
So how can we continue to feed the world’s
population when the demand for food is expected
Global purchases of coffee beans from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms have,
to grow by between 50 and 60 percent by 2030? on average, doubled each year since 2003 (from 7 million pounds in 2003 to
91.3 million pounds in 2007). In the United States, where imports of coffee grew
by less than 2 percent from 2004 to 2006, imports of Rainforest Alliance Certified
We can do it by giving people incentives to grow
coffee beans grew 106 percent. Beans from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms
food sustainably – to keep soil productive, water currently have about a 2 percent share of the global market, which is forecast to
clean and ecosystems intact. Thousands of Rainforest grow to 5 percent by 2012 and to as much as 10 percent by 2014.
Alliance Certified farms in Latin America, Africa and
Asia sustainably produce coffee, tea, cocoa, fruit, conditions, education for farm children, job training
ferns and flowers. These certified farms have greatly and health care. They increase profitability and
reduced their environmental footprints, cut back competitiveness through better management
on agrochemical use, protected soil and waterways, practices, greater efficiency, better product quality
contributed to forest conservation and reforestation and improved morale.
and conserved wildlife habitat.
In 2007, the combined retail value of Rainforest
Not only are they environmentally sustainable, Alliance Certified coffee, bananas and cocoa was
Rainforest Alliance Certified farms also pay workers an estimated $1.2 billion, with market shares for
fairly and offer them decent housing, safe working many certified products growing at double-digit rates.

5. Rainforest Alliance - Vision for Sustainability 3
“A mug of coffee should represent a whole
respectable world – a decent and edifying
way of life. When we began the Rainforest
Alliance program, we believed our coffee
should represent our efforts to protect
the waterways, forests and animals. It had
to reflect the excellent spouses, mothers,
sons, workers, brothers and friends that
we are. Being better people each day
is what we call passion for excellence,
and excellence equals quality.”
Jader rivera,
Founder and President
of Procafé, Colombia
Of all the world’s commodity crops, coffee is of enormous environmental,
social and economic importance – particularly in the tropics. The second
largest legally traded export commodity after oil, growing coffee employs
some 25 million families worldwide.
Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee farms offer decent living and working
conditions for farm workers and their families, while achieving up to 90 percent
decreases in water use and up to 20 percent increases in yields. They also
buffer and protect unique forest areas that provide critical wildlife habitat.
Coffee grown on Rainforest Alliance Certified farms is widely available on
supermarket shelves and through mainstream outlets including Whole Foods
Markets, Holiday Inn and Wal-Mart in the US and McDonald’s cafés across
Europe. Kraft’s Yuban, Caribou Coffee, Gloria Jean’s Coffees and many other
brands in North America, Europe, Australia and Japan include Rainforest
Alliance Certified beans in their blends. By doing so, they are helping to build
sustainability into the culture of the coffee industry – benefiting workers and
the environment while bolstering the bottom line.
And we are mainstreaming the trend. Kraft, one of the two biggest coffee
buyers in the world, is sourcing three percent of its coffee from Rainforest
Alliance Certified farms, and is increasing its purchases annually.

6. 4 Rainforest Alliance - Vision for Sustainability
A Sustainable Footing
for Forestry
F
orests provide food, fuel, fiber, medicine and management – helping sustain and enhance the
building materials. They shelter wildlife, livelihoods derived from them. In 1993, the Rainforest
prevent erosion, filter water, protect coral reefs, Alliance was instrumental in founding the Forest
control pests and mitigate climate change by capturing Stewardship Council (FSC), a nonprofit organization
and storing atmospheric carbon. They are also the that sets rigorous standards for responsible forest
planet’s fastest-disappearing natural resource. management, and we remain the leading FSC certifier.
Four hundred years ago, two-thirds of the planet’s As of 2007, the Rainforest Alliance had issued FSC
land mass was covered by forest. Today, only half that certificates for responsible forest management in
area is forested, and we continue to lose what stands. more than 60 countries. We work with more than
The world’s remaining forests are often concentrated 1,600 small landowners, indigenous and community-
in the most biologically diverse and sensitive areas, owned forestry operations and companies of all sizes.
typically in countries with few protections or forest Sustainable foresters ranging from Canadian giants
preserves in place, making them as vulnerable as they Domtar and Tembec, managing vast tracts of northern
are valuable. boreal forest, to the Kayapó indigenous people of
pragmatic
the Amazon, extracting Brazil nuts from the world’s
The Rainforest Alliance has pioneered sustainable largest FSC-certified tropical forest, rely on us to audit
forestry on a global scale, helping to make working and certify their operations.
forests sustainable, and – by promoting responsible

7. FSC-certified working forests provide for protected
areas, regeneration and reforestation and sustainable
c ar bon oFFse t
harvesting practices. They protect riparian, aquatic
and other sensitive ecosystems and meet the world’s ver iFic ation
Distribution of the World’s
Remaining Forests To limit global warming to two
degrees Celsius, scientists say
we must freeze carbon emissions
93%
quickly and reduce them 80
percent by 2050. Nearly a quarter
7%
of carbon emissions are the
169 Countries 24 Countries result of deforestation, so forest
conservation and reforestation are
93 percent of the world’s remaining forests are concentrated in 24 countries,
including 14 of the 17 most megadiverse countries in the world: The Russian key tools in the fight to stabilize
Federation, Brazil, Canada, the U.S., China, Australia, Congo, Indonesia, Peru,
India, Sudan, Mexico, Bolivia, Colombia, Tanzania, Argentina, Myanmar, climate change. To provide tropical
Papua New Guinea, Sweden, Japan, Cameroon, Central African Republic,
Gabon and Guyana. This makes them key strategic targets for sustainable forestry. communities with an incentive to
sustainably manage their forests
and to ensure that these forests
meet established international
standards, Rainforest Alliance
auditors are independently
verifying carbon offset projects
around the world. We have verified
or are working toward verification
of projects in Indonesia,
Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela,
Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico,
the US, the UK, Uganda, Ghana
and Madagascar. Additional offset
verification projects on coffee
farms are underway in Colombia,
Mexico and Kenya. These forests
and farms will provide reliable
sequestration of over three
million tons of carbon from
the atmosphere.

8. 6 Rainforest Alliance - Vision for Sustainability
highest standards for the protection of endangered
species habitat. These forests reduce the use of
chemicals and improve worker safety and training
practices. And they benefit local communities
economically and environmentally. To meet FSC
certification standards, landowners are required
to consult with and balance the interests of all
stakeholders, including indigenous and local people.
Today, over 11 percent of global forestry production
is FSC-certified, and the Rainforest Alliance has
served as the certifier for 44 percent of that total
– currently over 100 million acres. This represents
an area the size of California, much of it located
in some of the world’s most biodiverse areas.
By helping businesses of all sizes, cooperatives,
communities and individuals to manage their
forests, the Rainforest Alliance is contributing to
the reduction of greenhouse gases and the mitigation
of global warming. Continuing deforestation
currently accounts for 24 percent of the world’s
carbon emissions, according to the Stern Review on
the Economics of Climate Change. But continuing
growth of FSC-certified forest acreage is helping to
slow global deforestation rates, which is one of the
most effective and cost-efficient ways of reducing
atmospheric carbon.
Comparing Sustainably Managed FSC Forestlands to Preserved Areas
In 1990, Guatemala’s government created the Maya Biosphere Reserve, a two million-hectare forest area
that included core protected areas and an initially controversial category: Forest Stewardship Council
(FSC)-certified forest areas where limited extraction is permitted. Today, the data shows that the
FSC-certified working areas actually fared far better in terms of conservation than the other preserved
areas. A recent study found that
M AYA B I O S P H E R E R E S E R v E
the deforestation rate in the
protected area was twelve
times the deforestation rate
MExICO in the FSC-certified working
BElIzE
forest. FSC-certified areas also
experienced much fewer
wildfires. This study demonstrates
GUATEMAlA
how FSC sustainable management
of working forests can
FSC-certified Areas Kilometros
0 25 50
Core Protected Areas
Deforestation 1986-2002 Rainforest Alliance
actually lead to superior
Includes data from CEMEC-CONAP/WCS
Deforestation 2002-2007 30/January/2007
environmental outcomes.

9. A Sustainable Destination for Tourism
T
he world’s largest industry is not energy agencies, we promote higher environmental and social
or defense; it is tourism, which employs one standards for the tourism industry and government
in twelve workers worldwide. In recent years, tourism policy.
tourism has annually generated between $3.5 and
$5.5 trillion of economic activity. Sustainable tourism is still an emerging field, but
our efforts have had a measurable impact. More than
If the tourism sector were a country, it would have 4,000 small and medium-sized businesses as well as
the second largest economy in the world, surpassed indigenous and community groups in Latin America
only by the United States. And the industry is growing have been introduced to sustainable certification and
fast – with the number of tourists expected to double best management practices. More than 1,500 of these
by 2020. have participated in advanced workshops, where
we provide the tools and techniques for running a
Managed sustainably, tourism can help conserve sustainable tourism business.
natural resources and biodiversity, and generate
sustainable livelihoods and revenues. It can create We have laid the groundwork for a global
financial incentives to keep forests standing and accreditation body, the Sustainable Tourism
sensitive ecosystems intact. The Rainforest Alliance Stewardship Council, and industry leaders – from
is leading a global effort to help define, standardize major tour operators to Expedia – work with us to
pioneering
and scale up sustainable tourism. Partnering with promote conservation and sustainable economic
industry associations, nonprofits, and government development through tourism.

10. D
uring our first 20 years, the Rainforest quickly becoming so established as to be virtually
Alliance has worked to integrate unstoppable, and that in the foreseeable future they
sustainability into the economic will pass a point of no return. Already, major
mainstream, transforming destructive market systems corporations and mainstream consumer outlets
into engines of sustainable production, sourcing, are embracing sustainable practices and products.
consumption and equitable trade. We have enlisted
global companies, reached millions of consumers The Rainforest Alliance is working to optimize these
and captured significant market shares. trends, setting strategic benchmarks for our own
activities in sustainable agriculture, forestry, tourism
Past experience informs our outlook for the next and new industries in the years ahead. Meanwhile,
20 years; each day we move closer to a “tipping point” mass markets themselves will continue to accelerate
when adopting responsible practices will become the and globalize the trend towards sustainable practices,
business norm. We believe sustainability trends are making sustainability a key criterion of success.
About five percent of Fortune 500 companies already work with us.
In the first quarter of 2008 alone, the list of new businesses joining them included:
holiday inn – 1,000 hotels in the US unilever – the world’s largest tea company,
pouring 55,000 cups of coffee from Rainforest which has committed itself to work with the
Alliance Certified farms daily. Rainforest Alliance to source all its tea from
certified sustainable farms – which will be
Mars, inc. – collaborating on establishing 12 percent of the world’s tea, grown in places
best sustainability practices for West African like Kenya, Tanzania, India and Argentina.
cocoa growers.
whole Foods – carrying Rainforest
Mcdonald’s uK – the first major United Alliance Certified coffee, bananas and chocolate
Kingdom retailer to source coffee 100 percent at Whole Foods Market stores throughout the
from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms – an United States and Canada.
estimated 1.8 million pounds of it in 2007.
McDonald’s stores in Germany and Spain are
following suit.
scholastic – which made the largest The Rainforest Alliance currently works with more than 2000
single purchase of FSC-certified paper in history companies globally. Some of the trailblazing companies that
to print the US edition of the last volume in the have been working with us for years include: Gibson Guitar,
Harry Potter series. Kraft Foods, Chiquita, Caribou, Tembec, Domtar, Klabin, IKEA,
Home Depot, The Forestland Group, Potlatch and others.

11. Rainforest Alliance - Vision for Sustainability 9
rainForest alliance tarGets For 2012
Over the next few years, the Rainforest Alliance will continue to expand the land area
of certified agricultural production and increase the number of sustainable products
in the market. Market shares from Rainforest Alliance Certified products will continue
to grow, reaching five percent of the global coffee supply and 20 percent of the global
banana supply by 2012.
We will double the amount of forestland certified as sustainably managed, especially
in biodiverse areas – from 100 million acres in 2007 to 237 million acres by 2012.
We will recruit 10 percent of Fortune 500 companies to source Rainforest Alliance
Certified sustainable paper and engage 20 large furniture makers to source sustainable
wood, seeding the market with major corporate demand for certified inputs.
“Twenty years ago, Corporate America and environmentalists squared off regularly
and acrimoniously across the globe. Today, large companies can’t stop talking about
their green initiatives, and groups like the Rainforest Alliance deserve a slice of the credit.”
strategic
Matthew boyle, Fortune
by 2012 we will launch :
• New standards and best practices for the production of soy, palm oil, sugar and other crops,
enabling the potential environmental benefits of biofuels to be realized, while helping to avoid
pitfalls, such as the conversion of forests to cropland, that could potentially result from the boom
in biofuel crops.
• New standards for sustainable cattle ranching will reduce the environmental impacts of grazing
livestock, one of the most destructive forms of land use. Overgrazing has degraded 1.68 billlion
acres (680 million hectares) worldwide.
• A climate change initiative to certify carbon offsetting projects and protect vast tracts of forest
that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, providing a quantifiable, verifiable incentive
to conserve, replant and sustainably manage forests.
• The Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council, a global governing body that accredits tourism
certification programs and promotes sustainable tourism worldwide, providing a powerful
economic incentive to conserve high value environments, as well as sustainable, resource-based
livelihoods for millions.
• A financial initiative that will help provide funding to companies making investments in sustainable
production and a public policy initiative to encourage governments to provide more such
incentives for sustainable production and consumption.

12. The Post-Tipping Point Economy
T
he Rainforest Alliance envisions a future
when producers and retailers bring a wide
range of sustainable goods and services to
market, and consumers are empowered to make choices
that contribute to a socially just and environmentally
sound economy.
The outlines of this future are already visible. Current
case studies of Rainforest Alliance Certified farms
and FSC/Rainforest Alliance Certified forests afford
glimpses of an emerging global economy that thrives
on sustainable principles.
For example, implementing sustainable production
helped Chiquita cut costs by 12 percent and increase
productivity by 27 percent. It boosted coffee yields
up to 20 percent in Colombia, and increased
profitability by 1,400 percent on a Peruvian coffee
farm. It connected rural Nepalese workers to global
markets for the first time and leveraged $50 in new
investments for every initial dollar investment in a
pan-Latin American project.
These are examples of global, market-driven
sustainability trends that are rapidly approaching
a tipping point. As they continue to grow, they will
impact consumer behavior, livelihoods, markets,
policy and the global environment in certain ways
we can already foresee:
FroM rural nepal
to the world:
SUSTAINABIlITY GOES GlOBAl
Working with USAID, Aveda and local
nonprofits in Nepal’s mountain communities,
the Rainforest Alliance trained 11,000 rural
residents to sustainably harvest wild herbs and
bark. Trainees inventoried wildlife, identifying
and protecting two threatened species. They
worked through conflicts over land use, such
as grazing livestock versus forest management.
They developed financial management tools.
The project generated 14 new small businesses
that sustainably produce pain relief oil, personal
care products, teas and handmade papers, and
plugged over 5,300 households into the global
marketplace. Before certification, primary markets
for the herbs and bark were in India and Nepal.
After certification, markets expanded to include
S&D Aroma in the United Kingdom, Aveda in the
US and tea distributors in Europe.

13. Rainforest Alliance - Vision for Sustainability 11
As these trends continue to build momentum, they
will impact consumer behavior, livelihoods, markets,
policy and the global environment in certain ways
we can already foresee . . .
Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee cultivatinG a sustainable Future
farms in Colombia are growing fast For coloMbia
and have already raised standards,
productivity and profitability $0.25/lb Price Premium for Rainforest Alliance
while improving environmental Certified Coffee Farms in Colombia
and social conditions. Farmers in
Colombia have installed eco-friendly
water treatment systems, seen an $.75 Million $1.6 Million
increase in butterfly and migratory
bird populations, established
social security, improved housing
and provided other benefits for
workers. Beyond coffee, producers
see themselves as cultivating a
2005 2006
sustainable future for their children,
their land and their country. As one Federation of Colombian Coffee Growers will triple
grower on a Rainforest Alliance certified coffee production over the next three years.
Certified farm said, “Every cafetero
is an entrepreneur, a protector
of biodiversity, a provider of jobs.”

14. 12 Rainforest Alliance - Vision for Sustainability
Increasingly, products will carry their “real” Alliance is helping to conserve sensitive ecosystems
prices, with the cost and added value of sustainable while sustaining and enhancing the livelihoods
production built in. Consumers and businesses based on them. Rainforest Alliance Certified
will be more aware of the impacts their choices have farms and FSC/Rainforest Alliance Certified
on workers and the environment, and will forests have reduced habitat loss, energy and water
demonstrate their support for sustainability through consumption, pesticide and chemical fertilizer use
their purchases. and erosion. At the same time they are improving
biodiversity management, reforestation rates, business
This is already beginning to happen. Even while accountability and performance, employment rates
prices in food and other commodities markets and worker safety, education and healthcare.
are changing to incorporate higher energy and
transportation costs, over half of US consumers Such gains in the agricultural, forestry and
surveyed in a Forrester Research poll identified tourism industries form the nucleus of an emerging
themselves as “green.” This includes 12 percent sustainable economy. As they achieve global scale,
(or 25 million) “bright green” consumers strongly they could extend similar benefits around the
motivated to buy goods that save energy or are world, while helping spread sustainable standards
produced in an environmentally responsible way. and benefits to other economic sectors – ranching,
Their ranks, like the market for certified sustainable aquaculture, biofuels and eventually mining, energy
goods and services, are growing rapidly. and other industries.
Growing demand for sustainable products and Ultimately, our approach stands to transform the
services will help protect threatened areas and help way the global economy works. Businesses, financial
degraded areas to rebound. In the foreseeable future, markets and policymakers will no longer regard
billions of natural resource-based livelihoods will be sustainability as an “externality,” but as a key
put on a sustainable footing. criterion for success and an integral aspect of all
economic activity. In the post-tipping point economy,
attainable
In fact, this is already happening. On farms global markets can become engines of environmental
from Indonesia to Côte d’Ivoire, in hotels and lodges conservation and social justice.
from Guatemala to the Galapagos, the Rainforest
GrowinG investMents FiFtyFold in latin aMerica
Governments and international financial institutions are
increasingly embracing sustainability certification as a
development strategy. The Certified Sustainable Products
Alliance (CSPA) has been a partnership between the United
States Agency for International Development (USAID), the
Rainforest Alliance, its partners in the Sustainable Agriculture
Network and more than 35 companies. It has worked with
farms and forests in Central America and Mexico to certify
over 300,000 acres of sustainable timber, coffee and banana
production. This is improving competitiveness of forestry
operations and farms in the region and boosting the supply,
demand and value of their products. It also secures livelihoods
$8.6 million $450 million
and raises living standards in rural communities and catalyzes
new trade and investment. For USAID’s investment of $8.6
million in the program, the CSPA leveraged $450 million
of investment in sustainable product, marketing and
technical assistance.

15. In Peru’s Yanesha Cooperative, Lavazza and VOLCAFE partnered with the Rainforest Alliance
to sustainably produce beans for ¡Tierra! coffee. A comparison of life on the farm before
and after the upgrades required for certification were implemented shows the following:
Before After
Top grade coffee production 85% 91.5% 6.5%
Number of tree species on a farm 12 19 58.3%
Number of children attending school 132 148 12.1%
Net income per hectare $23.60 $353.84 1499.3%
sustainable is attainable
We believe our vision of a sustainable future is not only possible, but imminent. We have
witnessed firsthand the power of the marketplace to change thinking, management
and production – moving people from entrenched unsustainable habits to sustainable ones.
People do not wake up in the morning with the will to pollute, mistreat workers or endanger
wildlife. If they are shown a better way and given the means and incentives to implement it,
most will choose it.
Completing the transition to a sustainable future is not a simple proposition. Basic processes
and services must be reengineered to conserve energy and resources, reduce waste and protect
biodiversity, while offering dignified working conditions and a decent standard of living for workers.
People of all ages and walks of life are affected by these shifts and can embrace new ways
of participating in the global economy.
To that end, the Rainforest Alliance invites . . .
• concerned consumers to purchase products bearing
the Rainforest Alliance frog and FSC seals.
• forward-thinking business leaders to partner with us to lead
a revolution in how goods and services are produced and delivered.
• public sector leaders to help create incentives for the redesign
of the production of goods and services.
• concerned individuals to support us with funding that can help
accelerate the global-scale changes underway.
As Malcolm Gladwell suggests in his book, The Tipping Point, incremental shifts can touch
off “an epidemic of change.” The Rainforest Alliance has been a catalyst to significant shifts
in the way businesses operate and consumers choose. We are at the threshold of a new,
more sustainable economy. The time is now for all of us to recognize the power and sweep
of this epidemic of change hurtling towards us – to anticipate it, facilitate it, invest
in it and work to optimize it for a sustainable future.
photo credits cover: chris wille (top), sQn communications design (bottom); inside cover J. henry Fair; p. 2 robert Goodier (top & bottom left),
sQn communications design (top right); p. 3 rainforest alliance; p. 4 robert Goodier (bottom); p. 5 Jennifer vogel bass (bottom); p. 7 Gilda aburto
(top right), chris wille (bottom); p. 8 rainforest alliance; p. 10 diane de oliver (top), robert Goodier (bottom); p. 11 robert Goodier (bottom right);
back cover sQn communications design

16. s u s ta i n a b l e i s at ta i n a b l e
White logo
665 Broadway, Suite 500
New York, NY 10012-2331
t 212.677.1900 F 212.677.2187
www.rainforest-alliance.org