6/3/2008

Tensie Whelan, Executive Director, Rainforest Alliance

Chad Trewick, Senior Director of Coffee and Tea, Caribou Coffee

Partners: Caribou Coffee, Rainforest Alliance

The International Conservation Caucus Foundation (ICCF) hosted a Congressional Staff Briefing with Tensie Whelan, Executive Director of the Rainforest Alliance and Chad Trewick, Senior Director of Coffee and Tea for Caribou Coffee.

Coffee (the second most traded commodity in the world after oil) and cocoa can be grown in a way that protects monkeys, migratory bird species, and water suppliers as well as sequestering carbon and providing sustainable livelihoods. Alternatively, it can be planted in a way that contributes to a growing environmental crisis through rampant deforestation, soil erosion, and chemical leaching as well as driving farmers further into poverty.

The US Government, through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), has been a significant funder of investments in sustainable coffee and cocoa that help to protect biodiversity, plant trees, and provide sustainable livelihoods for growers. The Rainforest Alliance, an international environmental organization, works with more than one million farm families to create productive, efficient, and sustainable farms. In order to earn the Rainforest Alliance-Certified seal, farms must meet rigorous social and environmental standards developed by the Rainforest Alliance and other conservation groups that comprise the Sustainable Agriculture Network. Tensie Whelan, Executive Director of the Rainforest Alliance, will discuss the organization's work with USAID, GEF and scores of private sector leaders including Caribou Coffee, Kraft, and McDonald's, to promote and increase the sale of sustainably certified coffee.

Private sector partners are also crucial to the success of efforts to make coffee and cocoa production more sustainable. One such partner is leading specialty chain Caribou Coffee, which has made a commitment to source 50% of its coffee as certified by the Rainforest Alliance by the end of 2008. Chad Trewick, Senior Director for Coffee and Tea for Caribou Coffee, spoke about his coffee buying experiences and led a coffee tasting and education session. Participants learned how to taste coffee and the differences between coffees of different origins.


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