Rainforest Alliance

Hello. We are the Rainforest Alliance, an international non-profit organization. Our story began in 1987 in New York City, during a time of great concern for the planet. Around the world, tropical rainforests—those incredibly rich, green belts of life that circle the Earth’s equator—were being cut down at a frightening speed. These forests are vital ecosystems, home to countless species of plants and animals and essential for the health of our global climate. We were founded with a clear mission: to conserve these precious forests. We believed the best way to do this was not by building fences around them, but by showing that people and nature could thrive together. Our goal was to change the way business was done, demonstrating how people could make a living from the land while also protecting it for future generations.

To connect our mission with people making everyday choices in supermarkets, we needed a clear and simple symbol. We created a certification seal that anyone could recognize: a bright green frog. Why a frog? Frogs are what scientists call indicator species. Because they have thin, permeable skin, they are very sensitive to pollution and changes in their surroundings. When you find a healthy population of frogs in an area, it’s a strong sign that the ecosystem around them is also healthy and in balance. So, when you see our little green frog seal on a product like coffee, chocolate, tea, or bananas, it carries a powerful message. It tells you that the product comes from a farm that has met our rigorous standards. These standards are designed to protect the environment, ensure that workers are treated fairly and paid properly, and help improve the overall well-being of farmers and their families.

Our work is built on partnerships with farmers and forest communities across the globe. It’s important to understand that we do not own or manage the farms that earn our certification. Instead, we work alongside farmers as allies, providing them with training in more sustainable agricultural methods. These techniques are designed to work in harmony with the local environment. For example, we teach farmers how to improve the health of their soil without relying on harmful chemicals, how to conserve precious water resources, and how to use natural methods to protect their crops from pests. We also help them plant native trees on their land, which prevents deforestation and creates vital corridors for wildlife. This approach is rooted in a central idea: that true sustainability connects three essential pillars. Environmental health, which protects biodiversity and fights climate change; social equity, which ensures people are treated with respect; and economic viability, which helps farmers earn a better income from their hard work.

As the years went by, our understanding of environmental challenges grew, and so did the scope of our work. We realized that our approach could be applied not just in tropical rainforests but in other important landscapes and ecosystems around the world that were also under threat. Our mission to create a more sustainable world required us to think bigger and find new ways to increase our positive impact. A very important moment in our history came in 2018. In that year, we merged with UTZ, a highly respected certification program that was based in the Netherlands and shared our commitment to sustainable farming. By joining forces, we combined our decades of experience, our networks of partners, and our global teams. This merger made us a stronger, more efficient, and more influential organization, allowing us to advance our shared mission on a much larger scale and build a more powerful alliance for change.

Today, our work continues with more urgency than ever. We now have partnerships and programs in more than 70 countries, where we are helping to tackle some of the most pressing environmental and social challenges of our time. These include the global climate crisis, ongoing deforestation, the loss of biodiversity, and the deep-rooted poverty that affects many rural communities. Our certification program remains a core part of what we do, but our work is broader than that. We aim to create a global alliance where everyone has a part to play. This alliance connects farmers who are committed to sustainable practices, businesses that source their ingredients responsibly, and consumers like you who can choose products that support a healthier planet. Together, we are all working toward the same goal: to create a world where nature is protected and people prosper.