NGO Alliance Chiquita -- Rainforest Alliance Tie-Up

NGO Alliance

Chiquita -- Rainforest Alliance Tie-Up

The Role of NGOs in Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility

The Role of NGOs in Environmental Protection

In complementing the efforts of the public and public health sectors towards providing more adequate and responsive healthcare services to poor people, non-governmental organizations or NGOs have come up with their brand of involvement and solution to problems (Chitra, 2003). Their objectives are to describe and discuss the common characteristics of functioning health systems in a given socio-economic, socio-cultural, political and ecological setting; highlight and delineate the crucial factors for reforms and manage an provide efficient health care services in the community; and act as catalyst for local and community participation in the overall improvement in the quality of life. Their civil and environmental objective is to develop civil and environmental consciousness among the public. The institutions currently involved in NGO environmental activities include the Environmental Training Institute, the Tata Research Institute, and the National Institute of Health and Family (Chitra).

Operations

The growing range of NGO activities spans advocacy, analysis and awareness-raising; brokerage; conflict resolution; capacity-building; delivery of services; and evaluation and monitoring (Nelson, 2007). A major institutional development in the past two decades is the relationship between NGOs and the corporate sector, specifically in the natural sector, also called the extractive sector. The key types of engagement NGOs undertake with the sector are confrontation, communication, consultation, and cooperation. From the strictest to the mildest, these activities range from filing of lawsuits, shareholder activism and media campaign against a specific business, community-level partnerships and friendly arrangements, and accountability mechanisms and cooperative agreements (Nelson).

Strategies

Many NGOs use at least 8 different tactics to encourage businesses to accept and practice social responsibility (Winston, 2002). These are dialogue to promote the adoption of voluntary codes of conduct; advocacy of social accounting and independent verification schemes; shareholder resolutions; documentation of abuses and moral shaming; boycotts of company products or divestment of stock; advocacy of selective purchasing laws; advocacy of government-imposed standards; and lawsuits seeking punitive damages (Winston).

Rainforest Alliance

Founded in 1987 by Daniel Katz, Rainforest Alliance (2012) is a non-governmental organization sworn to conserve biodiversity and insure sustainable livelihoods. It pursues this mission by transforming land-use practices, business practices, and consumer behavior. It is driven by a vision where people and the environment are preserved and prosper together. Its strategy is to enjoin businesses and communities to observe certain environmental and social standards and to link them up to the global marketplace where sustainable goods and services are increasingly in demand. It uses the power of markets to control deforestation and environmental destruction, timber extraction, agricultural expansion, cattle ranching and tourism. It manages millions of acres of working forests, farms, ranchland, and hotel properties according to strict sustainability standards. It links businesses to their conscientious consumers, who identify their goods and services through the Rainforest Certified seal and Rainforest Alliance Verified mark. This connection proves that sustainable practices can enable enterprises to thrive in the modern economy. Its objectives are to keep forests standing, arrest climate change, protect wildlife, alleviate poverty, and transform business practices. It has 35,000 members and more than 300 employees worldwide in 20 global offices to fulfill these mission, vision and objectives (Rainforest Alliance).

Rainforest Alliance-Chiquita International Tie-Up

Rainforest Alliance initiated a tie-up with Chiquita Brands International, Inc., one of the largest agricultural firms in the world, in 1992 under the Better Banana Project (Source Watch, 2008). The collaboration was described as bridging the gap between enterprises and NGOs. In 1999, Chiquita became the third largest banana exporter in Costa Rica, providing 18% of the total banana exports in the world (Bendell, 2012). In 2005, Chiquita launched a major marketing campaign in Europe to firm up its position as the top supplier to the European market before the introduction of import taxes on bananas from Latin America. It wanted to keep European consumers' willingness to pay as much as 25% for Chiquita bananas more than other brands. It reported that one key component of this campaign was the introduction of a new Rainforest Alliance-certified label on its bananas in 9 European countries. This certification was the expression of Chiquita's commitment to high standards of social and environmental standards. Consumers perceive the quality of Chiquita's bananas and the company's respect for the environment. This acceptance and trust resulted in exports receipts valued at $623 million (Source Watch, Bendell).

A Better Banana

Chiquita has the reputation as the company that invented the banana industry. Rainforest Alliance and its allies guided Chiquita's efforts at reinventing itself, one farm at a time through the Sustainable Agriculture Network (Rainforest Alliance, 2002). The network consists of environmental groups in 8 tropical nations. Their auditors inspect Chiquita's banana farms every year to assure strict compliance with the NGO's environmental and social standards. Farms, which meet these standards, are given the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal as awards. On the other hand, the improvement on the company's farms has produced a huge positive impact on the vast tracts of land and more than 100 communities. The grant of certifications to independently owned farms is steadily increasing their size, making the population reap benefits from the use of these standards. Through the tie-up, Chiquita has shown that environmental and social conditions can be improved without sacrificing production. Chiquita invested more than $20 million for capital improvements, production costs still went down by more than $100 million (Rainforest Alliance).

Spurred by the successful tie up, Chiquita launched a company-wide code of conduct and began disseminating corporate responsibility reports (Rainforest Alliance, 2002). Today, all the company's farms have been certified, based on the Social Accountability SA800 criteria, which are currently the strictest and verifiable social standards. In 2001, Chiquita signed a landmark labor rights framework agreement with regional and international unions (Rainforest Alliance).

Corporate Social Responsibility 2007-2008 Report Highlights

Chiquita, through its CEO Fernando Aguirre, emphasizes the prime importance of the company's compliance program (Chiquita, 2008). The program aims at setting and enforcing strict standards of conduct, to support employees in better understanding these standards, and to maintain transparency in all their actions. This includes employees' means to ask questions or raise concerns about any questionable activities. The six key goals of the compliance program are lead from he top downwards, promote a culture of integrity and high standards, clear articulation of company standards of conduct, transparency and open communication within the organization, support of employee education and awareness and risk prevention through training, and prompt remedial action against misconduct (Chiquita).