To tackle deforestation, the Peruvian government is promoting sustainable forest management by incentivising certification through reductions in yearly lease payments on concessions. Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification has rapidly grown to complement this government regulation, leading to positive impacts on the environment, community relations, and the rights of indigenous peoples.

Public and private sector stakeholders are increasingly looking to voluntary standards as one of the key tools to deliver their sustainability goals. While voluntary standards are clearly demonstrating their contribution to livelihoods, decent work and preservation of the environment, there is renewed focus on the extent to which these tools can protect and promote core human rights in sectors where they operate. 

Giving workers a decent standard of living through a coalition of seven standards systems

Ensuring resilient livelihoods and sustained employment for vulnerable communities was already a stretch pre-Covid-19. For those communities lacking a stable income, the impact has been inconceivable.

In 2019, the ISEAL Innovations Fund awarded a grant to Bonsucro to collaboratively develop and test methodologies to help financial service providers improve how they assess their agricultural clients’ sustainability performance, to enable access better financing opportunities for farmers who produce sustainably. Project partners included the Better Cotton Initiative, and the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS).