“Brazil is a very interesting country. Not only is it one of the most important producers of cocoa and coffee in the world, but it's also a leader in the global arena, particularly in terms of sustainability,” says Santiago Gowland, Chief Executive Officer of the Rainforest Alliance.
Gowland will speak at the World Cocoa Foundation Partnership Meeting in São Paulo next month as part of a plenary session on World Cocoa Economics.
He will be joined by high-ranking executives from across the cocoa sector who will discuss the roles of business models, supply chain resilience, governance and shifting consumer preferences.
Anthony Myers
The fact that the WCF Partnership Meeting is back in Brazil for the first time since 2018 is important for Gowland, an Argentinian national, who took the helm of the Rainforest Alliance in 2021.
“Brazil has one of the most progressive forest covers in the world. It is a country with one of the world's most critical ecosystems and a big part of the Amazon,” he says.
But he also warns that tropical forests are at “tipping point.” He points out that coffee and cocoa, Brazil’s two most critical national crops, can become a shield for the tropical forest and a net positive influence on those areas.
When consumers indulge themselves, it should not be at the expense of ecosystems or human rights’ abuse, and the landscape should be better off not worse, he explains.
Gowland hopes that the WCF Partnership meeting will address the future of cocoa production in Brazil and globally. “How do we shift gears to make this a more resilient, adaptable, fairer market? I think there are a lot of interesting things boiling.”
He describes the region's agenda as incredibly positive and pledges to support Brazil, its producers and associations. “The World Cocoa Foundation and the Rainforest Alliance are completely committed to using this meeting as an acceleration moment for the country’s regenerative agenda,” he says.
Gowland brings a wealth of corporate experience to his role at the Rainforest Alliance. During his 25-year career, he led sustainability initiatives for Unilever and Nike.
“I know from the inside, from a P&L [profit & loss] perspective, companies have been externalizing costs. It is for the benefit of the sector to begin to reverse directionalization and adopt strategies to include the value of people in nature. It seems like there is no feasible future business model for the big companies other than to begin working on that internalization.”
He reminds the industry that the amount of deforestation through cocoa is also huge. “The question for me today is right now, it seems that, because of the level of degradation of land, because of global warming, etc, the industry needs to internalize the value of people and nature in the supply chains just to make them more adaptable, more resilient, and protect productivity.
Rainforest Alliance origins
Rainforest Alliance Certification began in 1992 with a banana farm in Costa Rica and has evolved to support farmers and companies beyond certification, providing innovative pathways for regenerative farming and climate resilience.
In its last published annual report (2023), the Rainforest Alliance’s Thriving Landscapes programme supported five critical farming landscapes in Ghana, Peru, Guatemala, Mexico, and Kenya through farmer training and collaboration.
In Indonesia, it also trained 1,928 small-scale farmers, including women. Rainforest Alliance now claims to certify 51% of the cocoa market (that’s 1.2 million cocoa farmers). Gowland says one of its main priorities is to bring more clarity and transparency to the supply chain from farmer to consumer.
Beyond certification
Suppose one of the consumer trends is looking beyond certification and going back to origin to check the provenance of a chocolate bar brand?
In that case, Gowland says a good example is to emulate Champagne, where vineyards are very protective of origin.
“What does it really mean when you connect the origin to the brand equity, to the value proposition, to the quality and to consumer engagement?
“What does it mean when through a seal, you can have a QR code to access more information and connect, bringing the producer and the consumer closer together in a reinforcing alliance,” he asks.
Anthony Myers
“So that's something we are really exploring. For big brands like Nestlé, Hershey, Mars, Mondelēz, Lindt, etc, 80% of the value, and 80% of the market capitalization of those companies is on intangible assets. It's on the brands, to have the ability to connect the supply and the demand in a reinforcing loop through data and investment and finance, and transform the market, and this is why the reinforcement is in such a pivotal position right now.”
Gowland believes that the industry is entering a period in which the cost of inaction for cocoa companies will be higher than the cost of action.
He shows how the Rainforest Alliance has worked on solutions with Hershey's, Nestlé, Mars, and other leading companies.
Hershey's Income Accelerator
“With Hershey's, we have this super interesting pilot called the Hershey's Income Accelerator, and we are transferring cash to 5,000 farmers. This initiative is helping to create livelihoods and strengthen strategies to provide training in agricultural practices.
“The beauty is that it's blockchain, and we have a system called the Farmer Connect, that gives the money directly to the farmer's pocket.”
He also urges the industry to take a pre-competitive sector approach to alleviate farmer poverty fundamentally. “What I observe when I go to Ghana, and other countries is, that all these big companies have their own child labour, income accelerator, restoration projects working in silos in those landscapes.
“And the problem with that approach is that issues like poverty, deforestation, or even pesticide management are systemic issues, and if you can't have a coordinated strategy for collective action in those places, it doesn't really work.
“So what we are doing, because we are an alliance, we are non-profit, we work in the pre-competitive space … and we are a great broker, convener, and cross sector collective action facilitator.
Protecting the Amazon
A recent report by Reuters claimed that global deforestation increased by 4% in 2022 and over 2021, with over 6.6m hectares of forest lost.
Protecting the Amazon and Atlantic forests (as well as forests in other regions) will be high on the agenda of this year's WCF PM and COP30 in Brazil.
“We have this window where agriculture is responsible for 80% of deforestation through global warming. The risk of the cocoa, coffee, and other sectors clearing more tropical forests to find land suitable for supply, is high.
“And so what we need to do this decade is find a way to shift the whole market, not just the niche, not just this little company, but everybody.”
Second-party verification CORE
As part of this action, the Rainforest Alliance is leading from the front and introducing a three-tier sustainability system as it approaches 2030. It is also testing a new second-party verification CORE, which it will implement this year.
“It involves meeting producers where they are, and it’s the first step in the sustainability ladder, but at a more basic level, that's what 70% of the market is, let alone origins or brands,” Gowland explains.
“These specialized solutions will provide farmers with increased market access and the opportunity to validate their specialist sustainability practices. It’s an opportunity for companies to stand out, strengthen their sustainability commitments, and transparently report on ambitious ESG goals.”
“It will be about demonstrating farms and companies that give more than they take from people in nature, showing that there's more carbon in the field, more biodiversity protected, so that will be the net positive.”
With 50% of the global cocoa supply uncertified, Gowland says stopping deforestation without a fair and universal system is difficult.
The forthcoming EUDR could become a great leveller and an essential piece of legislation. “Even though not everybody exports to the European Union, it will provide a kind of a market access mechanism to stop deforestation.
“We have those mechanisms, but the point is that deforestation is still very pervasive, and many of these tropical forests are reaching a tipping point, a downward spiral, like the Amazon.”
We finish our conversation with Gowland passionately arguing the case for ensuring that the agriculture sector stops deforestation and helps restore, heal, and regenerate those landscapes. "And that's what we're going for in the run-up to 2030,” he says.
“We have this window where we need to shift agriculture from being the main problem, for people and nature to being the primary solution.”
- Santiago Gowland, Chief Executive Officer, Rainforest Alliance, will join the panel at WCFPM: Plenary session: World cocoa economics
- Registration and more information: Visit the WCF website for the full agenda and event details.
cocoaradar.com is:
- Official Media Partner - World Cocoa Foundation Partnership Meeting in São Paulo, Brazil, 19-20 March 2025.
- 'From Our Desk. To Yours'
- Sign-up here for free and upgrade to an annual plan with a 35% discount.