Category: News

The GPSNR Topic Talks webinar series is organised by the GPSNR Secretariat and presented by GPSNR members. The webinars cover several themes around sustainability and the global natural rubber supply chain.

The Topic Talks series continued on the 17th of March with Dr. Michael Steuwe from WWF US and Gerald Tan from HeveaConnect presenting on the Sumatran Rubber Pilot.

The Sumatran Rubber Pilot (SRP) is a voluntary, self-financed collaboration of rubber supply chain players and technical experts interested to facilitate the production and trade of transparent and sustainable natural rubber. The participating processing mills, tire makers, civil society organisations, technology providers and financial institutions have three major objectives:

• Demonstrate how rubber’s downstream can work together to make its upstream more sustainable.
• Identify, test, evaluate, and report on what it takes to achieve, and how to pay for transparent sustainable natural rubber supply chains.
• Develop “Proof of Concept” approaches from and for GPSNR discussions on policy requirements and implementation, transparency and traceability, capacity building, and shared responsibility.

Within a few months of the project launch in July 2020, SRP’s four rubber processing factories, managed by the Halcyon Agri and ITOCHU groups, had traced up to 1 year of rubber supplies to the village and/or sub-district of origin based on self-declarations by their supplying dealers. These approximate origins of the rubber sources were filtered through WWF Indonesia’s new environmental risk assessment and management tool which identifies High Conservation Value Areas and High Carbon Stock Forest for the whole island of Sumatra. The results allow processors and their respective downstream supply chains to focus their sustainability work with farmers on priority areas.

The SRP partners are enhancing dealer self-declarations with digital apps such as CropIn and Hamurni to assess farms’ potential environmental, social, equity, labour and legal issues accurately and to address them.

As GPSNR adopts principles and criteria for what constitutes transparent and sustainable rubber, the risk assessment algorithms will be adapted to flag compliant rubber accordingly. This is increasingly important for rubber’s downstream as companies’ Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) impacts are becoming key evaluation criteria for investors and financiers who will demand the disclosure of the relevant information. In a parallel development, new supply chain laws will require major companies like the world’s car and tire makers to be responsible for the environmental and social impacts of their supply chains. The collection and analysis of detailed data on upstream supply chains will have to become an essential part of doing business and SRP partners are working to respond appropriately to these changes.

While continuing to focus on increasing the resolution of tracing rubber to its origin and collecting the respective data, SRP will now begin finding ways to best address the social, equity, labour, and legal issues that may have come up in supply chain assessments. 

The SRP is a voluntary, open and flexible platform of like minded partners interested in testing a diversity of approaches to achieve supply chain transparency and sustainability, and welcomes interested rubber supply chain actors to reach out and discuss how they might join the collaboration. GPSNR members interested in participating in the SRP should reach out to the GPSNR Secretariat to get involved in the project.

Strategy and Objectives Working Group

Further to the receipt of several submissions in response to the Environmental Risk Study request for Proposals, the Strategy and Objectives Working Group has now  selected the Proforest team, together with consultant Liza Murphy, to conduct the environmental risk study. The team will be reaching out to GPSNR members to have initial scoping conversations in support of the study.

The Equity Sub-Working Group has drafted a summary for the Living Income studies undertaken in Thailand and Indonesia next year. Pending approval from the Sub-Working Group and S&O Working Group Members, the summary will be released to all GPSNR members and a webinar will be held to present the responses.

Representatives from each of the platform’s other Working Groups have started to draft their Working Group’s Theory of Change. At the end of the month, the Strategy and Objectives Working Group will consolidate this information and develop a platform-wide Theory of Change.

‘Policy Toolbox’ Working Group

The Policy Toolbox Working group has received initial proposals for the development of Implementation Guidance request for proposals (RFP) and will be meeting to discuss and select a proposal.

The Working Group will be setting up focus groups for category members to participate in the development of the implementation guidance. The call to join will be in the newsletter and also in the other article to be published.

In the next weeks, the Working Group will also be developing a new RFP for a consultant to help refine the reporting requirements based on the BRR pilot done last year. The consultant will work to bring the questions into alignment with other reporting systems (e.g. CDP and Ecovadis) and ensure that the questions are phrased in a suitable manner.

‘Capacity Building’ Working Group

The Capacity Building Working Group conducted a webinar to share about the national CB strategies and recruit members to the national sub-groups.

‘Traceability and Transparency’ Working Group

The ‘Traceability and Transparency’ Working Group has now set up 3 sub-groups that will focus on different tasks: refining the WG theory of change, developing a definition of traceability and minimum acceptable levels of traceability, and developing a data collection process with Policy Toolbox Working Group members.

Smallholder Representation Working Group

The Smallholder Representation Working Group has completed logistical organization of the Smallholders caucus call, that will happen tomorrow, 25th February. The caucus call will allow sharing and collaboration among smallholders across national lines.

Through a process led by the Policy Toolbox and Implementation Guidance Working Group (WG1), the General Assembly approved a Policy Framework in September 2020. The Framework outlines specific commitments to sustainable natural rubber that GPSNR company members must include in their public policies or other relevant documents.

The next step is for GPSNR to develop the Implementation Guidance and Reporting Requirements as they pertain to the specific commitments laid out in the GPSNR Policy Framework.  WG1 is engaging consultant(s) to develop the Implementation Guidance and Reporting Requirements. As the Implementation Guidance and Reporting Requirements will vary depending on where a member company sits within the natural rubber supply chain, input will be needed to develop these documents for the following stakeholder categories:  natural rubber producers/processors and traders, tire makers and other natural rubber product manufacturers, and auto makers and other end users.

GPSNR is creating focus groups for each of the three stakeholder categories to enable broader participation of members from each stakeholder group.  Members from other stakeholder groups are also encouraged to join the focus groups to help ensure a balanced dialogue.

Focus groups will work closely with the consultant(s) to ensure that the Implementation Guidance and Reporting Requirements are relevant to the respective stakeholder categories. Once these documents are finalized, they will be voted on at the next General Assembly.

GPSNR is now looking for volunteers to join the stakeholder category focus groups that will be consulted during the development of GPSNR’s Implementation Guidance. There are no limits to how many category members can join the focus groups. Members are encouraged to join at least one focus group.

The entire process is expected to conclude by June 2021.

Before the second General Assembly on 23 September 2020, the GPSNR Executive Committee had approved the creation of a Shared Responsibility Working Group that would be tasked to define the principles of shared responsibility for GPSNR.

The term ‘shared responsibility’ is relatively new to the sustainability scene, and as such, there is currently no commonly accepted definition for it. In general, shared responsibility is a value-driven concept which recognizes that supply chains are structurally imbalanced in terms of value and benefit, risk, burden of compliance, climate change impacts, power of negotiation, and access to information and resources. A shared responsibility approach strives for value, benefits, risks and improvement investments to be equitably distributed across all actors within the supply chain.​

In order to establish the foundational work that would enable the creation of the Shared Responsibility Working Group, the Executive Committee formed a Task Force comprising several of its members. Over a series of weekly calls, the Task Force has developed a Terms of Reference (ToR) and a set of Guiding Principles to inform the work of the new Shared Responsibility Working Group.

It is envisioned that the Shared Responsibility Working Group will draw from the Guiding Principles for Shared Responsibility (currently being developed by the Executive Committee’s Shared Responsibility Task Force), as well as the GPSNR Equity Definition and the studies launched by the Equity Working Group, to develop an implementation framework for the platform with respect to shared responsibility.

One of the key strategies identified by GPSNR to achieve our vision of a fair, equitable and environmentally sound natural rubber value chain is to ensure that there is capacity amongst smallholders and industrial plantations to adopt best practices in natural rubber production.  

In 2020, the Capacity Building Working Group, through various stakeholder interviews and Working Group discussions, proposed a set of country-specific capacity building activities for four countries as a start: Côte d’Ivoire, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand. In developing these strategies, the Working Group sought to first identify threats to the sustainable production of natural rubber within the different local contexts, as well as the underlying causes for these threats. From this initial research, the working group developed proposed capacity building actions, along with main objectives and rationales for each chosen action. The approach adopted by the Working Group in designing these actions is to allow for immediate engagement and implementation on the ground. 

Following the Executive Committee’s endorsement of the Working Group’s capacity building proposals, the Working Group will be conducting a sharing session for all GPSNR members, during which more details about each national capacity building strategy will be presented.

Recruiting Members to Capacity Building National Sub-Groups

Now that the capacity building strategies are in place, the Working Group is inviting interested GPSNR members to join the soon-to-be-created National Sub-Groups that will be mandated to oversee, guide and implement the national capacity building strategies and to promote GPSNR policies and initiatives.  

The development of the National Sub-Groups recognizes existing local capacity building initiatives in the rubber sector and their independence of GPSNR and aims to cooperate with local efforts and stakeholders to achieve mutually agreed outcomes.

Deforestation, land grabbing, and human and labour rights violations have been associated with the production of natural rubber. In order to transform the global natural rubber supply chain into a fair, equitable and environmentally sound one, it is crucial that we work to reduce such social and environmental risks. This is by no means an easy feat with about 6 million smallholder farmers producing around 85% of the world’s natural rubber; the complexities of the supply chain make it difficult for buyers to ensure that sustainable practices are employed for rubber cultivation and processing. Recognizing the importance of enhancing traceability and transparency in the natural rubber supply chain to support the identification and mitigation of social and environmental risks, GPSNR established the Traceability and Transparency Working Group.

Over the past few months, the Working Group has commissioned two studies around traceability and transparency tools and technology. The reports were submitted by the consultants at the end of October 2020. The findings from each report are summarized below.

Spatial Data & Mapping Tools for Detecting Deforestation and Threats to HCVS Areas in Rubber Production Landscapes

Report developed by Zoological Society of London (ZSL)

This report reviews a variety of spatial mapping tools and approaches which may be employed by GPSNR and its members to address deforestation and degradation risk in rubber supply chains.

The key recommendations from this study are that GPSNR members should pool resources to collectively commission landscape-level HCV and HCS screening for key rubber-producing countries and these should be updated periodically. Spatial data maps from this process should be made publicly available to encourage cross-sectoral collaboration on tackling deforestation.

HCV/S datasets may then be integrated into satellite monitoring platforms and combined with near-real time monitoring of deforestation and forest degradation. This will allow accurate spatial analysis of the impacts of rubber production in key forested landscapes. GPSNR members may select different satellite monitoring tools or service providers, based on their own needs and budget. For upstream actors closer to the source, satellite monitoring may allow for preventative measures to be taken at the early stages of deforestation.

The full Executive Summary can be viewed here.

Review of Transparency & Traceability Tools and Solutions

Report prepared by e-Audit Hong-Kong Ltd

This report presents options on supply chain transparency and/ or product traceability solutions that GPSNR may consider as well as recommendations to select the most suitable transparency/traceability solutions for the GPSNR initiative.

A range of solutions currently implemented in commodity industries similar to the natural rubber industry were reviewed and evaluated, resulting in the identification of several key elements that will need to be considered to select the most suitable and cost-efficient solution.

The report also considers three potential infrastructure options (centralized, hybrid and decentralized) that should be considered as they have profound implications on the range of supply chain transparency and product/batch traceability solution(s) that GPSNR may consider to adopt.

This report concludes that the technology currently available makes it possible for all GPSNR key requirements to be integrated into one single solution. However, such a centralized solution may be costly and cumbersome to implement. At this stage of development of the GPSNR initiative it is recommended that GPSNR starts implementing a more flexible hybrid solution, with a centralized infrastructure/ data hub focused on reporting and monitoring of clearly defined performance KPIs, that can be connected through APIs to existing field level risk assessment, risk mapping and traceability solutions currently implemented by GPSNR members.

The full Executive Summary can be viewed here.

Strategy and Objectives Working Group

In our December update, we reported that the Working Group would be conducting interviews with the shortlisted candidates who had responded to the Request for Proposal for a study on environmental impacts, and risks, in the natural rubber value chain. The Working Group has since completed their interviews and will soon be making a decision on who to award the contract to.

The refinement of GPSNR’s Theory of Change is also underway, with a planning call having taken place on Monday this week. The call involved nominated representatives  from across all GPSNR’s Working Groups, working to chart the plan for a collaborative effort to refine the Platform’s Theory of Change.

In other news, several Thai smallholders have been onboarded into the Working Group and, after an introductory call with the Co-Chairs,  are now participating in the Working Group calls.

As the Equity Sub-Group prepares to present the living income studies to GPSNR members, more details will be conveyed to members nearer the date.

‘Policy Toolbox’ Working Group

Following the approval of the GPSNR Policy Framework, the Policy Toolbox Working Group will develop Implementation Guidance and future Reporting Requirements as they pertain to the specific policy components in the framework.  

In order to achieve this, a Request for Proposal (RFP) has been posted for a fixed term consultancy to facilitate the development of the Implementation Guidance and Reporting Requirements for each of the three stakeholder categories: natural rubber producers/processors and traders, tire makers and other natural rubber product manufacturers, and auto makers and other end users.  GPSNR members are invited to circulate the RFP to any relevant contacts who might be interested in submitting proposals for this work. The deadline for submission is 5 February 2021.

The Implementation Guidance and Reporting Requirements will vary depending on where a member company sits within the natural rubber supply chain. As such, GPSNR will invite the creation of category focus groups to enable broader participation of members from the three stakeholder categories (although focus groups can also include members from other stakeholder categories). The details on recruitment for these focus groups will be announced sometime next month.

Apart from facilitating the development of category-specific Implementation Guidance by reviewing guidance and requirements from other initiatives, the consultant will also facilitate discussion sessions with the focus groups to finalize the implementation guidance for each stakeholder category.

‘Capacity Building’ Working Group

In 2020, the Working Group proposed national capacity building strategies for four countries as a starting point. Following the Executive Committee’s endorsement of the strategies, the Working Group is embarking on the next step of putting these plans into action on-the-ground. The Working Group is looking for interested members to form National Sub-Groups mandated to oversee, guide and implement the strategies. The Working Group will conduct a webinar in mid February to share the strategies with GPSNR members. Check out our article, ‘From Strategy to Implementation: Next Steps for Capacity Building’ for more on this story.

‘Traceability and Transparency’ Working Group

The two studies around traceability and transparency tools and technology commissioned in 2020 by the Working Group are ready to be shared with GPSNR members. Read our article, ‘Seeing Through to a Solution: Traceability and Transparency Tools and Technology Studies’ for more on this topic.

Smallholder Representation Working Group

The Working Group’s revised Terms of Reference (ToR) was approved by the Executive Committee during its monthly call in January. Under the revised ToR, the Smallholder Representation Working Group has identified two main objectives for its work moving forward: the first, to support the creation of an active smallholder community within GPSNR and the second, to extend the on-boarding of smallholders from rubber producing countries. The Working Group will be planning its activities for the year head, ensuring that they support and contribute towards achieving these new objectives. 

As a start, the Working Group will be looking to onboard smallholder members into the group, as well as facilitate the organization of the next Smallholder Category Call.

During the September 2020 General Assembly, GPSNR members voted to allow the Executive Committee to move forward with designing and implementing a Grievance Mechanism, as outlined in a revision to the statutes. The GPSNR Grievance Mechanism is a non-legal system established for stakeholders to express concerns they have about a GPSNR member or the GPSNR Secretariat and find optimal ways to resolve disputes. This Mechanism is distinct from the Grievance Mechanisms that ordinary company members are required to establish and maintain, and should be used in the event that the company’s mechanism has not successfully resolved the complaints raised.

Membership Survey

GPSNR members are invited to comment on the proposed Grievance Mechanism by providing their responses via a survey. The survey will be open until 29 January 2021, after which the results will be compiled and reviewed.

Members Webinar

There will be an informational webinar on 14 January 2021 at 8pm (Singapore time) during which the members developing the Grievance Mechanism will share more details about the mechanism and conduct a Q&A session.

GPSNR members may download materials related to the GPSNR Grievance Mechanism, take the survey and register for the webinar using the links provided in the Members Portal.

Strategy and Objectives Working Group

The Working Group has received several bids in response to the Request for Proposal (RFP) for a study on environmental impacts, and risks, in the natural rubber value chain that was published in November. The Working Group has shortlisted three candidates and, as part of the evaluation process, will be conducting with these candidates in January 2021 before awarding the bid to the successful candidate. 

The Working Group is also starting on the Theory of Change document update, an exercise which will involve all other Working Groups. This will take place in January 2021. The Equity sub-Group is preparing summary documents for the living income studies and is planning to present the studies to GPSNR members in early 2021.

‘Policy Toolbox’ Working Group

The Working Group has finalized the Baseline Reporting Requirements and these will go to the Executive Committee for review. The Working Group is also developing a Request for Proposal for a consultant to work on the implementation guidance and reporting requirements.

‘Capacity Building’ Working Group

Since the last update, the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) Task Force has had their first kickoff call and is beginning the work to identify and/or refine guiding principles for GAPs appropriate for the sustainable production of natural rubber.

The Working Group is also engaging the Executive Committee on their comments regarding the proposed capacity building strategies for four focus countries.

‘Traceability and Transparency’ Working Group

In early December, the Working Group onboarded smallholders from Indonesia and Côte d’Ivoire into the group, with the smallholders participating in their first meeting on 10 December. 

Aside from reviewing the Working Group’s Terms of Reference (ToR) and its objectives moving forward, the Working Group will also be starting to develop recommendations for members on traceability and transparency tools in early 2021.

Smallholder Representation Working Group

The revised ToR for the Working Group is undergoing a final review, following which it will be sent to the Executive Committee for approval. 

The Working Group has also formalised a document that defines the role and key tasks of a Country Champion. So far, Country Champions have been actively involved in organizing and arranging national calls, supporting smallholder engagement, and providing technical and linguistic assistance.   

As part of the Working Group’s revamp, it will be undergoing a membership refresh. Part of this will also involve smallholders being onboarded into the Working Group in 2021.  The Working Group is also looking into onboarding smallholders from Cambodia. Any GPSNR members who have operations in Cambodia or partners working in Cambodia who can help to identify potential smallholders for an onboarding workshop are welcome to reach out to the Working Group’s Co-Chairs, Ulrich Antoni and Julian Oram.

We’ve refreshed our website and added some exciting features especially for GPSNR members.

Introducing the Members Portal

The Members Portal brings together all the resources available to GPSNR members, and provides easy and quick access to ongoing member activities. Members can access this feature by logging in with the username and password provided by the Secretariat. The account details will be sent to the primary contact of each organization in early January 2021. Members who would like to request for additional accounts may contact Nigel for assistance.

Besides the Members Portal, the website features a revamped navigation menu with new pages featuring our Working Groups, Executive Committee and the Secretariat. GPSNR Articles, tenders and other documents can be accessed under the Resources heading of the new navigation menu.

Have thoughts or feedback about the new look? We want to hear from you! Write in to the Secretariat with your comments.