Highlights from General Assembly 2020

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GPSNR’s second General Assembly was opened by Director Stefano Savi, who wished everyone a warm welcome to the virtual event.

Next on the agenda was a message from Dr Gerd Müller, the German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development. The message was delivered via video by Sebastian Lesch, Head of Unit – International Agricultural Policy, Agriculture, Innovation, from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). In his message, Dr Müller underscored BMZ’s support for GPSNR as a member and donor. He also urged all links in the natural rubber supply chain to continue to work towards comprehensive sustainability.

Stefano also took the opportunity to acknowledge and thank BMZ and other donor partners such as Partnerships for Forests (P4F), a UK aid funded program, for their continued support, as well as WBCSD and the Tire Industry Project for their support in the Platform’s launch phase.

The opening remarks were delivered by Segsarn Trai-Ukos, Chair of the GPSNR Executive Committee. In his remarks, Segsarn summarized the achievements of the Platform over the past 18 months, recognising the dedication and effort put in by members of the Working Groups and the Executive Committee despite the global pandemic. “We have accomplished much in our first 18 months, and I’m excited to see our continued progress as we move forward.” he concluded.

After the opening remarks, Stefano gave a Secretariat Update, showing how GPSNR has grown since the first General Assembly. Membership has almost tripled, and engagement remains high. On the Communications front, GPSNR maintains a global outreach with its website, and has seen an increase in social media followers, along with mentions and features by numerous media outlets. Stefano also touched upon GPSNR’s financial status, which he described as healthy.

The various Co-Chairs of the respective Working Groups then proceeded to give a brief update on what they have achieved so far, as well as the next steps. For a more detailed look at what comes next for our Working Groups, check out the article ‘The Road Ahead for GPSNR’s Working Groups’.

And finally, the moment everyone had been waiting for – the results of the voting.

The verdict for each resolution was revealed one at a time, with the number of votes for, against and abstained, displayed for each resolution. All proposed resolutions were passed with overwhelming majorities.

Up next to be revealed were the results of the Executive Committee elections. These were announced by category, with the elected representatives giving a short speech after being introduced. For a look at GPSNR’s second Executive Committee, check out our article ‘A First Look at GPSNR’s second Executive Committee’.

Lastly, Co-Chair of the GPSNR Executive Committee, Amy Smith, delivered some heartfelt words as part of her closing remarks. “We all have the responsibility to drive sustainability in the global marketplace because our forests, wildlife, climate, communities and businesses depend on it,” she said. “And GPSNR has the ability to effect that transformational change.”

September 30, 2020

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GPSNR Working Groups Update: May 2021

It’s been a busy few months for all the working groups! Here are some of their key updates.

Strategy and Objectives Working Group

In April 2021, the Strategy and Objectives working group completed a significant piece of work by finalising the Desired State Document. This month, the group has received ten key recommendations on equity from the Equity Sub-working group.

These include integrating equity-centric Principles, Practices and Priorities across GPSNR’s procedures and work programs and recommending member companies to do the same. You can find all the recommendations here.

These recommendations go beyond the work of the group itself and cover the role of equity in most GPSNR interventions.

Proforest with Liza Murphy have also submitted the second draft of the Environmental Risk Assessment of Natural Rubber Production and Production and Processing to the group.

Smallholder Representation Working Group

Since August 2020, the smallholder onboarding process has been integrating smallholders into GPSNR’s structures and functions. This month, the smallholder working group conducted a r satisfaction survey for the 28 smallholders within GPSNR to assess the successes and challenges of the smallholder onboarding process.

Of the 28 smallholders at GPSNR, 16 responded to the survey. While structural issues like the digital divide, access to technology and language barriers are causes for concern in smallholder engagement, the survey results were encouraging.

15 out of 16 smallholders responded positively on being asked if they better understood GPSNR’s aims after the onboarding process. They also offered plenty of constructive feedback to improve the onboarding experience for future members. These include improving communications and information sharing, clearer rules and organisational goals, and ways to enhance smallholder engagement on the platform. However, the information that remains unclear for a majority of the respondents centers around the rules of membership and goals of the smallholder representation working group. These will be addressed in the new onboarding programmes that the working group is developing.

The group has also reached out to Thai farmer associations to recruit new members from Thailand, and is also preparing for a workshop to recruit smallholders in Cambodia. At the same time, the group continues to seek responses from the smallholders who haven’t yet completed the survey.

Policy Toolbox Working Group

After receiving some strong proposals for the development of guidance for the Compliance Panel operations, the Policy Toolbox working group is now reviewing these and will have a finalist in the coming few weeks.

For context, GPSNR Statutes mandate the creation of an independent Compliance Panel to ensure that members conform with Statutes, Code of Conduct, decisions, standards and processes, and make recommendations to the GPSNR Executive Committee.

After an extensive selection process, the group has also chosen ZSL to work on the Reporting Requirements development as they have significant experience in similar projects. Simultaneously, they have completed the first round of focus group calls and surveys for the development of the implementation guidance.

Capacity Building Working Group

After presenting a funding mechanism of capacity building projects to the Executive Committee earlier this month, the Funding Taskforce in the Capacity Building working group has finalised the process and will be broadcasting it to all members in July 2021.

This funding mechanism is a temporary measure which will support GPSNR’s capacity building initiatives while the larger funding model is finalised.

At the same time, the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) taskforce has finalised GPSNR’s GAP principles.

Traceability and Transparency Working Group

The group has put together a draft input on the Implementation Guidance from a traceability perspective this month.

After conducting discussions on traceability and data requirements for GPSNR, this is also developing data collection and reporting standards together with the Policy Toolbox working group.

Shared Responsibility Working Group

Having finalised the Implementation Framework for Shared Responsibility, the group has finalised a first round discussion of the problem statements for the natural rubber supply chain.

This has allowed the group to identify the causal pathways and root causes of the issues affecting shared responsibility investment, supply chain data transparency and reinforcing sustainable supply chains (key focus areas for the group). With this step completed, the group is now looking at proposing solutions for these issues that GPSNR can implement. This first draft of solutions will be soon shared with the different categories members for an initial informal consultation.

GPSNR Staff May 25, 2021

PUBLIC CONSULTATION: GPSNR’s Assurance Model

To develop and implement an assurance system that will support GPSNR in demonstrating its long-term positive impact on the natural rubber industry and help GPSNR members companies validate their sustainability claims and commitments, GPSNR is conducting a 60 day public consultation from 1 May to 30 June 2024 on the three of the four mandatory elements of its Assurance Model. This includes the Assurance Assessment Checklist, Assurance Protocol, and Remediation Protocol. The Assurance Assessment Checklist captures the themes and minimum requirements that were previously discussed during the platform’s in-person meetings in February 2024. The Members Journey Model (MJM) can be found here, the MJM has already been developed and is being put forward for vote at the upcoming Extraordinary General Assembly. The Members Journey Model outlines the development path that members are expected to take once they join GPSNR.

GPSNR Assurance Model Structure (pending Extraordinary General Assembly vote)

After the consultation, the GPSNR Secretariat will review the comments from this public consultation, feedback from the GPSNR in-person meetings in June, and the learnings from the Assurance Model pilots which will be ongoing till July 31st and make necessary changes. A second 30-day consultation will be conducted after the documents have been revised in Q3 of 2024.

Any feedback on the documents should be added to this file by 30 June 2024.

Document Name	Link	Feedback Link
Assurance Assessment Checklist	Linked here	See here
Assurance Protocol	Linked here
Remediation Protocol	Linked here

Public Consultation on GPSNR AM Structure

GPSNR Secretariat April 30, 2024