Introducing GPSNR Topic Talks! Webinar Series

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GPSNR Topic Talks! is a new webinar series organised by the GPSNR Secretariat and presented by GPSNR members. The webinars will take place over three Tuesdays in October and November, and will cover three main themes around sustainability and the global natural rubber supply chain.

The first Topic Talk, a presentation by Philippe Thaler from CIRAD on the implications of EU legislation on imported deforestation, took place just yesterday night. The webinar was well attended by GPSNR members from various membership categories. In his presentation, Philippe covered the current status of EU commitments towards avoiding imported deforestation and how France has started implementing its policy. He also elaborated on the demand from French institutions to CIRAD to assess compliance with this policy in natural rubber. He concluded with some examples of how GPSNR can demonstrate the platform’s positive impacts in this context. The Q&A session afterward allowed for a deeper dive into the topic, as well as opening up some interesting questions on the use of alternative tools apart from compliance and assurance that can also help stakeholders progress towards their zero deforestation goals.

The next Topic Talks will focus on the themes of smallholder solutions as well as assurance and smallholders. More details on the upcoming webinars are provided in the subsequent section of this article. GPSNR members may contact the Secretariat to register for the webinars.


Smallholder Solutions: From Income Diversification to Landscape Approaches

3 November 2020 | 7PM (GMT+8)   

This webinar consists of two presentations:

“A landscape-level approach to inclusion and capacity building for rubber smallholders”

Presented by: Kirana Megatara, Proforest & SNV

This presentation is based on experience from the Kelola-Sendang project in South Sumatra, where SNV, with Proforest support, worked with rubber smallholders in the context of a large jurisdictional initiative. New links were built between these groups and a crumb rubber factory buyer in the Kirana group, helping to streamline the supply chain and open channels of communication on sustainability issues.

“Exploring Smallholder Solutions in the Rubber Sector – The Processing and Sale of Rubberwood to Support Smallholder Financing in Indonesia”

Presented by: WWF with Financial Access

HeveaConnect, Target Corporation, and World Wildlife Fund are engaged in finding solutions to enhance the production and trade of sustainable natural rubber. The three organizations came together in 2019 around the shared interest in understanding how the processing and sale of rubberwood might incentivize the adoption of sustainable practices by natural rubber smallholders and enhance their livelihoods. We enlisted the services of Financial Access to analyze the potential of rubberwood to serve as a mechanism to support smallholder financing in Indonesia. Although the scope of the analysis was limited to two provinces in Sumatra, the findings of this study could be used there and elsewhere in Indonesia to inform the development of sustainable natural rubber initiatives that include the processing and trade of rubberwood as one of several strategies to support equity in natural rubber supply chains.

Assurance and Smallholders: Learning from Existing Schemes

24 November | 7PM (GMT+8)

This webinar consists of two presentations:

“FSC Smallholder Certification Solutions”

Presented by: FSC

The presentation will cover FSC’s solutions for smallholders to become certified. First, an overview of the evaluation of certification solutions for smallholders will be given. FSC’s existing solutions will be covered, with a focus on the benefits for FSC Group Certification. Next, solutions in the pipeline will be covered, addressing the impact of pilot projects and highlighting success stories.

“PEFC, a system of choice for rubber smallholders”

Presented by: PEFC

Through a comprehensive explanation of PEFC, PEFC will elaborate further on their unique bottom-up approach in standard-setting and certification. Why and how this approach makes PEFC a system of choice for rubber smallholders and all companies involved in the natural rubber supply chain. They will also showcase current collaborative projects with their national members and companies to support smallholder producers. PEFC will explain how it will benefit GPSNR members and the work that GPSNR is engaged in.

More To Explore

News

Smallholders Representation Working Group Update – December 2019

The Smallholders Representation Working Group has agreed to propose the new main characteristics for potential representatives of GPSNR smallholders as below:

Smallholder: individual natural rubber farmers with all following characteristics:

  • The primary source of income for the smallholder is the farm (not only Natural Rubber); 
  • The Natural Rubber production unit size is less than 50ha (although the farm may be larger);
  • Profits from the farm accrue primarily to the owner of the farm and their family.

The new definition combines the qualitative and quantitative aspects with the intention to offer a pragmatic and standardized definition. The working group members understand that average farm size differs from country to country, hence having a universal threshold in farm size might not guarantee that the farmer is a small grower in that particular country. However, a quantitative indicator should be in place in order to give an objective and clear understanding to all audiences. The threshold of 50 hectares is established as an interim quantitative indicator based on the discussion in the working group that more than 80% of natural rubber supply comes from the farm which is smaller than 50 hectares.

The Country Champion is collecting application form from the smallholders that have been nominated durinng GPSNR Smallholder Workshop.  While membership fee is waived to smallholder member, funding to participate the General Assembly in March 2020 in Singapore is limited to 20 seats. The Working Group will further look at the profile of the smallholders  to design the criteria for funding mechanism.

News

PRESS RELEASE: Natural Rubber players adopt policies committed to healthy ecosystems and human rights

Singapore, 24 September 2021: Apollo Tyres, Bridgestone, Continental Tires, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Hankook Tire & Technology, Kumho Tires, Michelin, Nokian Tyres, Pirelli, Sumitomo Rubber Industries, the Toyo Tire Group and the Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. are the first companies to have adopted natural rubber policies that are fully aligned with the policy framework of the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR). 

As members of GPSNR, their policies include eight major components: commitment to legal compliance, healthy functioning ecosystems, respecting human rights, community livelihoods, increased production efficiency, supply chain assessment and traceability, monitoring & reporting and driving effective implementation of all these components. According to Sooil Lee, President and CEO of Hankook Tire & Technology, ‘’Together with our supply chain partners, these commitments will help improve the quality of life of the natural rubber cultivators, upgrade quality of natural rubber and minimize environmental impact.’’ 

For Michelin’s Natural Rubber Sustainability Manager Edouard De-Rostolan, ‘’the alignment of commitments among GPSNR members, particularly with regard to the risk-based approach and the continuous improvement model, is a key driver for the platform to fulfill its primary mission, which is to create impacts on the ground in order to enhance the sustainability of the industry as a whole.’’ Pirelli’s Natural Rubber Procurement and Sustainability Manager Ulrich Antoni shared the sentiment, ‘’It’s great to see that more and more GPSNR members have aligned their policies to the GPSNR Policy framework. With the coordinated and concerted effort of GPSNR and all members, the natural rubber industry is directing individual and joint actions towards our shared goals for a sustainable natural rubber future. Pirelli will continue to take a proactive role in the platform and cascade good practices throughout the supply chain, with the ultimate goal of having an impact at the farming level too.’’

The commitment from these tire makers and their active participation within GPSNR reflects on their intent towards implementation.  ‘’In cooperation with the GPSNR Secretariat and stakeholders, we will sincerely implement these policies through our business activities,’’ says Toyo Tires’ Mitch Tamaki. 

To make sure that companies have adequate support to implement these commitments, GPSNR is working on an implementation guidance document and baseline reporting requirements. These will help translate this commitment into implementation. 

‘’All GPSNR members are required to align with the policy framework, and it is heartening to see companies follow through with the process. We are expecting many others to follow suit in the next few weeks.’’ says GPSNR Platform Director Stefano Savi. ‘’The policies serve as a foundation for a structural transformation not just for one company or rubber plantation, but the industry as a whole.’’

The GPSNR policy framework and published policies of  Continental Tires, Hankook Tire & Technology, Michelin, Nokian Tyres, Pirelli, Sumitomo Rubber Industries, the Toyo Tire Group and Yokohama Rubber can be found here. The rest of the policies will be published shortly. 

-Ends-

About GPSNR:  

GPSNR is an international membership driven platform set up to define sustainability for the natural rubber value chain. It brings together various stakeholders to a common ground based on fairness, equity and environmental sustainability. GPSNR member companies account for almost 50 per cent of the global natural rubber volume.  

More on sustainablenaturalrubber.org 

For more information, please contact: 

Bani Bains 

Communications Manager 

Email: bani.bains@gpsnr.org 

Ph: +65 97268165

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