Secretariat Update – July 2019

The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the entire natural rubber supply chain. It has triggered car and tire manufacturing companies to operate with a reduced workforce, or temporarily halt production plants altogether. Strict lockdown measures have caused a drastic fall in the sales of consumer tires across Europe. Global demand for natural rubber has dropped, the effects of which will be felt by the 6 million natural rubber smallholders in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Many smallholders live in poverty, depending on daily wages to feed their families. Their situations will only be exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. Already, the Association of Producers and Processing Plants of the State of São Paulo (APABOR) has estimated that for Brazil alone, the subsistence of around 100,000 natural rubber farmers and their direct relatives is at risk.

While COVID-19 exposes the vulnerabilities of smallholders, it also reveals the potential they have to be agents of change and drivers of transformation. The pandemic has reminded us of the connections between human health, resilient landscapes, economic stability and livelihoods; the post COVID-19 world is more likely to devote greater attention to tackling environmental, social and economic impacts of its many supply chains. Smallholders, who produce 85% of the world’s natural rubber supply, are thus key to advancing GPSNR’s vision of a fair, equitable and environmentally sound rubber value chain.

One of GPSNR’s major outcomes for this year has been welcoming our new smallholder members. As of today, a total of 27 smallholder members (with additions from Myanmar) have joined GPSNR. The inclusion of smallholders into the fabric of the Platform provides them the opportunity to drive the agenda for sustainable natural rubber and, in the long-term, realize the social, economic and environmental benefits that sustainability brings. 

We encourage GPSNR members to communicate this outcome through the communication channels of their respective organizations. To this end, we launched a quarterly Members’ Communication Toolkit which outlines the suggested key message and provides ready-to-use content for communicating the message. GPSNR Members may access the Members’ Communication Toolkit for Q2 2020 in the GPSNR Forum.  

More is being done to fully include these smallholders in the Working Groups and Executive Committee. The Smallholders Representation Working Group continues with its efforts in designing a programme for onboarding smallholders prior to the General Assembly. In the meantime, some of our new smallholder members are already actively involved in Working Group discussions. Additionally, having recognized the urgency to address the impacts of COVID-19 on smallholders, the Equity sub-Working Group is developing a position paper on the issue.

This update was prepared by Assel Mussagaliyeva, Industry Relations and Academic Projects Manager, Essec Asia Pacific.

ESSEC Asia Pacific partnered with the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber for their first Global Manager in Asia (GMA) project. The GMA Project included diverse multinational companies and startups with strong Asian core: International Finance Corporation (IFC Fintech Group), Grab for Business, ACT Genomics, Creatella Ventures and GPSNR. Involving 148 ESSEC Master in Management students, the Project took place on 1 July – 11 September 2019, followed by the Final Jury.

The project results were in line with GPSNR priorities in the three Asian markets. The 6 student teams under the close guidance of Stefano Savi and Kobrat Sawasdivorn explored the challenges of the smallholder farmers affecting equity of the rubber supply chain in Thailand, China and Indonesia. The results of the student research will be presented to the GPSNR Working Groups.

Assel Mussagaliyeva, Industry Relations and Academic Projects Manager, said it was a good project both from a teaching perspective as well as practical experience for the students. Firstly, it was hands on experience challenging students to think ‘out of the box’ as it involved multiple layers: a variety of stakeholders, unfamiliar context, lack of industry knowledge and limited country data. Secondly, it was a great chance for the students to work on a big picture issue, especially in today’s world of climate change challenges. The project itself was well focused and narrow enough for the students to have an opportunity to make a tangible difference.

“ESSEC Asia Pacific is grateful to GPSNR for our collaboration on multiple levels,” said Mussagaliyeva. In March 2019, GPSNR participated at the ESSEC APAC Talent Day and offered internship for the Global BBA student Tanmay Daga. Following that, Stefano Savi participated in the first ESSEC APAC student-led TedX event as an invited speaker on sustainability. Soon after, the GMA Project scope was discussed.

“We look forward to working with GPSNR in the future,” said Mussagaliyeva. The mission of ESSEC Business School is to create and disseminate cutting-edge knowledge, to train and develop bold pioneers and influential leaders for both the business world and society. We encourage the students and programme participants to anticipate – and meet – the economic, managerial, social, environmental and ethical challenges of an increasingly uncertain world. These values align with GPSNR mission as sustainability is an integral part of responsible innovation. 

The Secretariat has also published the executive summary of minutes of each working group in the “News and Publications” section of the website. All members of the platform can login to the website to view the documents under the Members Only section. There are currently 2 working groups, the Strategy & Objectives working group chaired by James Laimos of Goodyear and the Smallholders Representation working group chaired by Ulrich Antoni of Pirelli. The executive summary of each working group will be updated on a bi-weekly basis. If you have any issues accessing the website, please send us an email at info@gpsnr.org.