Smallholders Representation Working Group Update – October 2019

The signing of the MoU took place at IRSG’s Office in Singapore, on the 6 August 2019 by Mr Salvatore Pinizzotto, IRSG Secretary General and Mr Stefano Savi, GPSNR Director. The MoU will have the aim of consolidating, developing and detailing the cooperation between the two organisations. It will also contribute to the effectiveness to achieve the organisations’ common objectives in the field of sustainable production and consumption of natural rubber.

The cooperation will have a focus on Sustainability in the Natural Rubber Value Chain, particularly in relation to socio-economic and environmental aspects linked to the natural rubber sustainable production and consumption. Immediate opportunities for collaboration have been identified in the following areas: 

1. Definition of Natural Rubber Sustainability and identification of appropriate standards, building on the activity carried out from IRSG in the SNR-i project.
2. Natural Rubber Sustainability and socio-economic impacts on smallholders in producing countries.
3. Land tenure right and sustainable income of smallholders in producing countries.
4. Impact of climate change in rubber plantations and mitigation of risks.

The International Rubber Study Group (IRSG) was established in 1944 and is the only intergovernmental organization that brings the world’s rubber producing and consuming stakeholders together. The IRSG is the forum for the discussion of matters affecting the supply and demand for natural as well as synthetic rubber. IRSG is at the forefront in conducting activities and research on the sustainability of the natural rubber economy. IRSG has 36 member Governments and more than 700 industry members covering the whole natural rubber value chain.

The Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) is an international, multistakeholder, voluntary membership organization, with a mission to lead improvements in the socioeconomic and environmental performance of the natural rubber value chain. Development of the GPSNR was initiated by the CEOs of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Tire Industry Project (TIP) in November 2017. Currently the Platform has 51 Members including Producers, Processors & Traders, Tire makers and other rubber makers/buyers, Carmakers, other downstream users and Financial Institutions, and Civil society.

Representatives from each of these stakeholder groups have contributed to the development of the Singapore-based platform and the wide-reaching set of priorities that will define GPSNR strategy and objectives.

Strategy and Objectives Working Group

The S&O Working Group has received inputs to the platform Theory of Change from the Smallholders Representation, Capacity Building, and Traceability and Transparency Working Groups. A task team from the S&O Working Group will now work to synthesize these different contributions into a single document. This compiled Theory of Change template will then be developed into the platform Theory of Change through a workshop which will involve representatives from all the working groups.

The Equity Sub-Working Group completed a summary of the Living Income studies that the platform commissioned in 2021 and presented the summary through a webinar. The Equity Sub-Working Group will now work to develop recommendations on how GPSNR can address priority risks and boost equity in the value chain.

‘Policy Toolbox’ Working Group

The Policy Toolbox Working Group has selected a combined consultant team of Proforest and Are We There Yet to lead the development of the Implementation Guidance for GPSNR. The development is expected to be a consultative process that concludes with a set of draft guidance that will be ready by July 2021.

To facilitate consultation on the Implementation Guidance, the Working Group will set up category-specific focus groups that members are encouraged to join. The focus groups will meet twice to review the draft guidance and provide feedback and inputs to improve the document. Each focus group is only expected to meet twice and members are only required to spend a few hours before each meeting reviewing the draft documents. The focus groups will be set up in the following manner:

Focus Group 1
Growers
Traders of Raw Materials

Focus Group 2
Processors
Traders of Processed material

Focus Group 3
Tire makers and other manufacturers

Focus Group 4
End users (incl. car makers and other downstream stakeholders).

In line with the assessment of policy documents against the policy framework, the Secretariat has collated company policy documents that were submitted and will proceed to review the policy documents submitted for review. The Secretariat has received responses from all 29 ordinary member companies that were required to submit documents and will spend the next month assessing the submissions.

‘Capacity Building’ Working Group

The Capacity Building Working Group has created three separate task forces that will work on working group tasks. The first task force will focus on developing mechanisms to measure impacts of capacity building activities, the second task force will develop a strategy to attract and recognize GPSNR members’ funding of capacity building activities, and the final task force will develop systems to ensure that the national sub-groups tasked with implementing capacity building activities in each country remain aligned with the broader working group. In addition to the Good Agricultural Practices Task Force, the Working Group now has four Task Forces that will work to deliver on their tasks in the coming months.

‘Traceability and Transparency’ Working Group

The Traceability and Transparency Working Group will continue to meet in its sub-groups to develop recommendations on minimum benchmarks for traceability tools and data sharing in the platform. With the submission of the Working Group’s input to the Theory of Change, the Working Group is pleased to announce that its first sub-group has completed the assigned tasking and will no longer meet.

Smallholder Representation Working Group

The Smallholder Representation Working Group has now onboarded smallholders from Indonesia and Vietnam into the Working Group. The Working Group has also divided into two groups within the working group. The first sub-working group will work to develop a strategy to onboard smallholders from countries that are not represented in GPSNR yet. The second group will work to deepen engagement with smallholders who are already members of the platform and also develop strategies to improve representation among minority groups in countries that are already represented in GPSNR