Strategy and Objectives Working Group Update – September 2019

The recruitment of team members for Strategy 1 “Policy Toolbox” and Strategy 3 “Enhancing Transparency and Traceability” has started with the expectation to get all the team members ready by the end of September 2019.

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Strategy 1 “Policy Toolbox” working group will work on:

Establishing a Policy Toolbox that defines the environmental, social and economic criteria that members should be required to include in their policies along with a Policy Implementation Template, and Policy Checklist for those with existing policies to ensure they incorporate all appropriate aspects of a natural rubber sustainability policy;

Making a recommendation on the required timeline for members of GPSNR to establish their sustainability policies, the implementation plan for their policies, and what the reporting requirements should be for policy implementation;

Identifying the appropriate Assurance Model for GPSNR to implement to monitor progress of members and the industry to achieving the mission of GPSNR.

Strategy 3 “Enhancing Transparency and Traceability” working group will work on recommending tools to trace, assess the risk, and achieve transparency of any given natural rubber product buyer’s supply chain.

Strategy 1 and Strategy 3 working group members recruitment is open now until end of September. Ideally we expect to have a combination of at least 1 car maker, 2 tyre makers, 2 producers and 2 CSOs per working group. The participation of the core working group is limited to the ordinary members only but the experts and/or affiliate members will be invited upon the topic.

Please feel free to drop us an e-mail on the topic you would like to contribute, the expertise you would like to share with the working group members. For more information, please contact kobrat@gpsnr.org.

September 29, 2019

More To Explore

Members

Member Consultation on proposed GPSNR Policy Components and Baseline Reporting Requirements (Members Version)

Natural rubber faces a similar set of environmental, social and economic issues as other agricultural commodities such as palm oil, but the spotlight on sustainability has only been recently turned towards this key raw material, 70% of which goes into tire production. The launch of GPSNR marked a significant step towards developing sustainable standards for natural rubber, with member organizations making a commitment to 12 Sustainable Natural Rubber Principles.

The Policy Toolbox Working Group was established to develop a guiding framework for GPSNR members to implement policies and practices that align with the 12 Principles. Two key documents, the Policy Components and Baseline Reporting Requirements, have emerged after a year of discussion and drafting.

The Policy Components outline specific commitments that GPSNR company members should include in their sustainable natural rubber policies, while the Baseline Reporting Requirements indicate qualitative and quantitative sustainability data to be reported to the Secretariat for the first year of reporting.

A members webinar was held on 16 June, where the Co-Chairs of the Policy Toolbox Working Group explained the purpose, process and next steps surrounding the two documents.

Several members have volunteered to participate in an ongoing pilot testing of the Baseline Reporting Requirements. The goal of the pilot is to refine and finalize the Baseline Reporting Requirements based on company feedback.

The proposed Policy Components and Baseline Reporting Requirements are now open for member consultation until 3 July 2020.

All GPSNR members are invited to download the draft documents from the links below and submit your feedback by accessing this link.

Additionally, you may view the recording and slide deck of the 16 June webinar from the links below.

Download Policy Components

Download Baseline Reporting Requirements

View 16 June webinar recording

View 16 June webinar slide deck

GPSNR Staff June 24, 2020

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.

GPSNR Staff December 26, 2019