Timeline
1987- 1988 • Rainforest Alliance is incorporated. First large-scale conference on rainforest destruction is held.
1989 • Rainforest Alliance’s SmartWood program is founded.
1990 • SmartWood certifies its first forest in Indonesia. • Banana standards are introduced and sustainable agriculture program, initially called ECO-O.K is launched.
1991 • Forests in Honduras, Mexico and Belize are certified.
1992 - 1993 • Adopt-A-Rainforest is launched to channel donations to grassroots conservation projects in Latin America. • First Rainforest Alliance agriculture certification goes to two banana farms in Costa Rica and Hawaii. • Forest Stewardship Council, an international sustainable forestry management accreditation body, is established.
1994 • SmartWood expands to temperate and boreal forests in the US and Canada. • The first two Chiquita-owned banana farms are certified.
1995 • First coffee farms are certified in Guatemala. • The Rainforest Alliance receives the Peter F. Drucker Award for Non-profit Innovation.
1996 • SmartWood Rediscovered for reuse of old wood is launched. • SmartWood certifies forestlands owned by indigenous peoples in Mexico and Wisconsin. • Work with Gibson USA results in the world’s first certified guitars.
1997 • All Chiquita-owned farms in Costa Rica become Rainforest Alliance Certified. Chiquita commits to certifying all its farms throughout Latin America. • Cocoa program is launched in partnership with Conservación y Desarrollo. • First Rainforest Alliance certification of citrus groves goes to Del Oro in Northwestern Costa Rica.
1998 • The Conservation Agriculture Network, later renamed the Sustainable Agriculture Network, is formed to develop guidelines for sustainable farming. • First shade-grown cocoa certification awarded to El Progreso cooperative in Ecuador.
1999 • SmartWood certifies its first non-timber forest products operation. • The Coffee and Biodiversity Project is launched to address environmental degradation in El Salvador by using shade-grown coffee farms to buffer ecologically sensitive land. • Rainforest Alliance receives the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) Gold Circle Award for excellence in nonprofit communications.
2000 • Daniel Katz steps down as executive director and becomes board chairman. Tensie Whelan becomes executive director of the organization. • SmartWood certifies all of New York State’s multiple-use public forestlands. In Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve, five community forestry operations are certified. • Fifteen percent of bananas in trade are grown on Rainforest Alliance Certified farms. • SmartVoyager tourism certification is launched in partnership with Conservación y Desarrollo. • Eco-Index is launched.
2001 • SmartWood certifications expand to include municipal forests, state parks, maple syrup, pencils and snowboards. • 100 percent certification of Chiquita's company-owned farms earn certification. • Fern and flower certification program is launched in Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica. • Training Research Extension Education Systems (TREES) program is established to give small, community and indigenous forestry operations access to certification.
2002 • Twelve hundred companies and cooperatives have adopted Rainforest Alliance sustainable practices. • SmartWood expands certification to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. • First two banana farms in South-east Asia. • The first nine fern farms are certified in Costa Rica.
2003 • Total area of certified forestland reaches 25 million acres (100,000 km²). SmartWood certifies its first US company, the first North America boreal forest, the first certification in Russia and the largest certified forest in Japan. • Sustainable Tourism Certification Network of the Americas is established to accredit tourism certification programs. • Rainforest Alliance Learning Site is launched.
2004 • Total area of forests certified reaches 33 million acres (130,000 km²). • Total combined area of certified coffee farms roughly doubles over 2003 levels—from 46,000 to 93,000 acres (190 to 380 km²). • Procter & Gamble's introduction of Millstone Rainforest Reserve coffee in the US and Kraft's launch of Kenco Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee in the UK. Gloria Jean's entire line of flavored coffees is certified. Certified coffee becomes available in Belgium, Japan and Canada. • "Cupping for Quality" is the first formal coffee competition where the emerging field of "certified-sustainable" coffee receives gourmet evaluation by leading coffee experts. • Certified Sustainable Products Alliance is launched with the aim of bringing to market increased quantities of sustainable bananas, coffee and timber.
2005 • JP Morgan, Citigroup, Johnson & Johnson, McDonald's, Nike, the HSBC Bank and others print their annual and corporate social responsibility reports on certified paper. • Certified coffee production doubles over 2004 levels. • Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee wins first place in the World Barista Championship and the second "Cupping for Quality" event. • Chiquita sells 50 million bananas bearing the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal each week in nine European countries.
2006 • The area of Forest Stewardship Council/Rainforest Alliance Certified forestland reaches 100 million acres (400,000 km²). • Certified coffee volumes double again for the third year in a row. • First African coffee farms are certified in Ethiopia. • Launch of African cocoa program in Côte d'Ivoire. • Launch of www.eco-indextourism.org, a database of sustainable tourism businesses. • Launch of Migratory Species Pathway. • Pineapple certification criteria are established.
2007 • Launch of standards for tea — Unilever announces that it is converting all the tea used in its Lipton and PG Tips brands to Rainforest Alliance certified sources. Certification will start in Kenya.
2008 • McDonald's New Zealand and Australia switches all McCafe restaurants to Rainforest Alliance certified coffee beans
2012 • Caribou Coffee becomes the first major coffeehouse to use only Rainforest Alliance certified coffee beans
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