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The Rainforest Alliance Names Santiago Gowland As New CEO

The Rainforest Alliance (RA), an international non-profit organization, has announced Santiago Gowland as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Gowland joins RA from The Nature Conservancy, where he served as Executive Vice President for Latin America and Global Innovation until his departure.

Prior to that role, the new Rainforest Alliance CEO also spearheaded sustainability initiatives in the private sector, including roles at Unilever and Nike.

“Gowland, a native of Argentina with a passion for conservation and sustainability, brings extensive expertise in organizational innovation and sustainability transformation across multiple sectors, cultures, and continents”, said RA in a press release copied to Cocoa Post.

It further noted that Santiago Gowland has had a career focused on bridging supply chain and landscape needs through business innovations for leading brands including Unilever, Nike, and Estée Lauder—and most recently, in the global environmental non-profit sphere at The Nature Conservancy.

Gowland is credited with championing the green technology strategy at The Nature Conservancy through systems innovation, partnerships with technology companies, and embracing lean methodologies—most notably, through the pioneering “Agility Lab.”

“I am thrilled to contribute my global conservation and business insights to accelerate the Rainforest Alliance’s vision of a world where people and nature thrive together. It’s crucial that we leverage social and market forces to protect nature and improve the lives of farmers and forest communities without delay. The Rainforest Alliance is uniquely positioned to bring farmers, forest communities, companies and consumers together to build a more sustainable and resilient future for people and nature,” Gowland said.

The Rainforest Alliance is an international non-profit working in more than 70 countries to protect forests and biodiversity, take action on climate, and promote rights and improve the livelihoods of rural people.

The Rainforest Alliance said, with over 3 decades’ experience in sustainability transformation, it is committed to creating a more sustainable world by implementing proven and scalable solutions on the ground while testing innovative ways to drive positive change at scale.

The organization says it transforms the way the world produces, sources, and consumes, with a focus on cocoa, coffee, tea, bananas, forest products, and palm oil.

The organisation explained it has over the years worked at achieving its vision through its four areas of operation namely: certification, landscape management, supply chain services, and advocacy.

“In 2020, 6.8 million hectares of land and more than 2.3 million farmers were certified according to the Rainforest Alliance’s rigorous sustainability standards, which are designed to improve economic, environmental, and social impacts for people and nature”, it reported.

Kojo Hayford
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Source Cocoa Post
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