Veja<\/a> \u2013 which sources its rubber from producer cooperatives in the Brazilian Amazon \u2013 created a protocol for assuring sustainability within its rubber supply chain and maintaining the accreditation of its suppliers.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe sustainability criteria under this protocol include rubber quality, good harvesting practices, and alignment to the use of the land. Rubber suppliers who meet these criteria are eligible to receive a premium price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once the eligibility criteria are met, Veja pays the premium directly to Cooperacre, a cooperative responsible for receiving and processing the latex, who then redirect the payments to the rubber collectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several initiatives were put in place to ensure the success of the Veja PES model. To ensure adherence to the deforestation limit criteria, an automated monitoring platform was developed to assess the level of deforestation in the supply chain. And several forums were created for representatives of collector cooperatives, Veja, and Cooperacre, to be collective spaces for dialogues and decision making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What factors have worked in this PES model?<\/strong> Good communication between Veja, Cooperacre, cooperatives and collectors was essential to promote strong relationships, with clear engagement processes to resolve commercial issues, monitoring and PES Protocol implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThere was also a long process of dialogue with partners that resulted in important more detailed understanding of the Veja team and a view about current challenges and needs for future implementation of the PES Protocol in order to maximise conditions to guarantee a sustainable rubber supply chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the project has also faced some areas of concern<\/strong> \u2013 the deforestation modelling platform does not assign direct responsibility to a specific collector\/s, as Veja does not have the exact property limits, but instead presents a deforestation risk analysis in \u2018influence areas\u2019. This presents a liability issue that will need to be managed on an ongoing basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n