Our mission
The AFi’s mission is to make ethical supply chains in the agriculture and forestry sectors the new normal.
We do this by helping companies to transition their businesses, and other stakeholders to transform the enabling environment, so that commodity supply chains are protective of natural ecosystems and human rights.
Our vision
The AFi Coalition envisions a world where forests and other natural ecosystems are conserved for their many values, where human rights are universally respected, where responsible production and trade are the norm, where gender equality is achieved, and where rural people and communities are included in decision-making and thrive while serving as effective stewards of the land.
Many others have articulated a similar vision and joined together to amplify it in global pledges and targets including the UN Sustainable Development Goals, UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use, and Science Based Targets for emission reductions in line with the UNFCCC Paris Agreement.
To achieve this vision requires transforming how agricultural and forestry commodities are produced and traded. This includes de-coupling commodity production from deforestation and ecosystem destruction and ensuring that supply chains respect land rights, workers’ rights, and other human rights enshrined in international law. Responsible supply chain initiatives must not take place in isolation, but in synergy with governments and others working to halt deforestation, improve land governance, reform public policies and incentives, and shift consumption patterns to respect the Earth’s finite resources. Through this multi-pronged approach, supply chain initiatives help to end deforestation and conversion at landscape scales while contributing to greenhouse gas emissions reductions and net-zero targets. They support equitable rural development and the wellbeing of smallholders, workers, and communities. And they are not undermined by the leakage of negative impacts to other locations, commodity sectors, or ecosystem types.
The AFi advances this vision by helping companies transform supply chains on a broad scale. It also guides complementary action by financial institutions, industry and multi-stakeholder initiatives, reporting and assessment systems, government, and civil society, whose roles are also essential to realising this vision.
“The AFi represents a vision of addressing human rights and ecological concerns concurrently, and in a way that values them as inexplicably linked – not competitive – goals."
