Proforest elected to ISEAL Stakeholder Council

The ISEAL Alliance, whose name stands for the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling Alliance, is an alliance which seeks to strengthen sustainability standards for the benefit of people and the environment. The Alliance was founded in 2002, and is widely seen as the ‘backbone of the standards and certification movement’, whose Codes of Good Practice are used as global references for developing credible standards.

The Stakeholder Council acts as an informal governance body providing strategic advice and input to the ISEAL Board of Directors and Members. Whilst it does not have a decision-making authority, it plays an important role in informing how the uptake, impacts and effectiveness of sustainability standards can be improved.

"At Proforest, we understand that sustainability standards can be a powerful tool for creating long-lasting, positive change in how agricultural and forest commodities are produced and sourced. As part of ISEAL’s Stakeholder Council I hope to be able to support the improvements needed to ensure effective implementation of such standards” – Abraham Baffoe

The Council is made up of 20 individuals representing different stakeholder groups, carefully selected from sustainability leaders who are committed to improving the quality and applicability of sustainability standards. Among these are representatives from the UNDP, Global Forest Watch, WWF and Marks & Spencer. Abraham’s 20 years’ experience working on natural resource management, sustainable forest management, certification and forest policy will bring an invaluable contribution to the Stakeholder Council.

Read more about ISEAL’s work.