Going bananas for eco safety.

• Author: Mackey, Chris
• Position: Banana industry in Costa Rica supports environmental protection

The Costa Rican banana industry and international conservation organizations are working together to establish and implement farming practices that are safe for workers and the environment. In the past four years, over 128,000 acres of banana farms in Costa Rica have been certified as ECO-O.K., representing about 17 percent of that country's total banana production.

Created in 1991 by the Rainforest Alliance, a New York-based conservation group, the ECO-O.K. Banana Certification Project uses market-driven conservation strategies to persuade banana producers to abandon destructive farming practices.

"Our program is based on research that shows that a large number of consumers, both in Europe and in the United States, care about where their products come from," says Rainforest Alliance associate Eric Holst.

With that in mind, the Rainforest Alliance approached banana companies with a proposal: If their farms would follow a set of ECO-O.K. guidelines, the Rainforest Alliance would certify their products with the ECO-O.K. label, allowing companies to promote their products as environmentally friendly; however, they are not organic.

"The Rainforest Alliance wholeheartedly supports organic farming in Latin America," says Holst. "We chose to create an alternative set of guidelines in an effort to include a larger number of farms.... The tradeoff one makes in arguing for a strict organic standard is essentially one of inclusiveness and impact."

"It's a nonconfrontational campaign," he continues. "We're not supporting boycotts against production, but rather [we are] giving producers an alternative, a way of reaching out to the consumers."

High pesticide use, improper plastic and organic waste disposal, and chemical contamination of rivers have made bananas one of the most environmentally destructive crops in the tropics. Also at risk are farmworkers, who are continually exposed to dangerous pesticides.

To improve the situation, Rainforest Alliance members joined with banana producers and with the Costa Rican conservation organization Fundacion Ambio to develop a set of banana farm guidelines. The certification process begins with a field inspection to determine what the farm needs to do to meet the ECO-O.K. guidelines. Once those changes are made and approved, a farm is certified. Annual visits to certified farms ensure that producers continue to comply with ECO-O.K. guidelines.

Leading banana producer Chiquita Brands International has supported the...