Prosperous Landscapes (Earthworm Foundation)

Earthworm works in high-value landscapes worldwide to support local and international stakeholders in constructing pathways for regenerating lives and nature, building supply chains and farmer resilience, and achieving responsible sourcing goals. This includes commodities such as soy and palm oil used as feed ingredients. 

They approach landscapes holistically, working in an integrated manner on sustainability and responsible sourcing across clearly defined sourcing areas, collaborating with key stakeholders from the private and public sectors, farmer associations, and civil society in each landscape according to the following principles:

• Field Presence: A strong field presence with embedded local staff that builds relationships of trust with other actors to drive transformation;
• Local Ownership: Building local capacity and participatory governance ensures long-term sustainability and independent transformation; and,
• Data-driven: Data-driven impact measurement is deployed to assess change and communicate it.

Earthworm Foundation’s landscapes are strategically situated in several key hotspots for global raw material sourcing. They are located in nine countries, targeting production areas for different commodities such as palm oil, cocoa, soy, corn, pulp and paper, rubber, or timber.

Eighteen local and traditional communities take advantage of these programs, as do the thousands of farmers and individuals who benefit from improved work and living conditions. These initiatives also protect thousands of hectares of key ecosystems from conversion and degradation.

The Healthy Forest Landscapes (HFL) approach measures trends in forest cover, carbon, biodiversity, and community well-being. It also helps companies that source from forest landscapes to engage with their suppliers and with local stakeholders to address key forest health issues.

The HFL approach enables companies to:

• Monitor trends in critical forest landscape attributes: tree cover, forest carbon, biodiversity, and community wellbeing in their key sourcing landscapes;
• Access clear, communicable reports and have more constructive conversations with supply chain partners, NGOs, and other stakeholders; and,
• Engage directly with forest companies and other landscape stakeholders on collaborative action to improve environmental and social outcomes.