Policy of Association
Our mission is to support better land management and business practices that benefit people, nature and the climate.
We do not discriminate between clients and partners. We offer our services to all interested parties who operate within the scope of our competence and accreditation - regardless of size, geographical location or membership of associations, groups, etc.
However, being a mission-driven organisation, we aim to align all our activities with our mission and reserve the right not to work with or be associated with organisations whose activities are in direct and serious violation of the requirements below.
What we ask for
We expect all our partners and clients to commit to the following basic requirements. The organisation:
1. Observes due diligence to avoid trading of any products that have been harvested or processed in violation of applicable national legislation in the country of harvest or extraction.
2. Does not engage directly or indirectly in destruction of High Conservation Values (HCVs) including, but not limited to, knowingly participating in harvesting, extracting , trade or manufacturing of material or products originating from areas with destroyed HCVs.
3. Does not engage in, or benefit from bribery and corruption.
4. Does not engage in, or benefit from, the worst forms of child labour, or any form of forced labour, including bonded labour, forced prison labour, slavery, servitude, or human trafficking.
5. Does not engage in or support discrimination on the basis of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, caste, national or social origin, property, birth, union affiliation, sexual orientation, health status, family responsibilities, age, disability or other distinguishing characteristics.
6. Offers its workers a safe and healthy working environment, including, but not limited to, protection from fire, noise, accidents and toxic substances. Adequate health and safety policies and procedures are established and followed.
7. Maintains awareness of current environmental legislative requirements and strives to minimise the adverse environmental impacts of its activities, products and services through a proactive approach and responsible management of its environmental aspects including, but not limited to:
a) Use of scarce natural resources, such as fuels and water.
b) Emissions to air and releases to water.
c) Noise, odour and CO2 emission.
d) Potential and actual soil contamination.
e) Handling of hazardous substances.
f) Handling of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes.
Preferred by Nature reserves the right to dissociate from organisations that are in direct and serious violation of the above-described principles.
We warn organisations of violations that we have identified and give reasonable time for corrective actions. We continue cooperating with organisations that commit to correct and demonstrate corrective actions when above principles are violated. If the organisation does not or cannot correct, we can take a decision to disassociate from such organisations; namely we terminate contracts or any engagements with the organisation within 30 days of the disassociation decision (which also means the termination of certificates for certificate holders).
Disassociation decisions are taken by the Preferred by Nature´s Executive Director and can be appealed by organisations following the Dispute Resolution Process.
Reassociation decision can be taken when the organisation demonstrates that they addressed issues that had earlier led to disassociation and have developed preventive actions to avoid recurrence of violations.
Approved by
Peter Feilberg
Executive Director
5 October 2020