This article, a Bonsucro v5.2 Review, seeks to bring the main concepts of the program in a language accessible to everyone, professionals and students. Gives an overview of your purpose, passing through strategic objectives, priorities, activities, essential principles, and fundamental statements of the standard.
The BonSucro Production Standard
The Bonsucro Production Standard is a set of principles, criteria and indicators that define the sustainable production of sugar cane and its derivatives. It covers environmental issues, social and economic, and is used by Bonsucro members seeking third-party certification. The standard is structured around five principles, twenty criteria and sixty-nine indicators, addressing environmental risk management, social and human rights to the promotion of economic and social sustainability. Furthermore, the standard provides related documents, such as the Bonsucro Calculator and Implementation Guides, to support implementation and auditing of the standard. The document also highlights revisions and updates made over time, demonstrating a commitment to continuous improvement.
The purpose Bonsucro is
- COLLECTIVELY ACCELERATE THE PRODUCTION AND SUSTAINABLE USE OF SUGAR CANE
The Strategic Objectives from Bonsucro include
- IMPROVING THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF SUGAR CANE
- STRENGTHEN DECENT WORK AND RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN CULTIVATION AND GRINDING
- CREATE VALUE ACROSS THE SUPPLY CHAIN.
The Priorities they are
- BRINGING THE SECTOR TOGETHER TO ADDRESS COMPLEX CHALLENGES
- PROMOTE KNOWLEDGE, BEST PRACTICES AND INNOVATION
- DEVELOP SUPPLY AND DEMAND FOR SUSTAINABLE SUGAR CANE PRODUCTS AND DERIVATIVES
- SUPPORT PRODUCERS AND PLANTS AT THE DIFFERENT STAGES OF THEIR SUSTAINABILITY JOURNEY
- IMPROVE THE BONSUCRO SYSTEM OF STANDARDS AND GUARANTEES
The activities of the Bonsucro standard revolve around
- IMPACT PROJECTS
- CERTIFICATION AND WARRANTY
- COMMUNICATION AND INFLUENCE
- SCANNING AND DATA
- MARKET DEVELOPMENT AND CREDIT TRADING
- AFFILIATION DEVELOPMENT
The four essential principles
1. Collaboration: Collaboration is considered an essential part of Bonsucro's identity, which brings together several actors through global affiliation and involves all links in the sugarcane sector with an interest in sustainability. Success as a standards system and platform requires relationships, learning and sharing with like-minded organizations.
2. Inclusion: Bonsucro seeks to be inclusive to drive sector transformation, including engagement with worker communities, power plants, producers and farmers, enabling sustainability improvements outside the certification process, and alignment and cooperation with strategic partners, other sustainability standards systems and government agencies seeking collective benefit.
3. Credibility: Bonsucro seeks to ensure credibility in its activities, ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water resources and sanitation for all, protecting and restoring the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, and taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
4. Adaptability: The organization seeks to promote economic and social sustainability, promote gender inclusion in managerial and skilled positions for contract workers, and minimize work hours lost to absenteeism for directly hired workers.
The five principles, or Fundamental Statements about intended results aligned with Bonsucro's strategic objectives are:
The beginning 1 of the Bonsucro Production Standard is:
“Assess and Manage Environmental Risks, Social and Human Rights”.
This principle emphasizes the importance of assessing and managing risks related to the environment, social issues and human rights in operations related to sugarcane production. Some of the criteria and indicators associated with this principle include:
– Leadership demonstrated through the development and implementation of a Sustainability Management Plan.
– Internal stakeholder mapping and engagement, external and vulnerable.
– Risk assessment in accordance with the Bonsucro Production Standard.
– Conducting and documenting an improvement opportunity assessment outside the certification unit.
– Respect for contract terms for sugarcane-related payments.
These criteria and indicators aim to ensure that operators are aware, proactively assess and manage environmental risks, social and human rights in its operations, thus promoting sustainability and social responsibility.
The beginning 2 of the Bonsucro Production Standard is:
“Respect Labor Rights and Occupational Health and Safety Standards”.
This principle highlights the importance of ensuring a safe and healthy working environment, in addition to ensuring that labor rights are respected. Some of the criteria and indicators associated with this principle include:
– Provide a safe and healthy work environment at operations sites, including access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities.
– Ensure all workers receive occupational health and safety training.
– Provide first aid and emergency response to all workers.
– Ensure that the number of lost time accidents is monitored and kept below a metric threshold.
– Ensure that workers receive wages and benefits sufficient to achieve an adequate standard of living.
These criteria and indicators aim to ensure that operators comply with occupational health and safety standards, as well as labor rights, thus promoting a safe working environment, healthy and fair for all workers involved in sugarcane production.
The beginning 3 of the Bonsucro Production Standard is:
“Manage Production and Processing Input Efficiencies to Improve Sustainability”.
This principle emphasizes the importance of monitoring production and the process, measure the impacts of production and processing, and implement improvements over time to promote sustainability. Some of the criteria and indicators associated with this principle include:
– Ensure production productivity levels are above the threshold defined by the climate zone map.
– Carry out a climate risk assessment and define a Climate Change Mitigation and Resilience Plan.
– Monitor and evaluate the impacts of climate change on operations and workers over time.
– Identify the main water resources and collection points, promoting sustainable water use through engagement in collaborative actions.
– Maximize the efficiency of applied agrochemicals.
These criteria and indicators aim to ensure that operators continuously monitor and improve input efficiency, production and processing to promote sustainability in its operations related to sugarcane production.
The beginning 4 of the Bonsucro Production Standard is:
“Actively Manage Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services”.
This principle highlights the importance of protecting and restoring biodiversity and ecosystem services, as well as maintaining and improving Areas of Conservation Value (Strokes). Some of the criteria and indicators associated with this principle include:
– Ensure that biodiversity and natural ecosystems are mapped.
– Establish a Soil Management Plan to prevent erosion and maintain and improve soil health.
– Identify the main water resources and collection points, promoting sustainable water use through engagement in collaborative actions.
– Maximize the efficiency of applied agrochemicals.
– Promote sustainable land use and biodiversity conservation in areas of conservation value.
These criteria and indicators aim to ensure that operators adopt practices that actively promote biodiversity, the conservation of ecosystems and the responsible management of natural resources in its operations related to sugarcane production.
The beginning 5 of the Bonsucro Production Standard is
“Continuously Improve Other Core Business Areas”.
This principle emphasizes the importance of promoting economic and social sustainability, train workers in all areas of activity and develop their general skills, and seek continuous improvement in the well-being of workers. Some of the criteria and indicators associated with this principle include:
– Ensure value is maximized per ton of cane.
– Provide vocational and/or professional training to directly hired workers.
– Promote gender inclusion in managerial and skilled positions for contract workers.
These criteria and indicators aim to ensure that operators promote economic and social sustainability, invest in the development and training of their workers, and continually seek to improve well-being and inclusion in their operations related to sugarcane production.
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