ProTerra Foundation, a Community Member of ISEAL

ISEAL is the global membership organisation for ambitious, collaborative and transparent sustainability systems. It drives collective efforts to tackle the most pressing sustainability issues.  It supports sustainability systems, such as the ones owned by ProTerra Foundation, and their partners in delivering solutions to critical global challenges, so that companies and governments can meet their sustainability commitments and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It drives improvement by defining credible practice; convening forums for collaboration, sharing of experience, and collective action; delivering expertise, advice and training; and facilitating and promoting innovation to strengthen sustainability systems. 

The ProTerra Foundation has been a member of the ISEAL community since December 2021. Our work with ISEAL and its members helps us to improve the reliability and resilience of our sustainability systems (ProTerra Standard, ProTerra MRV and ProTerra Insecta). 

We are proud to be part of ISEAL and are committed to improving our system using the ISEAL Code as a framework for improvement. Here are some of ProTerra’s key developments as a result of our commitment to ISEAL:

2022 – Development of our Theory of Change and the Monitoring and Evaluation System – Essentially, this involved mapping out the changes we wish to make to in the agriculture, food and feed sectors over time, in order to contribute to the protection of biodiversity, the conservation of natural resources and respect for workers and local communities. By applying the theory of change model, this mapping has enabled ProTerra’s strategy to be better understood and therefore better managed. At the same time, ProTerra defined a set of key indicators. These indicators are critically analysed on a regular basis and help ProTerra to revise its plans for the coming year, adjusting its budget and workforce efforts to increase the positive impact on stakeholders.

2023 –Surveillance program for Certification Bodies (CBs) – ProTerra has structured a coherent strategy to improve its assurance system. As part of this effort, ProTerra has designed and implemented a surveillance audit process for CBs, and several audits have since been conducted. These audits have enabled ProTerra to work closely with CBs to help them improve their audit practices and align with our standards.

2024 – Implementation of an IT Client Relationship Management tool to monitor certification documents and member related information (volume certified, changes, products etc.).

About ProTerra Foundation

ProTerra Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation that envisages a world where all businesses contribute to the protection of biodiversity by switching to sustainable production, conserving natural resources, and ensuring that workers and local communities are treated with dignity and respect.

The ProTerra Foundation’s mission is to be a global network of businesses supporting more sustainable agricultural practices, in the food and feed supply chains, where relevant the conversion to non-GMOs and full respect for workers and communities’ dignity.

ProTerra long-term goals

• Promote that workers and communities be treated with dignity and respect.
• Protect the environment, environmental services, and biodiversity.
• Foster good agricultural practices.
• Secure and increase the supply of sustainably produced, fully traceable, non-GMO ingredients for feed and food.