Biodiversity, flavour of 2010 and beyond - IFI DecJan 10

January sees the start of the International Year of Biodiversity, a theme which is set to loom large in the minds of consumers, governments, media – and industry – during 2010.

To mark the occasion, the United Nations-backed Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT) and UBM, owners of IFi and the Fi and Hi shows, have agreed to launch a new biodiversity award. This will be presented at November’s HiE 2010 in Madrid.

UEBT executive director Rik Kutsch Lojenga explains that the organisation regularly commissions consumer research around the topic. “Biodiversity is one of the global environmental concerns next to climate change,” he says. “In fact, it’s set to become as important as climate change in the public mind over the next five years. Consumers will become more critical about the ways in which the supply chain deals with it as an issue.” But industry interest in the survival of species is not simply a reflection of consumer concerns. “The food industry relies on biodiversity for the wealth of raw materials it has at its disposal,” says Kutsch Lojenga. “At the same time, there’s increasing interest across the market in everything ‘natural’.”

The availability of so many different edible oil producing plants is a topical example of how biodiversity can directly fuel industry’s ability to introduce innovation.

As the UEBT’s name suggests, the issue of biodiversity is bound up with other ethical questions, including social responsibility. But Kutsch Lojenga draws a contrast between existing certification schemes, with their very specific objectives, and the more comprehensive concerns of ethical trading. “For us, ethical sourcing includes conservation, of course, and it is about fairness and overall social aspects,” he says.

“So it is broader than – for example - the Fair Trade movement. The sharing of benefits generated out of the use of biodiversity is required by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the objectives of which we share.”

www.ethicalbiotrade.org

New award for HiE to present diversity as a point of difference

Joining the list of awards presented at the Hi Europe 2010 show in Madrid next November will be the Ethical BioTrade Award for Biodiversity.

Speaking ahead of the November 2009 FiE show in Frankfurt, Germany, executive director of the Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT) Rik Kutsch Lojenga explained that the plan was to introduce two categories, one for leadership and one for innovation in biodiversity. “We’re looking for companies which are actively farming and sourcing ingredients from their natural habitats in a sustainable manner,” said Kutsch Lojenga.

The ‘leadership’ category could include market-leading multinationals which adopted specific sourcing, ingredient and formulation policies strongly influencing the way business was done, he said. A winner in the ‘innovation’ category might be an exporter or ingredients company innovating at source, even on a relatively small scale, in a way that promoted biodiversity-friendly sourcing practises.

The UEBT shares the triple objectives of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity: biodiversity conservation, sustainable use and benefits sharing. Entrants will need to demonstrate their adherence to these three principles.

Kutsch Lojenga explained that more detailed judging criteria would be published in January 2010, from which time the award would also be open for entries. Judging by a panel of experts would take place over the summer.