Biodiversity in the Food Supply Chain – Workshop for the Food and Retail Sector

20 June 2012, 9:30 - 17:00 , 20. June 2012 President Hotel & Botanical Garden, Bonn, Germany

How biodiversity aspects can be integrated in the procurement process will be shown during a one-day workshop organised by the Global Nature Fund and the Lake Constance Foundation in collaboration with the German retailer REWE Group.

Biodiversity is not just the diversity of life, it also forms the basis for ecosystem services, such as crop pollination, the provision of fertile soils, air and water filtration or the sequestration of CO2. Biodiversity is therefore the fundament on which the majority of economic activity rests. However, our natural capital is diminishing rapidly. It is assumed that the rate of species extinction is 100 to 1000 times as high as the "normal" extinction rate.

Biodiversity in the food supply chain

The food processing industry and retailers do not have many direct impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services. However, they are highly dependent on healthy ecosystems through their supply chains. These often include a huge number of suppliers of raw materials. Though it is obvious, that these companies have their biggest influence on ecosystems and biodiversity through their supply chains.

Biodiversity as a high value ingredient?

The target group of the workshop is the food retail and food processing industry, food trading companies, umbrella and label organisations, producers and suppliers of agricultural commodities and experts from governments, NGOs and science.

By means of concrete examples, the participants will receive answers to the following key questions:

What measures are taken by producers of agricultural commodities to protect biodiversity and to use it in a sustainable way?
Which labels and standards are most relevant and how is biodiversity included in those standards and labels
Which instruments (e.g. "hotspot-analysis”, biodiversity footprint, supplier guidelines etc.) are used and are they successful?
What could a systematic biodiversity risk analysis look like?
How to recognise the relevance for biodiversity of raw materials, which indicators exist and which need to be developed?