Food standards and sourcing requirements of food companies are instruments to mainstreaming sound biodiversity protection. Effective criteria are necessary as well as training for farmers, assessors and auditors and practical tools to facilitate sound biodiversity management. The LIFE-Initiative "Food and Biodiversity" is working on these aspects. The two NGOs Global Nature Fund (GNF) and Lake Constance Foundation (LCF) are part of a consortium of European organizations, which developed, among others, the Biodiversity Performance Tool (BPT). The BPT facilitates the elaboration and implementation of good Biodiversity Action Plans.
UTZ – now merged with Rainforest Alliance – was one of the first standards to join the initiative and to contribute to the elaboration of recommendations for effective biodiversity criteria. These recommendations are intensely discussed in the current development of the new standard. Rainforest Alliance (RA) agreed with GNF and LCF to go further and to test the implementation of Biodiversity Action Plans in coffee farms in Colombia and to adapt the BPT to support farmers in this important task. Rainforest Alliance will consider lessons learned for future RA-certified coffee plantations in South America and beyond.
Global Nature Fund; Bonn, December 2019
You find the full report
here.