Agroindustry Standards for Biodiversity Conservation

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Agroindustry Standards for Biodiversity
Conservation

• Dave Gibson
• Chemonics International

Biodiversity Conservation in Agriculture
Symposium Punta Cana, Dominican Republic May 31
June 2, 2006
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Outline

• Driving Forces for Biodiversity in Agrifood
• Typology Application of Biodiversity Standards
• Common Obstacles Opportunities for

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Agriculture Remains at the Center of The Global
Biodiversity Crisis

• 70 of forest loss due to agricultural
  conversion
  
• 90 of the worlds forests lay outside of
  protected areas
  
• If only current protected areas remain as
  habitat, we risk losing between 30-50 remaining
  species

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Shifting Agrifood Concerns
2005
1970s
1980s
2000
1990s
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Supermarket Consolidation Drives Agrifood
Interests

U.S.
France
Brazil Korea
China
Courtesy Tom Reardon, Michigan State Univ.
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Standards Arm-Length Trading

• Ensure quality conformity
• Provide product traceability
• Product Safety healthiness
• Cost reduction
• Capture the value of environmental goods and
  services
  
• Move Pure Public goods to Market Goods box
• Risk Reduction!

Consumers
Suppliers
Standards
Processors
Producers
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Value Chain Standard Types

• Retail Starbucks CAFÉ, Fair Trade,
• Food Manufacturers BRC, IFS, ISO 14001/22000
• Agricultural production EurepGAP
• Meta-standards Organics, Rainforest Alliance,
  BMP
  

Meta Standards
Retail
Manufacturer
Production
Processors
Brokers
Retailers
Consumers
Farmers
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Retail Starbucks Café

• Subject Area Environmental Leadership
• Principle Employ coffee farming practices that
  maintain and enhance the presence and viability
  of biological resources found within and adjacent
  to coffee production areas
• Criteria, Indicators Scoring
• Maintain coffee shade (5 pts)
• Protect wildlife (5 pts)
• Establish conservation areas (5 pts)

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Food Manufacturers British Retail Consortium
(BRC)

• Aimed food safety, traceability, quality
  management
  
• Integrates raw products through finished foods
• Waste disposal must meet national regulations
• Contamination of product more important than
  ecosystem loss

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Agricultural Production - EUREPGAP

• 1 Minor Must and 5 Recommendations
• Has a conservation management plan been
  established (either individually or on a regional
  basis)?
  
• Documented wildlife conservation plan that refers
  specifically to the farm
  
• Baseline audit of species and HVC areas
• Actions to expand diversity to other sites

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Meta-standards Sustainable Food Lab

• Soy, Sugar, Palm Oil, Cotton
• Focused on non-3rd party verification
• Sustainable Food Laboratory
• Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform
• IFC BMP Program

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Meta-standards IFCs BMP Program
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Meta-standards-Rainforest Alliance/SAN
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Biodiversity within Organic Standards
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USNOP Biodiversity Rules

• Organic production A production system that is
  managed in accordance with the Act and
  regulations in this part to respond to
  site-specific conditions by integrating cultural,
  biological, and mechanical practices that foster
  cycling of resources, promote ecological balance,
  and conserve biodiversity.
• But there are no specific requirements stated!
• 205.203(c) Manage plant and animal materials to
  maintain or improve soil organic matter content
  in a manner that does not contribute to
  contamination of crops, soil, or water by plant
  nutrients, pathogenic organisms, heavy metals, or
  residues of prohibited substances.

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Common Elements of Standards

• Develop conservation policy appropriate to farm
  operations
  
• Conduct baseline inventory to understand
  conservation needs
  
• Set Objectives targets for HCV areas and, other
  farm operations
  
• Implement the conservation policy plan
• Benchmark performance of conservation system
• Set aside resources and management time to review
  and modify system
  
• Communicate results!

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Emerging Trends Obstacles

• Food safety concerns overshadow biodiversity
• Lack of landscape planning context capacity
• Inadequate incentives for conformance
• Access to standards
• Cost of maintaining certification

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Emerging Trends Opportunities

• Proliferation slowing
• Structural uniformity
• Planning management-driven
• Ecosystem focus emerging
• Local capacity growing
• Consumers starting to pay
• Multinationals listening

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Project-Level BMPs

• Assure that biodiversity standards are routine
  values within BDS outsourcing projects
  
• Build conservation awareness capacity in
  associations as part of competitiveness
  strategies
  
• Ease conservation standard entry by clustering
  producers processors or retailers
  
• Consider working with DCA multilaterals to
  establish credit windows insurance for
  certified commodities
  

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Promising Approaches Include

• Accelerate access to clean production through
  regulatory relief, P2/CP tariffs, and P3s
  
• Review strengthen host country capacity to
  promote support application of environment and
  conservation standards
  
• Help build 3rd party capacity to implement and
  audit to private standards that incorporate
  conservation values
  

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Trade Integration Standards Support Solutions

• Trade Standards Practitioners Network
  Established
  
• Conduct routine screening of project
  interventions for market conformity, compliance
  with regulations, and cost reduction
  
• Guide series demystifies standards

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Trade Standard Integration Portal
www.tradestandards.org
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Trends in Biodiversity Standards
InternationalVoluntaryStandards
International
Conventions VoluntaryInitiatives
National Regulations
National
Required Voluntary