LIFE Food & Biodiversity - Biodiversity in Standards and Labels for the Food Industry LIFE15 GIE/DE/000737

Transcription

1 LIFE Food & Biodiversity - Biodiversity in Standards and Labels for the Food Industry LIFE15 GIE/DE/ Project description Environmental issues Beneficiaries Administrative data Read more Contact details: Contact person: Stefan Hoermann Tel: hoermann@globalnature.org Project description: Background The EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 underlines the importance of motivating the corporate sector to reduce its negative impacts on biodiversity. Intensive agriculture is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss, through the use of heavy machinery, pesticides and synthetic nitrogen fertilisers, land consolidation, drainage, etc. Therefore, the food sector has both a negative impact on biodiversity and significant potential for improvement. Food processing companies and retailers can increase biodiversity performance within their supply chains by adjusting standards and labelling. Objectives The overall objective of the LIFEBioStandards project is to improve biodiversity performance in the food chain. In terms of EU added value, the project proposes a multinational step forward in the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 by developing standards and having them applied by pioneering companies in the food industry. The food industry, in its role as customer, has a major impact on agriculture and thus on biodiversity issues. The specific objectives of the project are as follows: Include efficient biodiversity criteria in standards and labels for the food

2 sector and encourage food processing companies and retailers to include efficient biodiversity criteria in their sourcing guidelines; Improve biodiversity measures in certified farms by applying the Biodiversity Performance Tool and through capacity building; Train certifiers/auditors, assessors and managers of certified farms; Demonstrate the applicability of biodiversity criteria and measures to standard organisations by implementing five pilot projects in certified farms on arable crops, vegetable production, permanent crops, dairy production and meat production; Monitor the impact on biodiversity with a two-level monitoring system; Raise awareness of the issue among procurement and product managers; Establish a European wide sector initiative: Biodiversity Performance in the Food Sector ; and Compile guidelines on how to ease approval procedures, and suggest operating conditions. Expected results: The project expects to achieve the following results: 500 business associations and companies (including retailers and 50% of the large food processing companies) will be informed of the recommendations on the biodiversity standards; 40 standards bodies will substantially improve at least 50% of their criteria and 30 companies will improve their supply chain rules; Regional/ national political decision-makers will take the recommendations into consideration when drafting programmes for the food sector; The Biodiversity Performance Tool will be applied by 30 standards organisations; 360 certifiers/ assessors will be trained, with a baseline of approximately trained certifiers in four target countries. The training tools developed will be used by 60 standards/labelling organisations and 30 companies; Biodiversity Action Plans will be successfully implemented in pilot projects involving five types of agricultural production in 50 farms. The pilot projects will be extended to three regions for each type of production; food companies will receive the Biodiversity Guidelines; Seven Biodiversity Fact Sheets will be distributed to approximately product/quality managers; 20 standards organisations and companies will join the two-phase monitoring system; 40 organisations will participate in the Biodiversity Performance in the Food Sector initiative. An action plan will be approved by the participants; and The project will carry out a comprehensive dissemination strategy, targeting publication of 40 articles on biodiversity issues in media outlets in four countries, attendance at 20 sector-specific events, networking with people in the food sector and at least 500 organisations. Results

3 Environmental issues addressed: Themes Biodiversity issues - High Nature Value farmland Environmental management - Certification Industry-Production - Food and Beverages Information - Governance - Environmental training - Capacity building Keywords environmental impact of agriculture Agriculture biodiversity environmentally friendly product rural area agroindustry standard Target EU Legislation Nature protection and Biodiversity COM(2011) 244 final Our life insurance, our natural capital: an EU biodiversity strategy to Land & Soil COM(2010)672 - The CAP towards 2020: Meeting the food, natural resources and territorial challeng... Natura 2000 sites Not applicable Beneficiaries: Coordinator Type of organisation Description Global Nature Fund NGO-Foundation GNF Global Nature Fund is a non-profit foundation for the protection of nature and the environment with headquarters in Radolfzell and offices in Bonn and Berlin. It has close connections with the Fundación Global Nature (FGN) and the Lake Constance Foundation. GNF implements awareness raising campaigns and pilot projects in the fields of sustainable tourism, water management, nature conservation and renewable energies. These projects are often related to protected areas.

4 Partners Business-related projects include the development of corporate biodiversity indicators, corporate natural capital accounting, and the promotion of biodiversity in vineyards and of standards for the tourism and food sector in Germany. Bodensee-Stiftung (Lake Constance Foundation), Germany Fundación Global Nature, Spain Solagro, France Agentur auf!, Germany Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal Administrative data: Project reference LIFE15 GIE/DE/ Duration 01-AUG-2016 to 31-JAN Total budget 3,056, EU contribution 1,830, Schleswig-Holstein(Deutschland) Hamburg(Deutschland) Niedersachsen(Deutschland) Bremen(Deutschland) Nordrhein-Westfalen(Deutschland) Hessen(Deutschland) Rheinland-Pfalz(Deutschland) Baden-Württemberg(Deutschland) Bayern(Deutschland) Saarland(Deutschland) Berlin(Deutschland) Brandenburg(Deutschland) Mecklenburg-Vorpommern(Deutschland) Sachsen(Deutschland) Sachsen-Anhalt(Deutschland) Thüringen(Deutschland) Galicia(España) Asturias(España) Cantabria(España) País Vasco(España) Navarra(España) Rioja(España) Aragón(España) Madrid(España) Castilla-León(España) Castilla-La Mancha(España) Extremadura(España) Cataluña(España) Comunidad Project location Valenciana(España) Baleares(España) Andalucía(España) Murcia(España) Ceuta y Melilla(España) Canarias(España) Île,de,France(France) Champagne-Ardennes(France) Picardie(France) Haute-Normandie(France) Centre(France) Basse-Normandie(France) Bourgogne(France) Nord-Pas-De-Calais(France) Lorraine(France) Alsace(France) Franche-Comté(France) Pays de la Loire(France) Bretagne(France)

5 Poitou-Charentes(France) Aquitaine(France) Midi-Pyrénées(France) Limousin(France) Rhône-Alpes(France) Auvergne(France) Languedoc-Roussillon(France) Provence-Alpes-Côte d' Azur(France) Corse(France) Guadeloupe(France) Martinique(France) Guyane(France) Réunion(France) Norte(Portugal) Centro(Portugal) Lisboa e vale do Tejo(Portugal) Alentejo(Portugal) Algarve(Portugal) Açores(Portugal) Madeira(Portugal) Read more: Project web site Project's website Publication: Guidelines-Manual Title: "Baseline Report: Biodiversity in standards and labels for the food sector" (1.59 MB) Year: 2017 Editor: Global Nature Fund No of pages: 45 Publication: Guidelines-Manual Title: "Recommendations: To improve biodiversity protection in policy and criteria of food standards and sourcing requirements of food companies and retailers" (10.6 MB) Author: Lake Constance Foundation (ed.) Year: 2017 Editor: Food - Biodiversity No of pages: 44 Project description Environmental issues Beneficiaries Administrative data Read more