New study published on wild botanicals and the EU market

June 2014 - The Trade for Development Centre (TDC) of the Belgian Development Agency (BTC) has recently published a new study on wild-sourced botanicals and the EU market, anticipating the growing opportunities for these products in the food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.

TDC aims at economic and social empowerment of small producer organisations, by both enhancing business knowledge and improving their access to markets. The study on wild botanicals has been carried out within the framework of TDC’s Producer Support Programme, through which financial and technical assistance is provided to producer organisations.

In this context, the study focuses on wild-collected medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) which have a potential for livelihoods enhancement and conservation action. Moreover, these species are assessed in terms of sustainable trade. The countries covered in the study are Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Tanzania, Mozambique and Vietnam, six of the countries in which BTC focuses its activities.

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Wild plants the stars of innovative online toolbox

27th May 2014—Today sees the launch of an online interactive “Traditional and wild” toolbox, created to showcase the use of a variety of wild plant species used for traditional medicine and for food in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Poland and beyond.

The state-of-the-art website, which features the FairWild Standard, was created by TRAFFIC and WWF Hungary as part of an EU-funded project aimed at preserving knowledge about sustainable harvesting of wild plant resources in Central Europe. It is available in Polish, Hungarian, Slovenian and Czech, with some sections in Roma.

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Upcoming event: Sustainable Foods Summit, Amsterdam, 5-6 June

Interested in sustainability and eco-labels? The Sustainable Foods Summit is a series of international events that focuses on the leading issues the food industry faces on this topic.

The European edition of the Sustainable Foods Summit will be held in Amsterdam on 5-6th June. The summit aims to bring together key stake-holders in the food industry to debate sustainability issues in a high-level forum. This year, the event will will focus on clean label developments, debating key advances in these areas.

For more information, visit the website: http://www.sustainablefoodssummit.com/

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Guidelines to "Non-Detriment Findings" available to support CITES implementation for plants

Voluntary guidelines have been produced to support CITES Scientific Authorities to implement the NDF processApril 2014 — New guidelines have been produced outlining straightforward steps for determining whether trade in a particular plant species is likely to be detrimental to its survival, a key requirement for countries before allowing export of their wildlife resources.

The new guidelines are aimed at helping government authorities decide whether a Non-Detriment Finding (NDF) can be issued and export permits granted to allow trade to proceed for a species listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This process affects a number of plants of commercial importance, which have been listed in Appendices to CITES as a protection measure.

Determining a robust NDF is one of the key challenges facing governments in implementing their obligations under CITES and some CITES Scientific Authorities have struggled to implement this rather complex process. In recent years there has been a focus on developing guidance for different taxa.

Now, thanks to funding provided by the German Government’s BfN and WWF Germany, new guidelines have been developed by TRAFFIC to assist CITES Scientific Authorities in determining NDFs for perennial plants.

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Communicating sustainability: FairWild at BioFach 2014, Germany

Ben Heron, Pukka Herbs, shares experiences of linking sustainable wild collection to hornbill conservation in India © Anastasiya Timoshyna / TRAFFICMarch 2014 – Sustainable wild collection was again highlighted at the BioFach trade fair in Nuremberg, Germany, last month. The organic trade fair celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, and remains an important event in the calendar for those involved with the trade in wild plant ingredients.

This year, FairWild Foundation co-exhibited with the Institute for Marketecology (IMOswiss AG), accredited certifier for the FairWild scheme. Information on the FairWild Standard and certification scheme was provided to a wide range of visitors to the stand.

A special presentation and discussion session was held on “Communicating sustainability: marketing of wild-collected herbal teas”. The event was facilitated by ProFound – Advisers in Development, who are supporting FairWild Foundation on communications and marketing issues.

The event marked the recent entry to market of several new product ranges bearing the FairWild certification mark, helping companies to engage with the public on the topic of sustainable wild harvesting and fair trade.

Many herbal teas contain ingredients that are collected from the wild although

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