Background
UNCTAD will organize the Lessons from Implementing BioTrade Principles and Criteria (BT P&C) Technical Workshop, which will take place on 18 May 2018 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The workshop offers a forum for BioTrade practitioners to share their experiences in implementing the BT P&C at the national and international levels. Inputs from the workshop will start the revision process of the BioTrade criteria. The updated criteria will then be incorporated into ITC´s Standards Map, enabling users to compare BioTrade with other sustainability frameworks as well to conduct company self-assessments to identify areas for improvement.
The 2007 publication of the BT P&C concluded an extensive participatory consultative process and field testing at the national, regional and international levels led by UNCTAD and BioTrade partners. Since then, the BT P&C has guided BioTrade and other related activities. A growing number of stakeholders are embracing the BioTrade principles, criteria and framework, which are currently implemented in over twenty countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as in supply chains of transnational companies.
During the technical workshop, roundtable discussions will take place where experiences and lessons learned from field implementation will be shared. Additionally, the International Trade Centre (ITC) will present its online database Standards Map. The workshop outcomes will kick-off the updating of BioTrade criteria, along with renewed alignment with more recent international agreements/agendas (e.g. Nagoya Protocol, SDGs) and growing consumer demand for biodiversity friendly products and services.
This technical workshop is part of the UNCTAD BioTrade Initiative - Linking trade, biodiversity and sustainable development programme implemented with the support of the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO. The revisions and updates to BioTrade criteria is one of the components of this four-year programme starting in April 2018 to March 2022.
Objective
The aim of the workshop is to bring together BioTrade partners and practitioners under a common platform to collaborate on updates to the BT P&C. This will further promote the mainstreaming of BioTrade into both the institutional level (e.g. biodiversity- and trade- related national and international actors), and the supply-chain level (e.g. private company or producer group).
http://unctad.org/topic/trade-and-environment
https://www.seco-cooperation.admin.ch/secocoop/en/home.html