2011-11-Cambridge
Biodiversity in standards workshop
30 November 2011
Jesus College
Cambridge, UK
UNEP-WCMC and the CBD Secretariat organised a one-day workshop to discuss the findings and recommendations of their recent review of standards and certification schemes. These findings are to be released in report in mid-December.
Maria Alice Alexandra (GDI Board Member and Executive Secretary of the Life Institute) and Francis Vorhies joined a select group of standards and certification experts to develop a final set of recommendations and priorities which will feed into CBD meetings leading up to COP 11 next October.
The UNEP-WCMC and CBD review looked at 36 biodiversity-relevant standards and certification schemes such as the IFOAM norms, the RSPO Principles and Criteria, the IFC’s new Performance Standard 6, the FSC, CCBA, the FairWild Standard and the MSC. It identified a number of areas where these standards could be strengthened with respect to biodiversity conservation including the use of internationally-recognised definitions, safeguarding priority conservation areas, and adopting ‘no net loss’ approaches.
The workshop was particularly useful for the GDI in that it provided an opportunity to understand some of the key issues and concerns of the ‘conservation community’ with respect to the use of voluntary standards for biodiversity. In particular, the discussions reinforced the value-added of the GDI approach with respect to its direct focus on CBD compliance and its aim to establish a certified hectare as a workable metric for biodiversity-responsible land management.
Workshop agenda & participants
Presentation by M Wenban-Smith
Review of the Biodiversity Requirements of Standards and Certification Schemes
