IN BRIEF Creation: 2005. Based at: Weinfelden, Switzerland (IMO) with secretariat in Cambridge, UK (Traffic International) Origin/need: The growing demand for natural products in the food, cosmetics and medicinal sectors is putting much pressure on vulnerable plants; threatening local ecosystems and plant collecting communities, who normally belong to the poorest social groups. Sector: picking/collecting (fruits, nuts, plants, mushrooms, berries, etc.) What is guaranteed: Maintenance of MAP resources (wild Medicinal and Aromatic Plants); prevention of harmful effects on the environment; compliance with laws, regulations, agreements, common law; establishment of responsible management practices; fair working conditions and commercial relationships; fair commercial behaviour and quality awareness. Stakeholders: NGOs, consumers, public authorities, businesses, experts in conservation, fair trade, FLO and ILO requirements. Beneficiaries: Independent producers, cooperatives, factories, businesses/ brand holders Type of assessment: internal, second and third party inspections. Methods: analysis of the documentary system, preannounced visits to collection sites, interviews with internal and external stakeholders. Sector activities concerned: production, import/ export, processing. Standard: the FairWild Standard is a combination of the old FairWild standard (social section) with the ISSC MAP standard (environmental section). Available on www.fairwild.org Improvement procedure: checklist with grading system (0 = non-compliant; 1 = basic compliance; 2 = compliant with requirements; 3 = exceptional). 90% of the points in the requirements must be achieved during the 1st year. All the main points must be achieved. 95% must be achieved during the 2nd year, 100% during the 3rd year.
At the beginning of the 21st century, professionals who traded or protected medicinal and aromatic plants began reviewing good agricultural practices that were recommended by organisations such as the WHO, the WWF and the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). They also wanted to ‘fine-tune’ the recommendations, in order to ensure the sustainability of these specific natural resources as well as to ensure continuing compliance of local rural communities, whose survival often depends on these plant species. Soon they realised that with the exception of “standard” crops such as tea and vanilla, the normal certification and best practice criteria used in fair trade (FLO, for example) and organic production were not precise enough to cover the specific range of plants used in medicines, cosmetics and foodstuffs. They therefore created a set of requirements and a certification system entitled the “International Standard for Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (ISSC-MAP)”. Based on economic, social and environmental criteria, this guarantee system has been in existence since 2005. The FairWild Foundation has been promoting it since 2008 among plant collectors, businesses, traders, importers and exporters, etc., through various training and awareness programmes. It was reviewed in 2010 and is now called FairWild Standard 2.0. The FairWild Standard provides guidance on best practices in eleven key areas: maintaining wild plant resources, preventing negative environmental impacts, compliance with law, regulations and agreements, respecting customary rights and sharing benefits, promoting fair contractual relationships between operators and collectors, ensuring benefits for collectors and their community, ensuring fair working conditions for all workers of FairWild collection operations and limiting participation of children in wildcollection activities, applying responsible management practices and business practices and finally, promoting buyer commitment. The scope of the FairWild Standard 2.0 includes medicinal plants and other products of plant and/or fungal origin. Animals and products of animal origin such as honey are excluded. 1
http://www.fairwild.org/labelling
Indigenous cocoa in Bolivia—© BTC
By the end of 2012, wild plants were collected under the FairWild label in 7 countries, mainly in Eastern Europe and in the Balkans (Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Albania and Hungary) but also in Bolivia and Kazakhstan. Plants are collected for the account of North-American, British, German and Swiss companies. FairWild products are mainly offered for sale in the USA, Canada, Great Britain and Japan. In the United States FairWild has just been recognised by the Fair Trade Resource Network. Current implementation projects are underway in Vietnam, Ecuador, Morocco, Lebanon and Central Europe (Poland, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Hungary). Moreover, the IUCN has collaborated with TRAFFIC, the WWF and other partners, with the financial support of the German Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development, with a view to implementing the ISSC-MAP standard. This is part of the joint initiative “Saving Plants that Save Lives and Livelihoods” and seeks to certify sustainable plant collection and picking in the countryside under the auspices of the FairWild Foundation. Projects are in progress in Brazil, Cambodia, India, Lesotho, Nepal, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China and Ukraine For Edward Quiroz, adviser to the Arcasy association of wild cocoa producers (Bolivia), which obtained its FairWild certification in 2012, "the certification offers advantages such as a fair price, healthy competition (with wholesalers who respect collectors), environment-friendly practices that protect biodiversity and the sustainability of cocoa trees. Economic profit is also generated when the product is exported to countries that know the label." This adviser also points out that the label is a marketing tool: It shows the producerorganisation is ecologically sound. But there are restrictions. The Arcasy adviser regrets he cannot export directly to Europe without using intermediaries, who also benefit from the label. He is also limited as to quantities collected, which for certain industries are too low.
Products containing at least 75% FairWild ingredients can carry the FairWild logo prominently displayed. Products containing 20–75% of FairWild ingredients can carry the FairWild logo in a subordinate position. Products containing less than 20% of FairWild ingredients can be labeled with: contains FairWild “xxx”, without using the logo.
Out of almost 70,000 plant species used for medicinal purposes throughout the world, only some 3,000 are traded on an international scale. For more information: www.fairwild.org
The FairWild label can be used on packaging through a licence agreement with the FairWild Foundation. To determine the licence fees, buyers fill out a declaration stipulating the relationship and prices paid to producers; traders report on all FairWild-labelled products sold during one year. The buyer undertakes to pay a FairWild Price, at least 5% higher than the market price. An additional premium is directed to a development fund, which is intended for social development projects in the collectors’ communities. The FairWild Premium is not to be confused with the FairWild Price. It can be passed on in whole or in part throughout the value chain. The license fee rate is calculated on a sliding scale depending on the annual turnover of the FairWild certified product(s).
The costs of certification depend on the number of working days required for inspection. The time needed depends on the size of the company, its complexity, and the number and type of certified products it is seeking to sell. A full FairWild audit (ecological and social criteria) normally takes 2-3 days. At the present time, the IMO is the only FairWild-accredited agency. Costs are borne by the certificate holder. This can be either the importer or the collectors’ association.
FairWild confirms its affiliation with fair trade. FairWild principles and criteria are very close to those of the Fairtrade label. It also includes CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) provisions on prior informed consent (PIC) and access and benefit -sharing (ABS) of biodiversity. FairWild also responds to endangered species issues and to the over-exploitation of natural resources. It’s the only label that refers to the rights of indigenous people and respects their traditional know-how. With the emergence of a growing market for biodiversity-based products – in cosmetics but also as food supplements - the FairWild Standard can inspire the fair trade movement, which should consider developing a strategy and complementary criteria to include respect for biodiversity-based resources and traditional know-how in its own standards, and in the new value chains it develops. January 2013
CONTACT FAIRWILD Head Office
Secretariat
Weststrasse 51 CH-8570 Weinfelden Switzerland Tel: +41-71-6 26 06 26 Fax: +41-71-6 26 06 23
TRAFFIC International 219a Huntingdon Rd Cambridge CB3 ODL UK Tel: +44 (0)1223 277427 Fax: +44 (0)1223 277237
Email: info@FairWild.org
Email: secretariat@FairWild.org
* The remuneration guarantee varies according to the system. Some provide a “fair” wage, with a discretionary income (EFT, Fair for Life, Fairwild, FSC, GoodWeave, Max Havelaar (FLO), BSCI, ETI, Fair Wear, RSPO, SA8000, STEP, WFTO). Referred to as a “living wage”, it varies from one region to another and is calculated in relation to the cost of living (basket of household goods). Other systems simply guarantee compliance with legal indices, without examining their correlation with the “fairness” of the amount paid. ** Financial security sometimes takes the form of setting a guaranteed minimum price (essentially for raw materials), sometimes the payment of a premium over the market price (considered to reflect the superior quality of the product) and/or through contractual clauses relating to the duration of partnership (long-term), easy access to (pre)financing, etc. These factors have a strong correlation with the criterion of “remuneration”: A correct price implies “fair” remuneration.
BUILDING A FAIR WORLD
Trade for Development Centre closely follows the evolution of fair and sustainable trade. We try to inform consumers, authorities, producers and other economic actors as objectively as possible with opinion surveys, market studies, articles, brochures and a review of labels and guarantee systems.
BTC - BELGIAN DEVELOPMENT AGENCY TRADE FOR DEVELOPMENT CENTRE RUE HAUTE 147 1000 BRUSSELS T. +32 (0)2 505 19 37 WWW.BEFAIR.BE