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