Fairwild

The FairWild Foundation aims to provide a global framework for implementing a sustainable and fair trading system for wild-collected plant ingredients and their products. It was established in 2008 in response to the major ecological and social challenges created by the ever increasing demand for wild plant ingredients for use in food, cosmetics, well-being and medicinal products. Unsustainable harvesting of potentially vulnerable plant species can endanger local ecosystems as well as the livelihoods of the collectors who often belong to the poorest social groups in the countries of origin.

The FairWild Foundation promotes the FairWild Standard^[1] and FairWild Certification system^[2] for the sustainable management and collection of wild plants. This allows consumers to know they are supporting ethical fair trading standards and for trading benefits to be felt by the local communities harvesting the plants.

History

Accountability and fair trade are becoming increasingly important criteria in the global market place. Several product certification and labeling schemes currently exist, but are generally not appropriate for wild plant products. The FairWild Foundation was therefore founded in 2008 and is responsible for the quality and implementation of a unified standard and certification system that includes ecological as well as social aspects.

The FairWild Standard has closed a gap that had not been covered by other standards and certification systems. Most Fair trade certification schemes focus on cultivated plants; organic and related certification systems, even if applicable to wild collected species, do not include many criteria that are important for wild collection situations, especially concerning ecological sustainability requirements as resource assessment and determination of a sustainable yield.

FairWild Standard

The FairWild Standard allows for traceability and transparency, as well as improving product safety. To ensure sustainability in the wild collection system, the International Standard for Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (ISSC-MAP) was developed between 2001 and 2006, supported by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), TRAFFIC, WWF, and IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature).

The development of the Fair Trade standard was initiated by SIPPO (the Swiss Import Promotion Programme) in cooperation with Forum Essenzia e.V and IMO (Institute for Marketecology). This was then merged with ISSC-MAP to form the FairWild Standard version 1.0 in 2008 to provide all round implementation of ecological, social and economical aspects.

The current FairWild Standard version 2.0 was published in 2010 combining all the essential elements of the FairWild Standard 1.0 with practical experience gained through application of the Standard in the field. Its implementation helps support efforts to ensure plants are managed, harvested and traded in a way that maintains populations in the wild and benefits rural producers.

The FairWild Standard ensures that best practice guidelines are maintained in the following key areas:

• Maintaining wild plant resources with no negative environmental impacts
• Complying with laws, regulations and agreements
• Respecting customary rights and benefit sharing
• Promoting fair contractual agreements between operators and collectors, and ensuring fair trade benefits for collectors and their communities
• Limiting participation of children in wild-collection activities
• Ensuring fair working conditions for all workers
• Applying responsible business and management practices
• Promoting buyer commitment

FairWild Certification

Use of FairWild Certification serves to provide consumers with the assurance that products are produced in a socially and ecologically sound manner with benefits being felt by all those involved right down to the local communities harvesting the wild plants. Before products can display the FairWild certification all those involved in the national or international supply chain need to be assessed, from collectors through to traders and exporters in the country of origin.

Certification is based on a number of factors including resource assessment, management plans, sustainable collecting practices, cost calculation along the supply chain, traceability of goods and finances, and documented fair trading practices. In addition, FairWild is only applicable to wild harvested plants (except for timber products), lichens and fungi, and does not include cultivated plants.

Difference between FairWild and other Organic and Fair Trade Certifications

FairWild and organic certification are fundamentally different. Organic certification covers organic agriculture (e.g. organic fertilization; absence of chemical fertilization, pesticides, herbicides and other prohibited inputs), while FairWild focuses on the ecological and social sustainability of wild collected plants in a wider sense. Another major difference is that organic certification is regulated in the major markets (European, US and Japanese), whereas FairWild is a private standard and certification scheme.

Organic certification is predominantly used for cultivated ingredients, though it can also be applied to wild collection. FairWild certification is much more specific thereby providing a higher level of control. Under FairWild certification, the use of harmful chemical inputs that would be banned under organic schemes is similarly restricted; however, the certification is not equivalent to organic. In practice, many of the FairWild-certified operators also obtain a separate organic certification.

FairWild has much in common with other Fair Trade schemes such as FLO Certified, IMO Social and FairTrade (Fair for Life), ECOCERT FairTrade, sharing virtually the same social principles. The major difference is that FairWild focuses on wild collection, while most other Fair Trade schemes have been designed for the certification of agriculture and products derived from it. The requirements of the FairWild scheme are designed to fit with the social structures specific to wild collection, meeting the needs of collectors and their communities. Also, no geographic restrictions are placed on the availability of FairWild certification, unlike many other Fair Trade schemes.

FairWild and International Policy

The FairWild Standard is useful for bridging the gap between existing broad conservation guidelines and managing plans developed for specific local conditions.

FairWild and the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered species of Fauna and Flora (CITES)

Countries exporting plants and animals species listed in Appendix II of CITES are required to demonstrate a level of export that is not detrimental to the survival of that species. This is achieved through the compilation of a Non-detriment finding (NDF)by CITES of which the ecological criteria of the FairWild Standard is a contributor.

FairWild and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

The FairWild Standard has clear links to the CBD's primary aim of conservation of biological resources including the sustainable use and fair sharing of benefits resulting from such use. The GSPC (Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, adopted by the CBD in 2002, covers issues of sustainable use of plant diversity and benefit-sharing with the aim to contribute to the alleviation of poverty and sustainable development via inclusion of such targets in government policy. The breadth and flexibility of the FairWild Standard make the FairWild Foundation an ideal partner for governments and NGO's working towards fulfillment of GSPC targets.

Products

FairWild certified ingredients are available from producer companies in a number of countries worldwide. Certification audits (according to FairWild Standard version 1.0) began in 2007, with the first products containing FairWild-certified ingredients available on the market in 2009. Currently, products containing certified ingredients include herbal teas,^[3] frankincense,^[4] scented pillows.^[5] and traditional Chinese medicines (TCM).^[6] FairWild sustainable use projects are continuing successfully in various regions around the world.^[7]

Countries that currently either produce or distribute FairWild ingredients include:

• Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Kazakhstan
• Bulgaria
• Poland
• Macedonia
• Hungary
• Bolivia
• Azerbaijan
• Armenia
• Kenya
• Spain

Benefits of FairWild Certified Products

A growing number of companies are realizing that investing in sustainable management of wild harvests and associated supply chains makes good business sense. As well as avoiding the need to discontinue or reformulate products, investment in sustainable sourcing, particularly when coupled with “fair trade”, can enhance a company’s corporate image. This is reinforced by growing consumer awareness of and demand for “ethical” products. Governments are also increasingly recognizing the economic importance of wild-product trade, and so keen to address sustainability issues and ensure product quality through more transparent supply chains. Groups promoting “alternative livelihoods” based on commercialization of non-timber forest products have also come to realize that success relies on stable supplies, as well as stable or growing markets.

References