Experts have declared that voluntary sustainability standards could play a bigger role in conserving the planet’s resources and strengthen the new post-2020 global biodiversity framework.
The Rainforest Alliance is a voluntary sustainability standard for agriculture
and forestry products and tourism businesses. © K I Photography
The global community is failing to meet the scale of the biodiversity crisis that threatens to wipe out over 1 million animal and plant species, putting our economies, food security and health at risk.
But the world can chart a new course. And trade has an important role to play.
More than 190 countries are currently negotiating, under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), new global biodiversity goals and targets that are expected to be adopted during the second phase of the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in 2022.
International commerce has so far been overlooked in the negotiations, even though unsustainable trade has helped fuel the crisis. Coffee and chocolate are just two examples of products consumed daily around the world that are linked to biodiversity loss.
If done sustainably, however, trade can be a force for good. And voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) offer an important tool to ensure the goods we buy are produced and traded in a way that protects people and the planet.
“Global meetings like COP15 are important occasions to highlight the key role sustainability standards can play in safeguarding our planet’s biodiversity while improving living standards around the globe,” UNCTAD Deputy Secretary-General Isabelle Durant said.
A recent workshop held by UNCTAD and the ISEAL sustainability alliance, in partnership with the CBD secretariat, highlighted how VSS could strengthen the upcoming post-2020 global biodiversity framework.
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