Members of the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative (FSI) supported on Thursday 26th January 2017 the improvements for a sustainable floriculture sector. During the FSI General Assembly at the IPM Trade Fair in Essen, Germany, Members strengthened their determination to achieve the FSI ambition of 90% flowers and pot plants sourced by FSI members from responsible sources by 2020.
Every year during IPM, FSI members come together to discuss the latest developments and align on the way forward. The focus this year was on the Basket of Standards, the Responsible sourcing and the approach on the key sustainability topics in floriculture.
The FSI Basket of Standards includes environmental and social certifications/ schemes that are validated through independent benchmarking. FSI members are using this basket to measure their sourcing performance. With the addition of two social and two environmental standards/schemes, the 2017 Basket contains 14 standards and schemes related to responsible sources. Besides using it for their own reference, FSI and its members will actively promote the Basket of Standards as international reference point for responsible sourcing in the supply chain.
Key Topics
During the General Assembly the next round of FSI member projects were launched, taking an ambitious approach on the Key Topics Working Conditions, Water use, Agrochemicals and Supply Chain Transparency. With these four new projects kicking off, FSI members will be working towards further integration of IPM; increasing knowledge on pesticide use; promoting wetland development and water stewardship; improving Women empowerment through gender-sensitive management. The projects are co-funded by the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) and are contracted for the period 2017-2019.
Beyond the responsible sourcing strategy and the projects’ work, FSI members Hivos, BSR Her+Project and Partner Africa presented their collaborative approach on Gender equality. The Working Group on Gender supports and aligns the efforts towards empowering women workers. And by closely working together with the producers and exporters organizations EHPEA (Ethiopia) and KFC (Kenya) positive impacts are directly delivered at farm level.
Election
The General Assembly also elected the new Board representatives for Retail and Civil Society. FSI Ordinary members unanimously approved the election of Leon Mol (Albert Heijn) as Retail representative and Benjamin Gatland (Partner Africa) representative of the Civil Society Organizations.
