SEKEM INITIATIVE

Business, Climate, Field

Category:

Location/Scale:

Egypt (International)

Founder:

Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish

Period:

1997 – now

In a nutshell

The SEKEM Initiative was founded as a comprehensive development initiative to address some of the most pressing issues affecting Egypt. SEKEM started on a 70-hectare plot of desert land and became the first entity to develop biodynamic farming methods in Egypt.

The SEKEM vision entails a holistic approach focusing on sustainable, organic agriculture to restore and maintain the vitality of the soil and food as well as fostering biodiversity. Furthermore, it supports social and cultural development in Egypt by enabling and promoting knowledge transfer, education and conscious consumption. Over the years, SEKEM has broadened its scope and became the umbrella of a multifaceted agro-industrial group of companies and NGOs. Their holding structure is formed by three closely interrelated entities.

Firstly, the SEKEM Holding Company is composed of eight companies and multiple project-based initiatives, each responsible for SEKEM’s economic and ecological value proposition.

Secondly, the Egyptian SEKEM Development Foundation (SDF) which includes a medical center, a school open to pupils from any religious or ethnic background, a school and vocational training center, a nursery, the Mahad Adult Education Training Institute, the SEKEM Academy for Applied Art and Sciences and the Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development, all responsible for cultural aspects.

Lastly, the Cooperative of SEKEM Employees (CSE), responsible for human resource development, women empowerment, gender equality and the association of partnerships.

Context

In Egypt, agriculture involves 40% of the workforce and remains the least developed sector of the Egyptian economy. Cost of agricultural production has increased while the resource base has shrunk. Today, Egypt has become one of the world’s largest importers of food. Farmers in Egypt face a vast number of problems, such as water-scarcity, over-reliance on chemical inputs and low productivity. Although the total cultivated area is 3 million hectares, representing only 3 percent of the total land area, the government aims at increasing this number to 4.8 million hectares by 2030 through additional land reclamation.

Objective

SEKEM was found to realize the vision of sustainable human development and to tackle poverty, unemployment, food security, water and energy challenges and gender inequality in Egypt. SEKEM’s main objective is the development of the individual, society and environment through a holistic concept, which integrates economic, societal and cultural life.

Key Interventions

Farm Level:

  • SEKEM created jobs and employs today 2,000 people which are paid a fair salary
  • There is a network of more than 3,000 farmers who produce for the SEKEM group
  • Trained 477 farmers on biodynamic agriculture methods and registered them under the Egyptian Biodynamic Association (EBDA)

Regional/National Level:

  • Reclaimed 684 hectares of desert land, all of those 100% operated by biodynamic and sustainable agriculture methods
  • Since 2000, 978 students have graduated from SEKEM’s Vocational Training Centre
  • Contributed to the huge reduction of chemical fertiliser and pesticide use of 90% in Egypt’s cotton industry, while boosting yields by up by 30%
  • Planted 600,000 trees and sequestered 500,000,000 tonnes of CO2 through these trees and the soil enhancement
  • Offer free courses for illiterate employees, grant employees access to treatment in health centres and reduce fees on children’s education at SEKEM schools

Lessons Learned/challenges

Due to successful partnerships with banks and donors, SEKEM can realize essential parts of its sustainable development vision. Since May 2007, the German GLS Gemeinschaftsbank AG, the Dutch Triodos Ventures BV and since 2011, Oikocredit Ecumenical Development Cooperative are shareholders of the SEKEM Holding and support the finance department for future investments.

Nonetheless, additional public funds are required to finance financial and technical support to further facilitate knowledge transfer, trainings and the introduction of new technologies in the field of irrigation and renewable energy production. During the coming years, SEKEM will work on increasing the number of small farmers willing to transform their lands from conventional to biodynamic agriculture.

Relevant Links & references

PREMIUM HORTUS

Business, Field

Category:

Location/Scale:

Benin (National)

Founder:

Johannes Goudjanou and colleagues

Period:

2012 – now

In a nutshell

Premium Hortus is the first African greentech company for scaling up agroecology and sustainable development in West Africa. They are specialized in the e-commerce of agroecological products, organic production and producer support in Benin. Available as a web and mobile platform, Premium Hortus allows consumers (households, restaurants and hotels) to subscribe and choose from more than 60 varieties of organic certified products.

Produced in short food supply chains, the products are delivered to the costumers’ destination of choice. In addition, Premium Hortus provides farmers with education programmes that inform them about the latest innovations. They further provide workshops and trainings for companies, which range from drafting business plans to product introductions and the evaluation of their activities. This education programme is meant to train new ‘agroecologists’ who apply various methods of agroecology and access new markets.

Besides the benefits of increased agroecological production, waste is limited and otherwise recycled for organic composting, biogas, and the cosmetic industry. Premium Hortus is also collaborating with other companies and actors aiming at organizing summits and seminars on food security, agroecology and improved access to the markets. Due to the success of Premium Hortus in Benin, they started an expansion phase to Morocco, Togo and Cameroon.

Context

While Benin ranks among the poorest countries on earth, more than a third of Benin’s citizens live below the poverty threshold. Although Benin has had a rapid increase in its urban population, a third of the country’s families remain affected by food insecurity, while 16% of children are malnourished.

Overall, more than two-third of the population is working in the agricultural sector. Large quantities of fertilizer and chemical inputs are used and the distribution system remains obsolete, lacking modern technology. Consequently, the country suffers from significant water and soil pollution, biodiversity loss, low productivity as well as increased vulnerability to climate change and price volatility.

Objective

Premium Hortus’ main goal is to develop and promote agroecology and sustainable food by embedding local knowledge and combining it with modern information and communication technologies as well as business management skills. Premium Hortus can act as a role model for the promotion of agroecology and green innovation in Africa while fighting against climate change. Moreover, they lobby for the promotion of a circular and inclusive economy and create short circuits that benefit producers and consumers.

Key Interventions

Farm Level:

  • Trained over 400 green entrepreneurs and small farmers in business management with technical support in agroecology and access to markets
  • Provide certified natural bio-pesticides made from local plants to over 400 producers

Regional/National Level:

  • Helped to preserve the soil, water, biodiversity and health of more than 400,000 African households and reduced about 47% of greenhouse gases out of a total 1,681 kg/ha/year emitted by conventional agriculture
  • By creating an online selling platform, Premium Hortus supports marketing of the farmers’ products while simultaneously providing fast and secure online payments through QR Codes and Cryptocurrencies
  • Providing a credit assurance system (CALIM+) to customers, to support them during financially difficult times
  • Reducing waste through recycling and food donations/transfers through the platform

Lessons Learned/challenges

Premium Hortus provides access to more than 700 urban households subscribing to agroecological products. As a whole, their business model creates at least 500 jobs/year in rural farms of which 70% are carried out by women and young people. While farmers profit from lower production costs, increased revenues and improved living conditions, subscribers reduced their food waste by 60%.

As e-commerce has become an important topic nowadays, their digital business model possesses a big market potential, without noticeably increasing their fix costs. Nonetheless, a large scale-up might be difficult because of fierce competitors offering similar services and which know how to maintain marketplaces in profitable business sectors.

Relevant Links & references

MESULA MERU SUSTAINABLE LAND LTD

Business, Field

Category:

Location/Scale:

Tanzania (Local)

Implementing organization:

Italian and East African Oikos Institute

Period:

2014 – now

In a nutshell

MESULA is a social enterprise committed to high-quality horticultural production, food security and protection of the territory in the area of Mount Meru, Tanzania. The idea originated from the close relationship of Oikos with the community of Arumeru District in Northern Tanzania.

This region is globally acknowledged as one of the places most affected by over-spraying of highly hazardous pesticides. They realized that organic agriculture not only means to  ban chemical pesticides and fertilizers from the fields but rather apply a holistic approach that considers any productive input and process in strict relationship with environment and agro-ecosystems, but also social and labour issues.

MESULA was created to provide an opportunity to farmers that are willing to approach a new concept of crop production and livestock management. They converted more than 20 acres of land to organically managed farmlands with a special focus on pest management and soil fertility conservation, working only with small scale farmers. The company is reducing costs and distributing profits in an equal way to all the subjects involved. Concretely, 50% of the price is going back to the farmers, instead of being distributed along the value chain among several intermediaries.

MESULA creates a short value chain for the production and supply of fresh fruit and vegetables to the local market with the goal to provide Tanzanians with sustainable, safe and nutritious food. In addition, they provide smallholder farmers with trainings and support for the transition to sustainable farming.

Context

While agriculture is the main backbone of Tanzania’s economy, the country has over 44 million hectares of arable land with only 33 percent of this amount in cultivation. Almost 70 percent of the poor population live in rural areas and almost all of them are involved in the farming sector. Nevertheless, it is observed that export demand far exceeds the supply of organic agriculture in Tanzania, which raises expectations that organic agriculture has a promising future.

Objective

MESULA’s main objective is to contribute to enhanced food security and a fair development of rural communities while simultaneously providing the highest quality of food to consumers. Supporting the production of and access to healthy, pesticide-free food is at the core of Mesula’s vision. Their mission is to show that social equity, respect of human rights, fair economic conditions and a good health state can be tied to profitable businesses through organic production, while still preserving natural resources.

Key Interventions

Farm Level:

  • Hosting the Arushas Farmer Market once a month, which attracts around 300 visitors, in order to give small-scale farmers and entrepreneurs the opportunity to present their produce and businesses and exchange ideas on sustainability
  • Supporting small-scale food processors to reduce post-harvest losses and promote production and consumption of honey and fresh fruit and vegetables
  • Sensitizing farmers on land exploitation and soil conservation offering free technical advice and trainings on how to produce bio-pesticides from local plant extracts for pest control
  • Reducing the vulnerability of the producers by increasing their yields and diversifying the crops and adding value to the organic product by paying higher market prices
  • Participating in the main agricultural public events in Arusha, organizing farmers’ days to create transparency and connect final consumers directly to farmers and processors

Lessons Learned/challenges

Even though farmers in Arusha were situated in a difficult financial situation, the motivation and willingness of the farmers supported and enforced a sustainable business model. MESULA’s organic produce supply chain has a direct impact on reducing chemical pesticides in agricultural farming practices. Small-scale farmers are reaping the social and economic benefits of the sustainable farming methods, through increased incomes and reduced health risks.

The government of Tanzania has expressed the desire to further promote the organic agriculture sector by supporting increased awareness and knowledge of both producers and consumers. MESULA therefore started engaging in policy discussions on local and national level. Moreover, they could improve on systemic resilience of agroecosystems to extreme weather events and climate change.

Relevant Links & references

SONEVA FUSHI

Business

Category:

Location/Scale:

Maldives (Local)

Founder:

Sonu and Eva Shivdasani

Period:

1995 – now

In a nutshell

Soneva Fushi, a pioneering luxury eco resort, has developed a new sustainable system called “Eco Centro Waste to Wealth” to turn most waste into value and nutrients for the soil, such as compost, bio char, charcoal, mulches and soil conditioners. The resort follows the three R principles: Reduce – Reuse – Recycle. Resources such as energy, water, soil and organisms provide a localized ecosystem for sustainable use, while unwanted materials are re-used and recycled to reduce the amount of waste ending up in landfill.

The introduced system of permaculture has shown that there is a solution to sustainable agriculture even on low coral islands where people’s perception of waste is challenged. With the help of these recycled inputs, Soneva Fushi preserves the indigenous vegetation and cultivates an organic garden consisting of over 70 herb, salad, vegetable and fruit varieties. Raised beds, crop rotation and mixed cropping helps to reduce pests, while the usage of organic waste as a subsoil enabled them to obtain over 90% of the agricultural inputs directly from their island.

Moreover, the Waste to Wealth centre has not only become a model for waste recycling in the Maldives but is also used for educational purposes for guests, staff and the local community.

Context

The Maldives is a nation of coral islands scattered across 600 miles of Indian Ocean consisting of 1200 islands, of which 200 are home to local populations and 120 are exclusively for tourist resorts. A local supply of fish and coconuts made up the traditional diet, but with the rise of luxury tourism and a wealthier population, fresh fruit and vegetables are now flew in daily.

Local agriculture focuses on just a few products, and heavy use of imported agrochemicals is taking its toll on these delicate island ecosystems. Tourism, fisheries and agriculture account for 89% of the Maldivian GDP, which makes the country heavily reliant on a sensitive ecosystem. Nevertheless, especially small islands are vulnerable to biodiversity loss from rapid economic development, habitat destruction and overexploitation.

Objective

Soneva Fushi’s main objective is to challenge peoples’ perception of waste and tackle waste issues for an island setting like the Maldives. They therefore follow three strategies to increase engagement, reduce their environmental impact and increase biodiversity and soil life: 1) Applying Zero waste principles in order to minimize their impact on the island and to serve as a role model for other islands, 2) Promoting local production for local consumption using local resources in order to encourage ‘circular economy’ activities, and 3) Ensuring that the most environmentally friendly approach is also the most profitable in the long term.

Key Interventions

Farm Level:

  • The waste management centre helps maintaining a clean environment, recycling over 80% of their solid waste and converting waste into useful products, such as compost (~1000kg/day) or charcoal (~2000kg/month)
  • Bann imported water and produce their own drinking water using reusable glass bottles preventing the production of an estimated 550,000 plastic bottles
  • Increase self-sufficiency by reducing the value of imported vegetables for their guests and staff by 37%

Regional/National Level:

  • Contribute to a government consultation sessions with FAO on the subject of Island Smart Agriculture to influence national policy and assisting in bringing more investments into island farming
  • Maintain good links with the Maldives Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture, who recognizes that organic agriculture is essential for sustainable growth in this sector
  • Regularly conduct eco tours of their composting facilities, mushroom production area and organic gardens for government authorities, agriculture businesses and schools

Lessons Learned/challenges

Soneva Fushi is trying to ensure that their solution can be replicated on other small island nations in the region and across the world. However, a main hurdle is seen in attracting initial investments. By selling fruits, vegetables and mushrooms to the Soneva Fushi kitchens, the Eco Centro Waste to Wealth is approaching breakeven, turning the gardens into an independent profit centre for the business. Nonetheless, the biggest challenge for expanding the Waste to Wealth model is people’s negative perception of waste as it is hard for them to understand that waste can be used as a useful resource when recycled correctly.

Relevant Links & references

THE BIG CARROT

Business

Category:

Location/Scale:

Canada (Local)

Founder:

9 Founding Partners (worker owned co-operative)

Period:

1983 – now

In a nutshell

Operated based on the principles of a worker-owned co-operative, The Big Carrot was the first health food store to offer a one stop shopping experience with a vegetarian deli, organic produce department and a selection of frozen natural meat products.

The Big Carrot has grown into Canada’s largest worker owned natural food market selling their products in two different locations near Toronto. They continue to set standards for quality and selection of natural foods while still maintaining the same democratic non-corporate agenda as when they first opened. The Big Carrot strengthened its commitment to good organic stewardship by certifying its processing and packaging of over 700 organic products in the juice bar, bulk, spice, cheese and produce departments.

Acknowledging the fact that conventional agriculture degrades the health of soils, ecosystems and people, they decided to support and promote alternative agriculture techniques. By purchasing from small local, organic producers and by ensuring that each product meets a set of rigorous standards, they aim at the development of a healthy and sustainable food system. Consumer and employee education on social and environmental issues is at the centre of their work.

Context

The immense size of the country contributed to Canada being one of the largest agricultural producers and exporters in the world. Currently, only 3% of its population are employed as farmers who are able to feed the rest of the nation’s population as well as export to foreign markets.

Nevertheless, one of the fastest growing segments of Canadian agriculture are organic products with now more than 3700 registered organic food producers achieving double digit annual growth in retail sales over the past decade. Between 2011 and 2017, organic farmland increased by more than 45 percent, while total agricultural land remained almost stable with a one percent decrease.

Objective

In order to reach their goal of a healthy society, The Big Carrot offers high quality products, information services, competitive prices and ongoing public education to make organic and eco-labelled food selection easy. The Big Carrot is committed to support the production of organic, non-GMO and local food, to carry fairly traded products that support social justice and fair labour and to promote sustainable and healthy livestock production.

Key Interventions

Regional/National Level:

  • Offering education outreach and specific trainings to share knowledge and improve public education on social and environmental issues
  • Providing complimentary nutritional tours on topics such as achieving optimum health, understanding organic food and food sensitivities
  • Donating a percentage of their annual profits back to the local community and non-profit organizations with common goals
  • Fostering consumer education, The Big Carrot shares a comprehensive blog and numerous recipes with healthy, functional and good tasting food with its customers
  • Partnering with Localize, a shelf-labelling service that highlights over 1100 Ontario-made products from 116 Ontario-owned businesses and therefore helps customers to identify local products in their stores

Lessons Learned/challenges

Private companies do not have to be hierarchically structured to grow and follow their vision. From the 9 founding partners, The Big Carrot expanded to a worker cooperative consisting of currently over 70 members. As part of their vendor community, they now have direct relationships with 250 local Ontario producers and suppliers. Over the last 18 years, their non-profit organization Carrot Cache, which supports small organic agriculture projects in Ontario, granted over $2.1 million to organizations and individuals.

In order to further influence and spread the idea of alternative agriculture techniques, they could intensify their knowledge sharing in the domains of biodiversity, the use of synergies as well as the resilience against climate change. In order to widen their positive influence, the worker cooperative would have to expand from consumer and public education to encouraging inclusive policy making such as the development of school feeding programs or campaign for national level programs, regulations and subsidies. Furthermore, they could establish a link between alternative farming methods and global changes.

Relevant Links & references

SHARED HARVEST ORGANIC FARM

Business, Field

Category:

Location/Scale:

China (Local)

Founder:

Shi Yan

Period:

2012 – now

In a nutshell

Shared Harvest is a public-interested, service-oriented social enterprise devoted to the promotion of ecological agriculture and mutual trust between producers and consumers. The enterprise does not aim at maximizing profits, but rather aims at the comprehensive development of society, ecology and economy.

To do so, they adopted a Community-Supported-Agriculture (CSA) model to cooperate with the local farmers in Beijing producing local, seasonal and organically grown vegetables and other food products. The CSA model consists of a community of individuals who pledge to support a farming operation, making the farmland community-owned. While growers and producers provide mutual support and share the risk of food production, members pay a fee and then receive a share of the harvest.

The farm itself consists of 60 acres of vegetable planting base and 110 acres of forest land breeding base in a village in the Tongzhou District. In addition, they cultivate 50 acres of vegetable planting base in a town of the Shunyi District as well as 230 acres of fruit tree base and 60 acres of rice planting base in Heilongjiang. Besides that, they connect youth to agriculture and support them in learning about crop sharing by cooperating with eight schools and universities where they also advocate for healthy eating and food education.

Context

Agriculture is a vital industry in China, employing over 300 million farmers and ranking first in worldwide farm output. Agricultural modernization, as implemented in China since the seventies, is largely responsible for air pollution and soil degradation through the usage of fertilizers and pesticides.

Despite the rapid growth in output, the Chinese agricultural sector still faces several challenges as farmers often struggle to sell their agricultural products to customers. The long chain of intermediaries between the producing farmer in the countryside and the end-consumer in the cities often leads to a lack of trust and difficulties for farmers to foresee the demand and prices for different types of fruits and vegetables.

Objective

Shared Harvest Organic Farm targets three core goals: strengthening the relationship between citizens and farmers, protecting the income of farmers in ecological agriculture, and improving the status of food security. They are committed to build a bridge of trust, allowing consumers to enjoy healthy and safe food, while producers get a fair and reasonable income.

Key Interventions

Farm Level:

  • Trained 50,000 farmers about CSA by providing 200 trainings and 500 services as advisors while spreading CSA techniques to more than 1,000 Chinese farms
  • Farmers get paid a similar salary as white-collar workers in second or third tier cities

Regional/National Level:

  • Reduction of 2,500 thousand tons of synthetic pesticides and cutback industrial-sized processing of animal waste by 25,000 thousand cubic meters
  • Increased family income of over 100,000 farmers who are part of the CSA farms and convinced more than 500,000 families to source their food directly from organically grown farms
  • Active participation in social welfare undertakings and introduction of education public welfare courses in multiple schools in order to train a large number of youths across the country
  • Hosting the 6th International Community Support Agriculture Conference in, the 7th China Social Agriculture Conference and the 8th China Social Ecological Agriculture Conference which was co-hosted by the District Government of Lishui City
  • Created an internet platform & app for CSA farms in order to exchange information and to recruit new members

Lessons Learned/challenges

The project has been self-financing since the beginning while the income in 2018 was around USD 1.5 million with a profit of 10% used to build new green houses and to start new projects. Although the new CSA business model helped farmers to sell directly to consumers, individual farmers are still struggling with how to reach consumers and gain their trust.

In addition, especially young farmers who are returning to villages after receiving university education are under great pressure due to the low social status of farmers and the social biases against villagers. Although the farm does perform well in socio-economic measures potential is seen in the optimization of the biological synergies and a more complex crop rotation system.

Relevant Links & references

EOSTA

Business

Category:

Location/Scale:

Netherlands (International)

Founder:

Volkert Engelsman and Willem van Wijk

Period:

1990 – now

In a nutshell

This award–winning private–sector initiative is dedicated to the production and import of sustainable, organic and fair trade fruits and vegetables. Eosta is an international distributor collaborating with over 1’000 growers spread over six continents. Moreover, Eosta works with major retailers and natural food stores in Europe, the United States, Canada, and the Far East.

They provide full traceability of their products, provide extension services to farmers, promote true cost accounting, and build a sustainable market with consumers. This traceability allows buyers to make well–informed purchases at prices fair to producers, society and the environment. As “orchestrators of the production and supply chain,” Eosta provides agroeconomic and financial advices, packaging, product innovation, logistics, marketing and distribution to their customers.

Eosta believes that sustainability cannot be anchored in niches but must instead be mainstreamed and that the private sector has to align with sustainability and be the main driver towards it.

Context

As in other European countries, efforts to transform our food systems towards more sustainability can be observed in the Netherlands. However, switching from industrial, environmentally harmful, farming methods to organic or biodynamic farming requires a long-term commitment and the engagement of various stakeholders.

One important trend EOSTA is building upon is the increasing awareness of sustainability in society: people and thus consumers start realising that “business as usual” is not an option anymore. Additionally, consumers are increasingly conscious of the health impact of nutrition. Thus, EOSTA challenges both food marketing and consumption as well as health rules and behaviours.

Objective

Eosta’s core values at the heart of their approach are socially responsible entrepreneurship, togetherness, and authenticity, which is further reflected in their mission: to contribute to healthy food, a sustainable environment and social responsibility, or simply stated “Healthy, Organic, Fair”. The initiative aims at enhancing sustainability through a 4M approach: 1) Monitor: traceability of its products back to the farmer, 2) Manage: extension services for their growers and farmers, 3) Monetization of external costs and 4) Marketing of sustainability.

Key Interventions

Farm Level:

  • By working in close cooperation with partners in academia and different industries such as the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) Switzerland, the University of Copenhagen, the Triodos Bank and Soil and More Impacts, Eosta is able to assist its growers with a wide range of sustainable agriculture services

Regional/National Level:

  • Eosta products carry a unique three digit Nature & More’trace & tell’ code and/or QR-code that provides retailers and consumers with direct web access to the producer as well as the product’s ecological and social impact
  • The sustainability flower is a fast quantitative tool to evaluate sustainable achievements that aims at monetizing impact by applying true costs on food, farming and finance along nine separate ecological and social dimensions
  • Offer TÜV certified climate neutral vegetables and fruits year-round in the European food market via Soil & More. Besides that, they were the first company to receive carbon credits on organic farming practices.
  • Thanks to the integrated supply chain management from farm to retailer, they can guarantee freshness and speed of handling without neglecting the impact on the environment

Lessons Learned/challenges

Food production and consumption have a massive direct positive or negative impact on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) goals. However, the agriculture and food value chains are very complex and opaque. By controlling the whole supply chain, businesses can ensure that they are avoiding to harm the environment and society.

Relevant Links & references

CANOPY BRIDGE

Business

Category:

Location/Scale:

Ecuador (National)

Founder:

Marta Echavarria and colleagues

Period:

2018 – now

In a nutshell

The Canopy Bridge on-line directory provides a free and easily accessible meeting place that allows buyers and sellers of sustainable crops and wild-harvested products to connect. By allowing users to create personalized profiles, highlighting their capabilities, stories and products, they are able to build relationships.

Canopy Bridge works with a group of more than 25 chefs from Ecuador´s best restaurants, indigenous communities and conservation NGOs. They provide a so far missing link in the value chain for fresh Amazon products and ingredients. The focus is on products grown by the Kichwa people in highly diversified chakra agroforestry production units and aquaculture paiche, an Amazon fish species produced by the Ai-Kofán people. Both production lines have substantial conservation benefits and culinary potential. In collaboration with their network, Canopy Bridge screens, identifies and incubates products and ingredients from the Amazon rainforest that were previously unknown.

In addition, they sensitize consumers and provide a way for producers to be able to sell their products in markets that value their effort and their cultural legacy. Canopy Bridge also provides customized sourcing services and information to clients, forming the personal link that spans the distances, both geographical and cultural, between local producers in the developing world and companies in global markets. By building the connections between local producers and chefs, they promote new products with culinary potential and are therefore driving revenues directly to communities, thus providing new incentives for conservation.

Context

Covering just 0.2% of the Earth´s surface, Ecuador is one of the most biologically diverse countries. Biodiversity in the  Amazon lowlands is exceptionally rich, but also highly threatened. While the Amazon region comprises almost half of Ecuador´s territory, its rich cultural and biological diversity is poorly known and undervalued in the country´s centers of economic and political power. Indigenous peoples are stewards of 50% of the Ecuadorian Amazon, struggling to maintain their territories, culture and livelihoods in the face of dramatic changes such as climate change and deforestation over the last 50 years.

Objective

By connecting businesses, producer associations and community groups buying and selling food products, Canopy Bridge aims at contributing to improved livelihoods, social empowerment and a healthy ecosystem. Their main mission is to help these businesses and individuals thrive by bypassing unnecessary intermediaries and therefore making transactions and sourcing decisions as well as discovery and relationship building easy and transparent.

Key Interventions

Farm Level:

  • In contrast to extensive cattle ranches or oil palm plantations, the fish farms of the Ai-Kofán community provide significant revenues from relatively small areas, thus reducing pressure for deforestation
  • By promoting a variety of traditional chakra products, Canopy Bridge does not only increase the social and environmental components but also give economic value to diversity rather than to single-crop solutions

Regional/National Level:

  • Contributed to new food movements by being part of gastronomic and cultural events and promoting targeted products on a national and international scale
  • Founded the Cumari network in collaboration with other partners, in order to create a platform for shared learning, collaboration and promotion of Amazon products
  • With seed grant funding by the Swift Foundation of USD 3’500, the implemented activities have already generated sales for USD 4’181 in 4 months of operation

Lessons Learned/challenges

The mosaic of farms and forests of the Ai-Kofán and Kichwa as well as their landscape conservation are of global importance including multiple Amazonian protected areas. There is a clear potential to increase the volumes of sales and integrating additional producer groups living in or near the Amazon. Although these actions make sense from an economic perspective, it poses a major challenge not to sacrifice indigenous forests and farms including their biodiversity, food security and culture in order to meet an increasing demand and the need for additional income.

Relevant Links & references

BNP PARIBAS’ CSR

Business

Category:

Location/Scale:

Global (International)

Implementing Organisation:

BNP Paribas S.A.

Period:

2000 – now

In a nutshell

BNP Paribas, a French international banking group, is the world’s 8th largest bank by total assets, with a presence in 72 countries. Since 2002, the banks corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach allows them to take part in building a sustainable future while promoting the group’s performance and stability.

Many of the industries that require financing present major environmental, social and governance (ESG) challenges such as the palm oil and nuclear energy production or the current agriculture practices. BNP Paribas has aligned its CSR strategy with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s).

Furthermore, the bank realized that climate change is becoming the main driver of biodiversity erosion and therefore renamed one of its programs “Climate & Biodiversity Initiative”. The program includes nine international new research projects, which are supported with six million euros and range from addressing knowledge gaps on biodiversity and associated ecosystem processes to the identification of tree species mixtures to optimize climate mitigation and adaptation.

By devoting over USD 1,000 billion to responsible investments, the bank intends to generate a change to more sustainability in its overall asset portfolio. Internally, BNP Paribas became carbon neutral in 2017, after reducing its CO2 emissions and increasing its use of renewable energies.

Moreover, BNP Paribas is the global leader in green bonds, a bond specifically earmarked to be used for climate and environmental projects. Besides the monetary interventions, BNP Paribas is actively leading awareness-raising activities, familiarizing the general public and their employees with environmental issues.

Context

Although the demand for financing projects with a positive impact on the environment and society is growing among investors, most of these projects still have difficulties finding investors, as they are often viewed as risky investments. The gap between the multitude of projects with a positive impact that cannot be financed and the huge amount of capital available to global investors, is called funding gap. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the funding gap amounts to USD 5000-7000 billion (half in developing countries only) in financing needed to achieve the SDGs in 2030.

Objective

Because agriculture is a key sector for the global economy, BNP Paribas has instituted a financing and investment policy dedicated to guiding activities of this industry. Besides their economic goals, the bank aims at fostering the dialogue between the banking world and local organizations in order to support cultural, social or environmental development.

Key Interventions

Regional/National Level:

  • Launched the Tropical Landscape Finance Facility (TLFF) in Indonesia with the aim to create a platform for issuing green loans using private capital to finance sustainable economic development for farmers and restore deteriorating agricultural landscapes
  • Created a financing program model that is part of the Sustainable India Finance Facility (SIFF) which further finances the Zero Budget Natural Farming movement in India (see Factsheet ZBNF)
  • Increased access of small-scale farmers to climate adaptation finance by joining the coalition with UNEP in a project called Microfinance for Ecosystem-based Adaptation
  • Created Climate Seed, a platform designed to allow organizations to offset their unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions by contributing to sustainable agriculture projects
  • Encourage the renewable energy production from agricultural waste material by teaming up with the foundation Goodplanet, which aims to install 13,000 bio-digesters and improve the living conditions for nearly 70,000 people

Lessons Learned/challenges

Despite the banks’ CSR actions, BNP Paribas has also been criticized in the past for its role in financing a range of “dirty” fossil fuel projects, involved in financing the exploration of oil sands and coal-fired power plants. NGO’s and civil society organizations accused the bank of greenwashing its operations, demanding real actions to ensure that the banks’ measures do not end up as empty promises.

Consequently, the bank no longer finances activities related to the exploitation of shale gas, stopped renewing loans granted to businesses in the coal sector and refuses to support oil and gas drilling projects in the Arctic, all since 2015. In addition, the bank entered into a partnership with UNEP and Rabobank in order to set aside USD 11 billion to scale up and support agroecology and land use options.

Relevant Links & references

ADAPTA GROUP

Business, Climate, Field

Category:

Location/Scale:

Brazil (Local)

Implementing Organisation:

Adapta Sertão

Period:

2018 – now

In a nutshell

The initial idea to create a solid and replicable strategy to help small family farmers living in fragile biomes in Brazil and to support the adaption to climate change was developed by Adapta Sertão, one of the first multi-stakeholder coalitions in the Brazilian territory.

By joining forces with the Adapta group, which has been created in 2018, they transformed a program called Modulo Agroclimático Inteligente e Sustentável (MAIS) into an impact business that is available to corporate clients, public and financial institutions as well as non-governmental organizations. The MAIS program aims at training farmers on how to generate satisfactory incomes even during drought-intensive periods using alternative farming methods across value chains.

The founders of the Adapta group have practical experience on working with farming families living in areas of high climatic vulnerability for more than a decade and engaged over 650 farmers. To enhance climate resilience, the MAIS program integrates the recovery of ecosystem services with agricultural production while additionally promoting gender equality.

Moreover, it builds on a shared vision of the problem and its solution and helps to transform markets to become more sustainable and fair. Besides that, the Adapta group cooperates with financial institutions to help structure specific credit mechanisms for the family farmers and to develop the farms into sustainable agricultural businesses.

Context

In recent years, Brazil has become the world’s largest exporter of soybeans, coffee, and sugar, as well as one of the largest overall food producer on the planet. The majority of the Brazilian staples is produced by family farmers, which also produce more than 70% of food consumed domestically. The agricultural sector as a whole constitutes nearly 6% of Brazil’s total GDP (without considering other players of the food value chain) and employs nearly 16% of their total labor force. Nevertheless, international monitoring organizations assert that a third of Brazil’s population is food insecure and have difficulty meeting their nutrition needs. It is alarming that Brazil’s agricultural sector and deforestation account for 75% of its greenhouse gas emissions.

Objective

The goal of the MAIS program is to implement sustainable and climate resilient agricultural practices in the most diverse biomes and agricultural value chains in Brazil. The Adapta group campaigns for an inclusion of family farmers in structured value chains with a focus on climate resilience, sustainability and economic viability for all the actors involved.

Key Interventions

Farm Level:

  • Analysing the local situation and presenting the most suitable agroecological, climate-friendly solutions to the farmers directly
  • Offering assistance to farmers by providing and coordinating a multidisciplinary technical team which supports the implementation of practices on the farm
  • Monitoring technical, social, economic and environmental performance of each farm and program through the web-based MAISoft System, which offers open access to farmers data and impact report in order to enhance transparency
  • Developing individual business plans and setting up credit mechanisms to help farmers access the required capital for implementing the proposed solutions
  • Supporting the farmers in an effective deployment of capital by providing direct consultation through a technician

Lessons Learned/challenges

Overall, the MAIS program increased farmers’ dairy production by 63% and their income by 204%. Furthermore, the program resulted in a 30% improvement in pastureland and a 50% decrease in the water footprint of the areas’ farms. In addition, over 3 tons of CO2 is estimated to be offset for each hectare of restored pastureland. So far, ADAPTA has been active on farm level and engaged in socio-economic aspects such as the support of regional value generation and the development of trading relationships with local growers.

Nevertheless, potential involvement could be seen in the support of healthy, diversified and culturally appropriate diets. In order to widen their positive influence and results, ADAPTA would have to start engaging on a policy level by fostering responsible, transparent and inclusive governance mechanisms such as the recognition of traditional rights over natural resources or payments for ecosystem services, biodiversity-friendly agricultural regulations and subsidies.

Relevant Links & references