Contact us:
Working Group Secretariat

Pascal Liu
Economist (Trade)
FAO-ESTT, Rome, e-mail: pascal.liu@fao.org



Bureau Veritas Quality International (Chris Garner)
www.bvqi.com

El Guabo (Jorge Ramírez)
The Association of Small Banana Producers El Guabo (APPBG) in Ecuador consists of 120 farmers, all with less than 10 ha. 30 percent of the production is sold as fair-trade bananas. The association complies with environmental and social criteria set by Fairtrade Labelling Initiatives International (FLO - see below) and uses a large part of the fair-trade premium for continuous improvements.

Ethical Trading Initiative (Fiona Mabbott)
The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) is an alliance of companies, NGOs and trade unions who work together to identify and promote good practice in the implementation of codes of labour practice. All member companies are committed to ensuring that the ETI Base Code is implemented in their supply chains, and to report to ETI on progress. ETI also implements experimental projects.
www.ethicaltrade.org

Export Agro (Jean-Martin Tetang)
Export Agro was the pioneer of the organic sector in Cameroon. It has organized small-scale farmers, helped with local interpretation of international standards and secured certified production. Currently Export Agro exports organic fruits including bananas, vegetables, coffee, cocoa and African staples. By doing so Export Agro ensures a regular revenue to small producers.

International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (Bo van Elzakker)
The International Federation of Organic Movements (IFOAM) is a federation with some 750 affiliates. IFOAM tries to harmonize organic certification criteria and has formulated basic standards. The International Organic Accreditation Services (IOAS) accredits certification bodies that have organic certification programmes.
www.ifoam.org

John Brooks, Certification Expert.

Fairtrade Labelling Initiatives International (FLO) (Olaf Paulsen and Emilie Dardaine)
The fair-trade initiatives try to provide market access and better trading conditions to small farmers and better living conditions for workers. This includes a price premium for producers to be invested in social and environmental improvements. Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO) has developed standards for farmer organizations and hired labour.
www.fairtrade.net

Natural Resources and Ethical Trade Programme (Anne Tallontire)
The Natural Resources and Ethical Trade (NRET) Programme of the Natural Resources Institute offers policy information, advice on standard setting and on integrating social and environmental performance in supply chain management, producer-market linkages and helps local communities take advantage of corporate social responsibility.
www.nri.org

Social Accountability International (Judy Gearhart)
Social Accountability International (SAI) has developed the workplace standard SA8000. This is a voluntary standard based on ILO and other human rights conventions and covers all key labour rights. SAI accredits certification bodies to audit production facilities. SA8000 started to be used in the agriculture sector in 2000.
www.sa-intl.org

Sustainable Agriculture Network (Tom Divney)
The Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN, formerly CAN) is a coalition of non-profit organizations in the Americas. The Network works to improve environmental and social conditions in tropical agriculture through conservation certification. The Rainforest Alliance serves as the Secretariat for the Network.
www.rainforest-alliance.org/programs/cap

Volta River Estates Ltd (Anthony Kofi Blay)
VREL is the only banana plantation in Ghana. It covers 300 hectares and employs 858 workers who are represented by the agricultural workers union GAWU. All produce is sold via the fair-trade system and VREL is planning to convert to organic production methods within the next five years.

COLLABORATIVE INITIATIVES AMONG PARTICIPANTS

ISEAL Alliance
The International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling (ISEAL) Alliance is an effort by SAN, FLO, IFOAM, IOAS, SAI/SAN, FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), MSC (Marine Stewardship Council), MAC (Marine Aquarium Council), GEN (Global Ecolabelling Network) and Chemonics. The main goals of ISEAL are to attain credibility and recognition for the participating organizations, to defend common interests, to promote professional improvement of member activities and to strengthen social and environmental labelling in the market place.
www.isealalliance.org

Social Accountability in Sustainable Agriculture project (Sasha Courville and Yamileth Astorga
The ISEAL project Social Accountability in Sustainable Agriculture is a collaboration between SAN, FLO, IFOAM and SAI, to improve social auditing methods in agriculture and to encourage closer cooperation between the four initiatives. The Working Group on Environmentally and Socially Responsible Horticulture Production and Trade takes part in the Consultative Committee of this project.
www.isealalliance.org/sasa

Related FAO activities and Website

Please see links

OTHER USEFUL LINKS

International Labour Organization
The International Labour Organization is the United Nations agency that seeks the promotion of social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights through international conventions and recommendations. ILO also gives technical assistance to governments, employers' groups and workers organizations.
www.ilo.org

International Organization for Standardization
www.iso.ch

GlobalGAP
www.globalgap.org