Facilitation of UNGC Sustainable Agriculture Business Principles process

As people are becoming wealthier and populations continue to grow there is increasing pressure on the remaining finite resources. This calls for more sustainable business practices which ensure food and nutrition security and secure livelihoods. However, global thinking on what constitutes sustainable agriculture is fragmented. Therefore UN Global Compact has started the process of developing a set of Sustainable Agriculture Business Principles (SABPs) which aim to provide guidance on sustainability practices to all businesses in agriculture value chains, including production, processing, trading, manufacturing, and retailing.

UN Global Compact (UNGC) is a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. With over 10,000 corporate participants and other stakeholders from over 130 countries, it is the largest voluntary corporate responsibility initiative in the world.

Proforest was asked to facilitate a series of three meetings of the Core Advisory Group (CAG), dedicated to the development of a white paper which identifies a number of issues on which the SABPs could be based. These meetings, held in Geneva, New York and Rome, were attended by approximately 30 private sector companies and NGOs, all of whom are UNGC signatories, as well as by representatives from key UN agencies and other experts and academics.

Based on the outcomes of the meetings, and the views, perceptions and opinions of group participants, Proforest developed the draft white paper, which has now been finalised by the UNGC and is ready for stakeholder consultation and feedback. 

You can download the white paper here. For more information on the consultation and feedback process, see this page.