Driving Sustainability in the Global Cut-flower Industry
Our third multi-stakeholder workshop took us to Aalsmeer, the Netherlands and was co-hosted by wholesaler FleuraMetz and breeder Dümmen Orange. 19 people from industry, NGOs, and academia gathered over the two days, which included a trip to the Spring Flower Fair. The overarching aim of this third meeting was to identify the ways and actions through which we can drive sustainability in the cut-flower industry.
The workshop deepened previous discussions on the purpose and limits of audit-based certification schemes. It emphasised the need for certification to be more than just a tick-box exercise. This is particularly important considering that the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative (FSI) 2020 wants to see 90% of cut-flowers responsibly produced and traded by the end of 2020. A continuous improvement model can help in this regard; however, experiences so far have mostly focused on environmental concerns. The social needs to be included, especially gender dimensions.
This third workshop also focused much more on outcomes and the second day was largely spent planning and devising ways to drive sustainability across the cut-flower industry. These plans include a sustainability guide for florists (since launched) and the development of other educational materials together with the BFA; events to promote Fairtrade flowers and educate consumers; a multi-stakeholder workshop in Kenya, one of the main flower producing and exporting regions in the Global South; and the creation of a Steering Committee. The Steering Committee will help driving our collaborative work in between multi-stakeholder workshop, and has already met once since the 2019 workshop.
Download the full 2019 workshop report here ▸
View the 2019 workshop gallery here ▸
