Floriculture Sustainability Initiative members gear up for 2020 ambition

BRUSSELS, Belgium: Members of the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative (FSI) call for an intensified sector collaboration towards a more transparent and responsible floriculture sector in 2020 and beyond.

With over 50 active members, a consolidated  FSI network is committed to doubling its  efforts in the coming two years to reach the FSI objective of 90% responsibly sourced flowers and ornamentals.  Gaining  9 new members in the last year alone more companies are joining and reporting their volumes of sustainably produced and traded flowers. The effort and experience  of recent  years has improved data quality and increased transparency on certified growers. Whilst members are committed to addressing the key challenges to increasing responsible sourcing and practices and widespread certification through projects and initiatives.

Social and environmental practices are evolving, markets are expecting more transparent and accountable value chains. In this light, new environmental benchmarking criteria are being added to the FSI Basket of Standards towards 2020. With Integrated Pest Managment (IPM) as leading principle, FSI will work with scheme owners and members towards implementation of robust record keeping and data analysis to compare and improve sector performance over time and space.

At the same time, FSI members are convinced that supporting and showcasing improvements in the field are key to making progress and inspiring others to follow. Further collaboration and projects, co-funded by IDH, the Sustainable Trade Initiative, will be addressing key environmental and social topics such as IPM, water stewardship, chain transparency, gender and living wages. More opportunities for collaboration on initiatives were discussed during the meeting.

The General Assembly marked the launch of the FSI Beyond 2020 strategy & roadmap. The future role of FSI Members will be to build on three strategic areas to move the sector forward:specific and measurable indicators; increased transparency on adoption of sustainable practices in the supply chain; and market incentives for continuous improvement.

In the coming two years FSI members and key stakeholders will be mobilised to discuss and pilot the new strategy and design the implementation.

To accelerate the sustainability of the floriculture industry, FSI members have very much welcomed a second Director, Marcel Zandvliet, representing Trade on the FSI Board. With two Board representatives the FSI trade members emphasised their commitment to FSI and actively supporting the objectives.

For more information: www.fsi2020.com and follow FSI on Linked-In.