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UNCTAD’s BioTrade Initiative and its network of Latin American
partners have decided to team up with Expo Sustentat for this
year’s event. BioTrade
seeks to promote trade and investment in biological resources
in support of sustainable development, within the context of
the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) – that is, the
objectives of conservation, sustainable use and
benefit-sharing. Through the establishment of partnerships
with national, regional and international programmes, its
activities aim to strengthen the capacity of developing
countries to enhance the production of value-added products
and services derived from biodiversity for both domestic and
international markets. Its collaboration with Expo Sustentat
is evidence of its commitment to raise awareness of BioTrade
goods in such markets and provide opportunities to businesses
working in this area.
Its activities in Latin America currently expand to programmes
in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Paraguay
and Peru. |
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Over the last years many companies have begun to work towards
sustainable production and harvesting methods for a large
variety of natural products from the Andean and Amazonian
regions.This variety includes natural ingredients, such as
energizers, colourants and natural remedies, finished food
products, such as drinks and supplements, as well as non-food
products, such as caiman leather and ecotourism.
Many of these will be presented during Expo Sustentat at the
Sala Andes-Amazonia exhibition
in order to
promote biodiversity products and services, emphasizing the
complementarities and potentiality that both regions have in
developing Biotrade as a new model for sustainable
development. |
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The
Sala Andes-Amazonia
is supported by
Andean Community, Amazonian Cooperation Treaty
Organization,
the Brazilian Ministry for Environment (MMA),
the National Biotrade Programs in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador
and Peru,
the
German Development Cooperation
Agency,
UNCTAD.,
and DEG
and NGF
The market for “naturals” is set to grow significantly over
the next few years. BioTrade and Expo Sustentat 2007 aim to
anticipate this trend by bringing sustainable products to this
international fair and creating an opportunity for people to
have their say at the BioTrade forum.
The BioTrade Initiative’s network of Latin American partners
is made up of small and medium-sized enterprises, small farmer
organizations, cooperatives, NGOs and governmental
organizations. The Initiative’s experience of working with the
public and private sectors led to the development of a set of
BioTrade Principles and Criteria, with the purpose of
providing guidance to the different actors in the supply chain
wanting to work towards the conservation, and sustainable use
of biodiversity. The Principles and Criteria also include
guidance on how to implement benefit-sharing among those at
the lowest level of the supply chain, having a direct impact
on the poverty levels of local communities.
In response to private sector calls for further help on
implementing the CBD objectives into their business models,
the Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT) was created in May 2007.
A membership-based association, UEBT aims at contributing to
sustainable business development by bringing together
organizations from different sectors of society worldwide that
are working in the field of native biodiversity and want to
comply with the BioTrade Principles and Criteria.
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