European Seminar and Workshop

PRESERVING NATURAL CAPITAL ROLE AND ACTION BY THE FOOD RETAIL SECTOR

Organization: Quercus - National Association for Nature Conservation

Partners: Global Nature Fund and Fundacíon Global Nature - European Business and Biodiversity Campaign

Support by: Lusófona University

Date: 18/04/2011 Venue: Biblioteca Victor de Sá, Lusófona University, Campo Grande 380-B, Lisbon

Target audience: Companies from retail, food distribution industry and others (including food production and processing).

Background and justification:Retailers are a key intermediate in modern economy, acting as a link between thousands of product suppliers and consumers. The retail sector currently accounts for 4.2% of total added value of the EU and employs at least 17.4 million people; among European countries, Portugal has been leading growth rates in this sector. However, retailers have an enormous influence on production and consumption patterns. Targeted activity next to the retail sector can help achieving a significant change in unsustainable consumption patterns in Europe, while at the same time a responsible sourcing and choice of suppliers can impact positively the way goods are produced and distributed.

The Portuguese Presidency of the European Union in 2007 launched the Business and Biodiversity Initiative, with the main goal of highlighting the relationship between business and biodiversity, enabling business give a significant contribution to biodiversity protection and to pursue the goal of halting the loss biodiversity at local, national, regional and global levels. Subsequently the European Commission established an European Platform on Business and Biodiversity, defining priority sectors for action, among which stands the food supply sector, involving retailers, packaging and food processing business; this platform is developing further guidance lines, using case-studies to develop a better performance on biodiversity and ecosystems.

The UN Convention on Biological Diversity, in its 10th Conference of the Parties at Nagoya, Japan in October 2010, encouraged the involvement of the business sector in biodiversity protection and recognized the role of NGOs in influencing business practices and as facilitators of change in consumer behavior and expectations of society. Furthermore, the European Council of Environment Ministers, at its meeting on December the 20th 2010 welcomed the decisions of this world summit, highlighting "the importance of cooperation with the business sector" and "integrating economic valuation of biodiversity value and ecosystems in decisions of public and private sector."

In this context Quercus is developing the project Enterprises and Biodiversity, a contribution to disseminating and providing methodological resources, recent experiences and case-studies, applicable and tangible for businesses in Portugal. Quercus organizes this meeting, hoping it can mobilize more companies towards the preservation and investment on natural capital - the very basis for food supply - contained in the goods and services provided by ecosystems and biodiversity. The event is organized in collaboration with the European Business and Biodiversity Campaign – funded under the LIFE Program of the European Union.

REGISTRATION

On-line registration: http://capitalnatural.eventbrite.com/

More information at: www.empresasebiodiversidade.org E-mail: eventos@empresasebiodiversidade.org

PROGRAM

09:15h - Opening session Nuno Sequeira, President of Quercus; Carlos Vieira, Administrator of ISG-Lusófona University; Luis Rochartre, President of Business Council for Sustainable Development Portugal

09:30h - The Portuguese Initiative on Business and Biodiversity Ana Luísa Forte, Institute of Nature Conservation an Biodiversity (Ministry of Environment)

09:50h - The project Enterprises and Biodiversity Paula Silva, Project Coordinator, Quercus

10:10h - The European Campaign Business and Biodiversity – A practical case-study on fruit production and biodiversity at Lake Constance in Germany

Stefan Hörmann, Project Director, Global Nature Fund and Marion Hammerl, Director, Lake Constance Foundation

10:40h - Coffee-break

11:00h - Biodiversity and the food and drink sector - the business case to actAnnelisa Grigg, Project Director, Natural Value Initiative

11:30h - Developing a policy and implementing practices for sustainable seafood Renato Leite, Responsible for the Fish Sector of Sonae - Modelo e Continente

12:00h - Discussion

12:30h - Lunch

14:00h - The compromise of Delta Cafés with biodiversity Ana Margarida Carvalho, Direction of Integrated Systems, Delta Cafés

14:30h - Discussion

15:00h - Workshop "Biodiversity and my company business" 16:15h - Coffee-break 16.30h - Reporting of results and wrap-up – What are the next steps?

17:00h - Closing