Global Compact International Yearbook 2014
Fighting poverty and global warming are key challenges for mankind. „This year we are laying the groundwork for success in 2015 on three fronts: achieving the Millennium Development Goals, adopting a meaningful new climate agreement, and establishing a new vision for a sustainable future“, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in the 2014 edition of the Global Compact International Yearbook. Edited by macondo publishing the new yearbook offers insights to political as well as sustainability issues. This years´ focus lies on the Post-2015 Agenda. We discuss the transition from Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals. Question are among others: Are the concepts compatible? How does the architecture of a sustainable future look like? And above all: What role does corporate responsibility play in this context? The second key aspect in our Post-2105 discussion is about measuring the SDGs. In the past indicators have been developed and used in reporting progress toward the MDGs, and now the approach to upcoming SDGs must be systematically developed. This section also includes lessons from innovation management and "big data". Climate change is another focus of teh yearbook. It counts on very prominent authors like Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and Sigmar Gabriel, Vice-Chancellor of the German government and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy. Other issues are : Traceability: How certification brings positive impacts and better traceability to business. Elaborated NGO inputs by Karin Kreider, the Executive Director of the ISEAL Alliance and one of the world’s leading experts on credible certification and eco-labeling, as well as Markus Arbenz, Executive Director of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and Caroline Hickson, Director of Brand, Communications and Strategic Partnerships at Fairtrade International. Mandatory CSR: When CSR discussions started in the late 1960s, early 1970s ethical and moral arguments were the drivers. Since then CSR activities have become more holistic and professional. This becomes a principle-based approach in which business seeks to identify smarter business models, products, and services. Elmer Lenzen illuminates the boder zone between voluntary and mandatory CSR.
Fighting poverty and global warming are key challenges for mankind. „This year we are laying the groundwork for success in 2015 on three fronts: achieving the Millennium Development Goals, adopting a meaningful new climate agreement, and establishing a new vision for a sustainable future“, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in the 2014 edition of the Global Compact International Yearbook. Edited by macondo publishing the new yearbook offers insights to political as well as sustainability issues.
This years´ focus lies on the Post-2015 Agenda. We discuss the transition from Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals. Question are among others: Are the concepts compatible? How does the architecture of a sustainable future look like? And above all: What role does corporate responsibility play in this context?
The second key aspect in our Post-2105 discussion is about measuring the SDGs. In the past indicators have been developed and used in reporting progress toward the MDGs, and now the approach to upcoming SDGs must be systematically developed. This section also includes lessons from innovation management and "big data".
Climate change is another focus of teh yearbook. It counts on very prominent authors like Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and Sigmar Gabriel, Vice-Chancellor of the German government and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy.
Other issues are :
Traceability: How certification brings positive impacts and better traceability to business. Elaborated NGO inputs by Karin Kreider, the Executive Director of the ISEAL Alliance and one of the world’s leading experts on credible certification and eco-labeling, as well as Markus Arbenz, Executive Director of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and Caroline Hickson, Director of Brand, Communications and Strategic Partnerships at Fairtrade International.
Mandatory CSR: When CSR discussions started in the late 1960s, early 1970s ethical and moral arguments were the drivers. Since then CSR activities have become more holistic and professional. This becomes a principle-based approach in which business seeks to identify smarter business models, products, and services. Elmer Lenzen illuminates the boder zone between voluntary and mandatory CSR.
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Agenda<br />
Traceability<br />
Sugar farmers addressing child labor<br />
Fairtrade works in many regions with known risks of child<br />
labor. Although Fairtrade’s Standards and rigorous auditing<br />
systems are important, they are only part of the answer to<br />
successfully eradicating child labor. Farmers can and must<br />
become key agents of change so they themselves, along with<br />
their community members, can identify and address unacceptable<br />
labor practices.<br />
Paraguay sugarcane production appears on the <strong>Global</strong> Risks<br />
Indexes for Child Labour. Immediately following a child<br />
labor prevention discussion and training hosted by Fairtrade<br />
<strong>International</strong>, one certified sugar cooperative voted at their<br />
general assembly to establish a child labor prevention program.<br />
Board members and technical representatives of the cooperative<br />
received training on ways to establish a self-governing<br />
“youth-inclusive, community-based monitoring and remediation<br />
system” on child labor and identify risk areas for the phased<br />
implementation. Young people will work alongside adults<br />
on this program, and a child rights agency has committed to<br />
assist in building their capacity on child protection.<br />
Cocoa farmers tackling poor quality<br />
After years of underinvestment in cocoa farms, the global cocoa<br />
industry is facing serious problems with supply. Fairtradecertified<br />
cocoa organizations in West Africa spent around<br />
36 percent of their Fairtrade Premium in 2012–2013 on<br />
projects to improve productivity and quality crop.<br />
ECOOKIM (Entreprise Cooperative Kimbe), a Fairtrade-certified<br />
cocoa-growing cooperative in Côte d’Ivoire with 2,800 members,<br />
identified low quality as a real issue facing their farmers.<br />
Farmers had poor post-harvest techniques, so some cocoa was<br />
too humid and grew mold while it was stored.<br />
Now around eight in ten farmer members have been trained<br />
in Good Agricultural Practices, which include correct fermentation<br />
and drying processes. ECOOKIM has also constructed<br />
two storage warehouses and upgraded drying racks. As a<br />
result, around 90 percent of members can deliver cocoa that<br />
is eligible for the international market.<br />
“The training programs allow members to feel that their<br />
cooperative is interested in their daily activities and their<br />
well-being; we are not there simply to collect the cocoa but to<br />
accompany them on their individual development pathways,”<br />
says Mamadou Savane, ECOOKIM Sustainability Manager.<br />
Farmer voice in sustainability community<br />
Fairtrade is committed to strengthening farmer organizations<br />
and the role they play in building solutions to global, industrywide<br />
problems. Farmer ownership and voice in decision-making<br />
is key to long-term change and meaningful impact at the farm<br />
and community levels.<br />
“Farmers invest in improving our farms. We invest in shared<br />
facilities for storing and processing our crops. We invest in the<br />
future generation, our children. And we invest in ourselves –<br />
in training, in building our knowledge and skills, and in<br />
boosting our income to a dignified level,” says Tampuri. “Although<br />
farmers understand sustainability challenges better<br />
than anyone, our voice is still hardly heard in all the global<br />
debates. This must change.”<br />
Caroline Hickson is Director of Brand,<br />
Communications and Strategic<br />
Partnerships at Fairtrade <strong>International</strong>.<br />
<strong>Global</strong> <strong>Compact</strong> <strong>International</strong> <strong>Yearbook</strong> <strong>2014</strong> 69
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