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III. Presentations: Lake Constance Foundation and Rewe – Marion Hammerl_____________________________ 5. Lake Constance Foundation and Rewe Presentation by Marion Hammerl, Lake Constance Foundation Marion starts with a short introduction to the Lake Constance Foundation (LCF) and Rewe supermarket chain. As part of the European Business and Biodiversity Campaign, Rewe is the biodiversity advocate for the food sector. It was chosen because it is the biggest fruit producer in Germany and produces many of its fruits in the Lake Constance Region, where the LCF resides. The fruit production sometimes leads to conflicts when environmental and economic goals are not aligned. Rewe agreed to a cooperation between the LCF and ‘Obst vom Bodensee’ for a time period of five years. The goal is to have a minimum of 50% of all farmers implement biodiversity measures on at least 80% of the cultivation surface. The measures target the apple orchards and its effects will be monitored by NABU and Bund, two of the largest German environmental NGOs. Examples of measures are the use of native flower seeds, insect friendly pesticides, ‘insect hotels’ (artificial homes for insects) and information tables for tourists. Fruits being produced at these orchards are called ‘pro-planet’ products. REWE apples with the Pro-Planet logo The first investigation shows that the orchards are in a much better condition than expected. Due to the positive experiences gained with this project, the aim is to transfer the biodiversity initiative not only to other fruit production regions, but also to products other than apples. Furthermore, it is intended to integrate biodiversity into quality management and quality certification systems. To reduce the monitoring effort, training sessions for assessors and certifiers will be offered. All fruit producers must comply with criteria for State labels. These labels have no ecological criteria integrated. The intention is to integrate ecological criteria in these labels. The REWE supermarket chain has developed Pro-planet products. Pro-planet is not a brand, nor a label or a certification. It only indicates that additional (environmental or social) criteria were taken into account when producing the product. Some of these products (for example apples from the Lake Constance region) integrate biodiversity criteria. Soon, 20% of all sales will come from pro-planet products. The feedback of customers is monitored to improve the (quality of) the Pro-planet products. Rewe is not the only company that tries to assess its influence on biodiversity. Other supermarkets developed tools to integrate environmental criteria, but biodiversity is not always integrated. The Lake Constance Foundation is a small NGO but its size does not hamper it in working with companies or vice versa. It is possible that other, bigger NGOs see LCF as a guinea pig when it comes to collaborating with companies. 8
IV. World Café Results ________________________________________________________________________ IV. World Café Results The World Café is a method to establish an open and creative conversation process on a certain topic in a business meeting or workshop. The method’s aim is to surface participant’s collective knowledge, share ideas and insights, and gain a deeper understanding of the subject and the issues involved. The results of the workshop’s World Café are presented in this chapter. 1. What is our motivation to create successful partnerships? The motivation of NGOs to engage in partnerships with companies is manifold. It should be clear that the reasons are not always purely idealistic. Most often, NGOs seek to solve an environmental problem at a local, regional, national or international level that can not be solved by the NGO alone or that is caused by a company or industry sector. Companies on the other hand have access to different financial resources to fund partnerships for the protection and sustainable use of biodiversity. Furthermore, companies have expertise in addressing different audiences which NGOs are interested in approaching to improve awareness and facilitate action. In a time, when public authorities relinquish more and more duties and reduce public funding, NGOs are looking for different partners (i.e. companies) to achieve their objectives. 2. Which elements are missing at the moment? � Practical and easy to use methodologies to assess the impact and dependence of companies on biodiversity � Performance indicators to monitor the progress of implementing a company’s biodiversity strategy � Knowledge and experiences to understand the business case for biodiversity (e.g. drivers of change, legal framework, customer base, financial incentives) and convey the message to companies � Valuation of environmental services that do not provide a service in economic terms (intrinsic value of existence) � More open-mindedness and business thinking 3. What advice can we give ourselves and others? Traditional land uses that have positive effects on the biodiversity can be supported by NGOcompany collaborations. (source:FGN) Much of the advice given focused on inter and inner-NGO aspects. NGOs should be aware of their strengths because cooperation between them can be used to achieve more. The different roles that NGOs play should be exploited, for example the “good cop, bad cop” strategy with organizations like Greenpeace that are mainly for their public protest campaigns. NGOs should also improve their knowledge, especially related to economic issues, so that they are able to understand and communicate better with the business partners. This collaboration needs to be seen as a long-term approach. Enough time should be taken into account for finding shared values and risks. NGOs need to be realistic about what they can deliver and communicate the collaboration as something positive, a joint effort of creating something together. 9
Page 1 and 2: Proceedings of the Workshop and the
Page 3 and 4: Table of Contents__________________
Page 5 and 6: II. Programme______________________
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Page 13 and 14: V. Conclusion______________________
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