Workshop

February 10, 2020

Establishing the VSS Academic Advisory Council

Reflecting to the UNFSS research element cornerstone, the Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) Academic Advisory Council (AAC) (hereinafter “AAC”), composed of renowned academic experts from across the globe, has been established to function as a think-tank that brings together a wide variety of academic backgrounds, ranging from public international law, global governance, international political economy, economics and public management, to human rights and sustainability studies. This type of multidisciplinary approach not only reflects the implicit acknowledgement of the

UNFSS

January 23, 2020

Enhancing CARICOM’s Export Opportunities with Sustainability Standards

In the interest of facilitating the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM)’s goal to strengthen trade-related quality infrastructure, the validation workshop held in Saint Lucia in 21-23 January 2020 aims to improve capacity in Standards and technical regulations development and implementation in CARICOM and to conduct a feasibility study for developing trade capacity enabling Sustainability Standards and associated conformity assessment modalities by the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ), modelling the success of African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO). Part

UNFSS

October 14, 2019

Unlocking the potential of Sustainability Standards in South Africa to achieve Sustainable Bioeconomy

The increasing attention towards bio-based economy is partly due to the existing production practices that are contributing significantly to environmental and climate problems. Global challenges like climate change, land and ecosystem degradation, coupled with a growing population is a turning point towards producing and consuming that respect the ecological boundaries of our planet. ‘Bioeconomy’ in this sense has become an important agenda in political and technological interests internationally and nationally as it is considered to have strong links with the

UNFSS

September 30, 2019

7-9 October 2019|International Trade Centre’s T4SD Forum

Now in its sixth year, the annual Trade for Sustainable Development Forum is one of the leading global events focused on major trends in sustainable value chains and voluntary sustainability standards. Organized by the International Trade Centre (ITC), the T4SD Forum will again take place in conjunction with the WTO Public Forum, from 7-9 October. How long before sustainability becomes the norm? This year, the T4SD Forum will reflect the new realities of international trade and focus on sustainability mainstreaming – the

UNFSS

June 20, 2018

Key takeaway from the Andean Community Sustainable Trade workshop

The 2-day intensive workshop held in Lima, Peru between 5th-6th June 2018, on ‘Sustainable Trade between Peru and the EU‘ was organized at the request of the Andean Community to support mainly the Peruvian SMEs exporters and policy makers to be able to gain deeper knowledge and the potentiality of accessing the lucrative European Sustainable Development’s “Green” market. Details and agenda of the workshop can be found here. There were over 50 participants at the workshop, of which the majority of

UNFSS

May 25, 2018

Andean Community Sustainable Trade Workshop in Lima, Peru on 5-6 June 2018

In recent years, Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) had an increasing influence over export opportunities for developing countries to access the international markets. The fast-changing landscape matters to everyone: consumers, buyers, traders, producers, and policymakers, given its pertinence in the global trends, market access conditions and the standards used at all levels of the supply chains. In 2016, Andean Community exports to the EU reached US $13,718 million, with agri-food products exports representing 43% between these two partners, making EU the

UNFSS

December 15, 2017

Mexico Towards Sustainable Development Workshop 2017

Ministry of Economy, Mexico DF, DECEMBER 14-15 2017 The aim is to gather state representatives, coalitions of non-governmental actors, industry and academia to discuss the actual context of Mexico´s Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) and have a dialogue around ‘How can sustainability standards take better account of the special needs of developing countries?’ This workshop is organized by the Dirección General de Normas, Secretaria de Economia, México and the German Development Institute (DIE). The workshop will have several conferences from experts, from the

UNFSS

October 2, 2017

Targeting Training in Jiangsu helps Textile Companies Improve Sustainability Along Value Chains

12-13 September 2017, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China — The Environment and Trade Hub, under the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE), and in collaboration with the Research Institute for Global Value Chains, International Trade Centre (ITC) and Suzhou Bureau of Commerce, organized a two-day training in Suzhou, on Sustainable Textile Trade and Global Value Chains. Final PAGE Textile Training Agenda The training targeted local textile producers and exporters, as well

UNFSS

July 6, 2017

Training on Sustainable Trade & Resource Efficiency in Supply Chains in the People’s Republic of China

The International Trade Centre (ITC) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in collaboration with the China Association for Standardization (CAS) and the Qingdao Institute of Standardization, organized a two day training workshop (29-30 September, 2017) for experts and practitioners from private and public organizations, to learn about a portfolio of market analysis tools to increase resource efficiency and sustainability in supply chains. The training delivered expertise to companies that wish to develop their business operations and

UNFSS

UNFSS at BioFach, February 2015, Nuremberg

The UNFSS Working Group on Enhancing Interoperability of Sustainability Standards takes special interest in scaling up equivalence among sustainability schemes. Equivalence is especially crucial in the organic sector, where governments regulate organic standards and trade, and can erect barriers to trade when applying these regulations to imports. Currently there are 13 bilateral equivalence arrangements among regulating countries. UNFSS took the opportunity at BioFach, the world’s largest international organic trade fair and Congress, to facilitate presentation and discussion

UNFSS

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