UN Global Compact Builds Momentum for Agribusiness and SDGs

(New York, 12 November 2014) - Stakeholders in global agribusiness have welcomed the United Nations Global Compact Food and Agriculture (FAB) Principles. Since their launch on 22 September 2014 at the United Nations in New York, the FAB Principles have been endorsed by South-East Asian Governments and the fruit juice sector in Europe, aligned with the Declaration of Abu Dhabi, and fostered an initiative for businesses focused on global soil health and management.

The FAB Principles are built on commitments made at the UN Global Compact’s Rio+20 Corporate Sustainability Forum held during the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012. Responding to calls for a common language and framework to achieve food security through more sustainable agriculture, the FAB Principles were developed over two years, through over 20 consultations globally with over 1,000 businesses and other key stakeholders.

“The UN Global Compact provides the objective platform for action where ideas can be discussed, partnerships can be formed, and productive steps can be taken,” said Aimee Christian, Head of Corporate Affairs, R&D, of Syngenta at the launch of the FAB Principles in New York. The meeting brought together global agribusinesses, farmers’ organisations, international cooperatives and NGOs, voluntary standards and commodity roundtables, key UN agencies and intergovernmental bodies for an historic alignment of actors. This group “is ready to collaborate and deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for food security, agriculture and nutrition”, noted José Lopez, Chief Operating Officer of Nestlé.

At the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) in Rome in October, it was reported that ASEAN Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry endorsed a programme to leverage ASEAN business to contribute to achieving regional food security goals based on uptake of the FAB Principles. In Antwerp, the European Fruit Juice CSR Platform adopted 6 Fruit Juice CSR principles. Agreed by representatives from the entire juice value chain comprising suppliers, processors, bottlers, brand-owners and retailers, they are directly based on the FAB Principles. In late October the Declaration of Abu Dhabi, a new private-public collaboration to support food security using safe and sustainable agriculture practices were aligned with the FAB Principles.

The FAB Principles have inspired the development of specific business principles for soil health and management to be released in early 2015. The International Fertiliser Association, and other Global Compact signatories operating in this part of the agricultural value chain, expressed their full support of activities in 2015 being the International Year of Soils. The UN Global Compact is also now collaborating with UN International Trade Centre (ITC) to evolve the FAB Principles as a universal reference across the several national and voluntary standards for food and agriculture in ITC’s Standards Map.

• Learn more about the FAB Principles online at www.unglobalcompact.org/FABPrinciples.
• Watch the video of the launch of the FAB Principles in September 2014.

Contact

Adrienne Gardaz Cuendet
Policy Adviser & Programme Manager
UN Global Compact
gardaz@un.org