Diving into sustainable wild collection at FairWild Forum

2020-03-02T17:52:28+00:00May 14th, 2019|Tags: , , |

Did you know that commercial wild-collection in Europe is alive and kicking? ProFound senior consultant Robbie Hogervorst participated in FairWild Forum 2019 in Budapest. During the forum he visited wild collection sites near the Hungarian-Croatian border. Here Roma collectors benefit from working for FairWild-certified operations: At the time of visit, the group was collecting wild garlic. better working conditions, better and more stable incomes and fair trade premiums to invest in community projects.   At the FairWild Forum, Robbie also presented how FairWild certification can support compliance to the Nagoya Protocol for Access and Benefit Sharing. Other speakers [Read more]

Re-enforcing Jatamansi trade in Nepal

2021-11-25T07:13:43+00:00October 18th, 2018|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

The project “Succeeding with CITES: Sustainable and equitable Jatamansi trade from Nepal” was just launched in Kathmandu, Nepal. This project address the sustainability and legality of international trade of the medicinal plant Nardostachys grandiflora (Jatamansi). ProFound consultant Jolanda van Hal attended the launch: Great to see the strong support in Nepal from private sector companies and governmental organisations such as the Department of Plant and Resources and Ministry of Forests and Environment. This bodes well for our aim to develop equitable and sustainable Jatamansi trade from Nepal. At the launch, Dr. Bishwa Nath Oli, Secretary of the Ministry of Forests and Environment, [Read more]

Results of one year NI-CheckApp: alignment with control bodies, suppliers and buyers

2019-04-12T15:22:19+00:00March 8th, 2018|Tags: , , , , |

In 2017, ProFound launched the NI-CheckApp: a compliance tool for suppliers of wild-collected natural ingredients that would save time and money by harmonising multiple certification documentation. Now that we’re one year further, what have we achieved? Documentation set is complete In the past year, we transformed the concept of the NI-CheckApp into reality. The tool now boasts a complete and integrated documentation set including the operator profile for wild collection for Organic, FairWild, Fair standards and GACP. Control bodies buy into the use of NI-CheckApp Control bodies such as Control Union and IMO/Ecocert are welcoming the use of the NI-CheckApp. [Read more]

Pukka Herbs and ProFound ready to pilot NI-CheckApp

2018-02-07T11:14:32+00:00September 12th, 2017|Tags: , , , , , , |

Pukka Herbs and ProFound are ready to pilot our Natural Ingredients (NI) CheckApp for wild ingredients in India. We will use this tool to help Pukka Herbs establish clear, agreeable sustainability best practices and minimum guidelines with their suppliers. “One of the challenges faced by some of our suppliers is that we require both organic and FairWild certification; this currently requires two separate audits and two sets of documents, making it a time-consuming and costly undertaking. It is exciting to see that ProFound has created a tool that harmonises and simplifies some of the key certifications in our supply chain.” [Read more]

Introducing Kosovo to the market

2016-11-01T16:28:03+00:00December 15th, 2015|Tags: , , , , , |

As a follow-up to the inception phase, ProFound has been actively involved in the implementation of Swisscontact-PPSE's interventions for Kosovo's food processing sector in 2015. At Anuga (Cologne, Germany), ProFound provided support to 12 Kosovar companies dealing with a wide range of products, from smoothies and energy drinks to preserved vegetables and mushrooms. ProFound's role at Anuga went beyond creating business linkages, also including capacity-building aspects to the exhibiting companies. Food Ingredients Europe (Paris, France) was directly aimed at the non-wood forest product sub-sector, and served as a solid basis to define the strengths and needs of Kosovo's companies. At [Read more]

FairWild training in Kosovo

2016-10-11T12:45:50+00:00December 5th, 2014|Tags: , , , , |

On behalf of FairWild, Bert-Jan Ottens examined the protocols and assessed the participants of the training in FairWild Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), conducted by Klaus Dürbeck and Stefan Lermer (Klaus Dürbeck Consulting) in November 2014. The training took place in the context of a GIZ-supported programme for sustainable wild-collection in Kosovo. Subjects covered the procedures for resource assessment and resource management by resource owners and users, including field training in transects for resource measurement.

Exploring the EU market for wild botanicals

2016-11-01T16:28:08+00:00June 18th, 2014|Tags: , , , |

ProFound has recently concluded a pioneer study on the EU market for wild-sourced botanicals commissioned by the Trade for Development Centre (TDC) of the Belgian Development Agency (BTC), anticipating the growing opportunities for these products in the food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. The study on wild botanicals has been carried out within the framework of TDC’s Producer Support Programme, through which financial and technical assistance is provided to producer organisations. TDC aims at economic and social empowerment of small producer organisations, by both enhancing business knowledge and improving their access to markets. In this context, the study focuses on wild-collected medicinal and aromatic [Read more]

Mission to Morocco

2013-11-13T15:28:16+00:00November 13th, 2013|Tags: , , , , |

In the framework of the National Strategy for the Sustainable Management and Development of Medicinal & Aromatic Plants (MAPs), ProFound consultants Bert-Jan Ottens and Gustavo Ferro headed to Morocco last October for a two-week mission. During these two weeks, ProFound combined efforts with the other project partners and acted on two main fronts: engaging with the private sector and elaborating a resource assessment strategy for the project species (rosemary, thyme, pyrethrum, and oregano). The mission encompassed strategic meetings, field and company visits and workshops. During the field visits, ProFound accompanied the project team to cooperatives and wild collection areas in [Read more]

Sustainable Ingredients Programme Morocco

2016-11-01T16:28:14+00:00December 2nd, 2012|Tags: , , , , |

UNDP & FairWild establish a partnership for the implementation of a 3-year GEF-funded programme: "Morocco - Mainstreaming Biodiversity into Value Chains for Mediterranean Medicinal & Aromatic Plants". ProFound will coordinate FairWild's support & training in areas of resource assessment & management, market & value chain development, and certification procedures.

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