Developing Sustainable Wildflower Harvesting for Global Supply Chains

该项目旨在发展和推广南非野花行业可持续采摘的最佳实践，该行业向英国和南非的商业街零售商和超市提供高价值、合乎道德的花束，旨在为符合道德的野花采摘的环境和社会经济方面带来积极成果。作为一项知识交流项目，这项工作将与花谷保护信托基金(FVCT)合作进行，FVCT是西开普省的一个非政府组织，是可持续收获的先锋组织。禁产条约试行了一项创新的工作方案，力求通过开发市场机会实现保护目标。FVCT位于南非西开普省的开普弗洛拉地区，是世界六大花卉王国中面积最小、资源最丰富的。主要的植被类型在当地被称为fynbos(细叶灌木)，几十年来一直是从野外收获的，因为其独特的外观已经被证明受到消费者的欢迎。每年，大量Fynbos从西开普省出口到欧洲市场，其中英国商业街零售商和超市连锁店是最重要的客户。然而，不可持续的野花采摘是对生物群的威胁之一，而Fynbos行业一直组织松散，监管不力。在环境方面，这导致对资源基础施加了过大的压力，因为适销对路的物种被开发的能力超出了它们的繁殖能力。鉴于英国的商业影响力，该国的利益相关者有责任共同开发更可持续的收获做法。该项目旨在发展禁产条约的工作，并通过一套循序渐进和实用的机制促进南非和英国的可持续收获事业。将通过四个相互关联的工作包抓住制定机制确保可持续收获方案的完整性和改善利益攸关方成果的机会。工作包1制定了审计方法，以便能够有效监测可持续采摘做法和景观管理。工作包2编写了培训材料和方案，以提高不同文化背景的收获劳动力的技能、机会和社会经济收益。工作包3更好地理解了园艺的可持续收获如何适应南非和英国道德消费主义的更广泛背景。基于访谈和焦点小组的方法将在他们的日常生活和购买实践的背景下追踪消费者的道德价值观和决策。这不仅将为FCVT及其商业合作伙伴Fynsa提供有用的营销知识，还将为在这一领域工作的跨国公司、非政府组织和工会提供一项关于全球南方道德消费的试点研究。工作包4通过三个“学习活动”向广泛的利益攸关方宣传可持续收获议程。将在开普敦举办两个讲习班，以促进关于生物多样性商业举措的可行性以及发起和维持这些举措所需的体制结构的辩论，并展示该项目的成果。最后，项目的影响将通过向道德贸易倡议(ETI)的演示向英国的企业责任社区传达，ETI的成员包括大多数商业街零售商和超市连锁店，包括Fynbos的主要买家。

This project aims to develop and promote best practice in sustainable harvesting within the South African wildflower industry - a sector supplying high-value, ethically-sourced bouquets to UK and South African high street retailers and supermarkets - with positive outcomes intended for both environmental and socio-economic aspects of ethical wildflower harvesting. As a Knowledge Exchange project, the work will be conducted in collaboration with the Flower Valley Conservation Trust (FVCT) - a Western Cape NGO at the vanguard of sustainable harvesting. The FVCT has piloted an innovative programme of work, which seeks to achieve conservation goals through the development of market opportunities. The FVCT is located in the Cape Floral Region of the Western Cape of South Africa, which is the smallest and richest of the world's six floral kingdoms. The main vegetation type is known locally as fynbos ('fine leaved bush'), which has been harvested from the wild for many decades because the distinctive appearance of the flowers has proven popular with consumers. Large quantities of fynbos are exported every year from the Western Cape to European markets, with UK high street retailers and supermarket chains being the most significant customers. However, unsustainable harvesting of wildflowers is one of the threats to the biome and the fynbos industry has been loosely organised and weakly regulated. In environmental terms, this has led to excessive pressure being placed upon the resource base, as marketable species have been exploited beyond their capacity to reproduce. Given the UK's commercial influence, stakeholders in this country have a responsibility to co-develop more sustainable harvesting practices. The project sets out to develop the work of the FVCT and to promote the cause of sustainable harvesting in both South Africa and the UK through a set of progressive and applied mechanisms.Opportunities for devising mechanisms for ensuring the integrity of the sustainable harvesting programme and improving stakeholder outcomes will be met through four inter-connected work packages. Work Package 1 develops audit methodologies to enable the effective monitoring of sustainable picking practice and landscape management. Work Package 2 develops training materials and programmes in order to improve the skills, opportunities and socio-economic gains of a culturally-diverse harvesting workforce. Work Package 3 develops a better understanding of how sustainable harvesting in horticulture fits into the wider context of ethical consumerism in South Africa as well as in the UK. Interview-based and focus group methods will trace consumers' ethical values and decision-making in the context of their everyday lives and purchasing practices. This will not only construct useful marketing knowledge for the FCVT and its commercial partner, Fynsa, but will also provide a pilot study of ethical consumption in the global South of interest to transnational corporations, NGOs and labour unions working in this area. Work Package 4 promotes the sustainable harvesting agenda to a wide set of stakeholders through three 'Learning Events'. Two workshops will be held in Cape Town to stimulate debate around the viability of biodiversity-business initiatives and the institutional structures required to initiate and sustain them, and to showcase the outputs from the project. Finally, the project impacts will be communicated to the corporate responsibility community in the UK through a presentation to the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), whose membership includes the majority of high street retailers and supermarkets chains, including key buyers of fynbos.