Ethical BioTrade award for Biodiversity

Winners of the 2010 Biodiversity Award announced!

The winners of the 2010 Biodiversity Awards were announced on Tuesday 16 November 2010 at an awards ceremony at the Health Ingredients trade fair in Madrid.
Coop, the largest retail group in Switzerland was recognized in the leadership category, whilst Unilever, a company known for its numerous global food brands, was recognized in the innovation category for its Allanblackia project.

At the awards ceremony, honourable mentions were also awarded. In the leadership category a mention was awarded to Marks & Spencer, one of the leading retailers in the UK, and to Lotus Foods, a U.S. company working to bring ancient rice varieties to the market, giving farmers a reason to use and protect such varieties. In the innovation category, an honorable mention was awarded to EcoFlora, a Colombian company and UEBT Member.

For the full press release click here

The Union for Ethical BioTrade and Food Ingredients Europe launched the first Biodiversity Awards to celebrate the United Nations 2010 International Year of Biodiversity.

The awards, the first of their kind, aim to recognize the efforts of companies that promote the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) throughout their supply chain. The CBD objectives are: biodiversity conservation, sustainable use of biodiversity and the equitable sharing of benefits arising from its use. The awards are divided into two categories: leadership, and innovation.

Applications were reviewed by a panel of judges composed of key experts in the field of biodiversity, brought together from business, NGOs and international organisations.

The applications received for each category were judged according to several key points including the sustainable use of biodiversity,  the impact of the applicant’s practices on the wider industry and the innovative nature of the approach.