We are thrilled to announce a significant leap forward in the pursuit of catalyzing sustainable coconut practices – the successful industry adoption of a revised Sustainable Coconut Charter V2.0
This revised charter introduces new principles and ambitious goals addressing key facets of supply chain management, social responsibility, and biodiversity conservation.
"It's always a milestone for an industry when it aligns on a common sustainability reference that will drive increased investments. The recent recognition by the public sector and the update of our common charter will deliver a true market instrument for sustainability and we are happy to have delivered such a tool for coconut markets, now recognized by the leading players in the private and public sector!” said Gregory Bardies, the Sustainable Coconut Partnership’s executive Director
The Charter gained recognition from the Public Sector
This new Sustainable Coconut Charter gained recognition from governmental agencies and authorities as the reference “market-based framework” creating the necessary common language for sustainability in coconut credible and an essential tool to drive industry transparency and work towards a responsible and resilient coconut sector.
The International Coconut Community’s Executive Director Dr Jelfina Alow (representing the coconut governmental agencies of 20 countries) signed a Memorandum of Collaboration with the Sustainable Coconut Partnership’s Executive Director Gregory Bardies (representing the coconut industry globally) signifying that both organizations will work towards joint programmes between the public and private sector in support of improved socio-economic welfare of farmers and sustainability in the sector.
The industry now sets off to build a game changing, inclusive assurance system
The updated Sustainable Coconut Charter is designed to be the basis of a new and inclusive, step wise assurance system responding to the lack of uptake and market transformation of current schemes in global markets recognizing that most coconut farmers and companies do not benefit nor engage in enough in current sustainability assurance systems due to heavy investment requirements in supply chains where farmers are mostly unorganized and trapped in vicious circles of poverty.
“The new assurance system will be piloted by members in 2024” said Karen Thyvia Lourdes, Global Sustainable Sourcing Leader, Sugar and Coconut at Nestlé.
More to come in Q1 2024 with the formation of the assurance system's taskforce!