Floriculture Sustainability Initiative starting to take shape

The Floriculture Sustainability Initiative (FSI) that was launched at IPM Essen in January, is starting to take shape. Essential positions have been filled, an official office has been established and progress is being made in other areas as well.

New officers have been appointed: Jeroen Oudheusden was confirmed as director in March and Caroline Le Grand will be taking up the communications for FSI. She has been working in that same capacity at Union Fleurs, one of the founding members of the FSI initiative. The main office of the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative has been established in Brussels, meanwhile.

Lots of essential sector stakeholders have already pledged their allegiance to the sustainability initiative. Aside from the initial 24 starting member organizations, Waterdrinker Aalsmeer, Chrysal International and relay service Euroflorist also recently expressed their willingness and signed up.

Kenyan industry association the Kenyan Flower Council organized a conference on sustainability at the recent IFTEX trade fair in Nairobi, in collaboration with FSI and Union Fleurs. The association subsequently also officially joined FSI.

Asocolflores - the Association of Colombian Flower Exporters – has also confirmed its participation in the initiative. The support and participation of both Kenya and Colombia was seen as key to the further development of the FSI as they represent an important segment in the worldwide flower trade.

The key goal of the initiative is to have 90% of the internationally traded flowers and pot plants sustainably produced by the year 2020.

A benchmark-like ‘Equivalency Tool’ is being developed in collaboration with GSCP and GLOBALGAP as well as the International Trade Center (ITC) to help assess the progress towards that goal.

Read all about the details of the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative over at http://www.fsi2020.com/en/