Who we are

Within the framework of the EU LIFE project “Food & Biodiversity”, several national sector dialogues and initiatives have been established to promote biodiversity in the food sector. One project output is the foundation of the association “Food for Biodiversity”.

Gründung - 3. März 2021

Foundation

On UN World Wildlife Day on 3 March 2021, representatives from business and society founded the association “Food for Biodiversity”. Thirteen companies, associations and standard organisations from the food industry as well as environmental associations and a research institute want to contribute to stopping the loss of species and habitats. The founding members of “Food for Biodiversity” include the food sector companies REWE Group, Kaufland, Lidl and Nestlé, the standard organisations Fairtrade Germany, Rainforest Alliance and Naturland, the environmental associations Global Nature Fund, NABU – Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union Germany, Lake Constance Foundation and the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), as well as the business associations Association of Organic Food Producers (AöL) and the “Biodiversity in Good Company” initiative as supporting members.

Organization

Food for Biodiversity is a non-profit association and registered in the Register of Associations of the City of Bonn. The association is pre-competitive, directly serves the non-profit goal of protecting biodiversity and contributes to the transformation of current food systems into sustainable and future-proof ones.

The associations flyer

The Board of Directors consists of the following persons:

Marion Hammerl

Treasurer and President of the Global Nature Fund

Nadja Kasperczyk

Associate - Representative of the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, FiBL

Andrea Schwalber

Vice Chairperson - Sustainability Manager of Nestlé Germany AG

Peter Zens

Chair - Board member of the Biodiversity in Good Company Initiative

The association has three working groups in which the members are in active exchange with each other:

WG Pilot Projects and Monitoring

WG Communication and Awareness Raising

WG Sustainability labeling

Statutes (GER)

Goals

„Food for Biodiversity“ supports the goals of the German and European Biodiversity Strategy as well as the UN-Goals for Sustainable Development – in particular the protection of marine ecosystems (14), the protection of terrestrial ecosystems (15) as well as the promotion of sustainable consumption and production (12) and climate protection (13).

Important association goals and measures are:

Anchoring the protection and promotion of biodiversity in strategies, guidelines and projects of the food industry.
Implement criteria for the protection and promotion of biodiversity along the supply chain in purchasing and standard specifications. Farmers should be supported in implementing the criteria and corresponding measures.
Implementation and continuous development of the basic set of biodiversity criteria in the food sector.
Dissemination and further development of Biodiversity Trainings for representatives from the food sector.
Expansion of the Monitoringsystems for the development of biodiversity on farms and publication of the monitoring results within the framework of regular reports.
Conducting further training on biodiversity for staff, farmers, agricultural advisors and auditors, raising awareness among consumers in Germany of the value of biodiversity for food production, promoting the supply and demand of corresponding products.
Conducting further training on biodiversity for staff, farmers, agricultural advisors and auditors, raising awareness among consumers in Germany of the value of biodiversity for food production, promoting the supply and demand of corresponding products.
Last but not least, the members will also campaign for better political framework conditions to strengthen the protection of biodiversity.