FairWild update on COVID-19
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
March 2020 - As the world navigates the current COVID-19 crisis, FairWild Foundation remains committed to our ongoing work towards a sustainable future for wild plant resources and the people who depend on them. We wish everyone in the global community the very best during this challenging time: our thoughts are with you.
This notice provides an update on our actions to date in response to the outbreak, and future plans including potential changes in approach to auditing and certification due to COVID-19.
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has led to a difficult time for many – and the situation continues to develop rapidly. The outbreak has already had significant impacts on public health, economies, and the lives of countless individuals around the world. By all predictions it will continue to cause major shocks in 2020, as well as long term impacts that are yet unknown.
This is likely to cause challenges for the health and livelihoods of harvesting communities around the world, as well as the global value chains of wild-harvested natural ingredients that they supply. While the virus has not yet reached many of the more remote areas where FairWild projects are located, these areas are at risk – with fragile healthcare systems, poverty, lack of infrastructure and market disruption likely to amplify the negative impacts already seen around the globe.
At FairWild Foundation, we are committed to working with our industry partners to understand the impacts of COVID-19 and to help them find ways to safely and sustainably harvest wild resources – in many cases vital components of food and medicine systems that are now much in demand. Should harvest be unable to go ahead as planned – for the safety and wellbeing of the people involved – we aim to support enterprises in mitigating the immediate impacts and in finding new models of sustainable trade partnership for the future.
Your support and collaboration will allow us to maintain this vital engagement.
Here are the changes we’ve made so far, and our plans for the future:
Remote working and travel restrictions: The FairWild Secretariat (hosted by our partner TRAFFIC) has closed as a physical office, and staff are working remotely. Business travel is restricted in accordance with government directives and we will be carrying out much of our work online in the coming months. Email continues to be the best way to contact us.
Exploring alternative audit approaches: Certification scheme audits in 2020 will no doubt be impacted by COVID-19, with international travel, and in many cases also domestic travel, currently not advised. We will stay in close contact with our accredited FairWild Control Bodies to find solutions and refer also to the developing best practice as recommended by the ISEAL Alliance and other relevant parties.
Commitment to advancing our mission: We will work to engage our community to understand the impacts of COVID-19, and implications for the sustainable and fair trade of wild resources going forward. We will evolve our planned 2020 webinar series to better address these impacts, and help our community to find solutions together. We would like to hear from you about the problems you face, and how FairWild can help.
Keeping you informed: We will communicate our response to members of our community—including certification scheme members, donors, partners—in a timely fashion. However, please note that the FairWild Secretariat currently has reduced capacity due to personal staff circumstances. As the situation evolves, we will continue to provide updates.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we adapt to meet these new challenges. If you have any questions or concerns, please do contact us – and meanwhile, please do take care of yourselves.
To learn more about how you can protect yourself from COVID-19, visit the World Health Organization’s website. Those in the herbal products industry may also find AHPA’s COVID-19 information resource of help.