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March 2014 – Sustainable wild collection was again highlighted at the BioFach trade fair in Nuremberg, Germany, last month. The organic trade fair celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, and remains an important event in the calendar for those involved with the trade in wild plant ingredients.

March 2014—The FairWild Standard was introduced to representatives from 30 Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) companies who met last month in Beijing to discuss corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability issues in the TCM industry.

3rd March 2014 is World Wildlife Day, chosen to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s wild fauna and flora. The day marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1973, a treaty which plays an important role in ensuring that international trade does not threaten the species’ survival.

Lishui, Zhejiang province, China, December 2013—Over 100 representatives from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) companies, government, academia, and NGOs convened in Lishui in November at the inaugural meeting of a project to promote sustainable management of medicinal and aromatic plant resources by the private sector.

Slovenia, December 2013—The first wild-plant products from a European Union-funded Traditional and wild project supporting pilot initiatives to promote sustainable management of wild-collected plants and associated capacity-building for local wild plant collectors in Central Europe have been unveiled.

Viet Nam, December 2013—A 16-person delegation from Japan’s Keidanren Committee on Nature Conservation (KCNC) have undertaken a field visit to a community-based project in northern Viet Nam, to see for themselves how local people are directly benefitting from the application of the FairWild principles of sustainable harvesting and equitable trade to wild plant harvesting.

Budapest, Hungary, October 2013—“Traditional and wild” project partners met earlier this month in Budapest to discuss the future of wild medicinal plant collection in Central Europe. The FairWild Standard has been used as the framework for the sustainability principles guiding the project.

Santa Clara, California, USA, October 2013—More than 1,000 scholars, experts and practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) met last month in Santa Clara at the 10th World Congress of Chinese Medicine (WCCM) and the celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies (WFCMS).

Beijing, China, 23 August 2013—How can companies trading in and manufacturing Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) products in China become more sustainable in their management of medicinal plants supply chains?

London, UK, 11th July 2013—A consumer campaign promoting the first product with FairWild-certified ingredients on the UK market, Pukka Herbs’ peppermint and licorice tea, has won the inaugural 2degrees Sustainability Champions Awards.

London, UK, 2nd July 2013—Frankincense resin from Merille, Kenya, forms the basis for the first cosmetics product to be retailed in the UK containing FairWild-certified ingredients.

Warsaw, Poland, June 2013—Participants at the Organic Marketing Forum (OMF) European East-West Organic Trade Exhibition held earlier this month in Warsaw, Poland, learned about use of the FairWild Standard for sustainable collection and fair trade in wild plant ingredients and heard some recent highlights from the Traditional and Wild project focusing on the use of medicinal plants in Central Europe.

Tokyo, Japan 29th May 2013—Nine months after its launch in the UK the Peppermint & FairWild-certified Licorice Tea produced by Pukka Herbs Ltd is now being retailed through WWF’s Panda Shop in Japan.

18 May 2013 - Today the second international "Fascination of Plants Day" is launched under the umbrella of the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO).

11 May 2013 – Today the FairWild Foundation joins in a worldwide festival of events celebrating Fair Trade as a tangible contribution to the fight against poverty, climate change and the economic crisis that has the greatest impact on the world’s most vulnerable populations.

The SEED Awards for Entrepreneurs in Sustainable Development is an annual awards scheme designed to find “the most promising social and environmental start-up enterprises in emerging economies, developing and least developed countries”.

Singapore, 2013—Participants from countries across South-East Asia plus China met last month in Singapore to develop or update national and regional plant conservation targets consistent with the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC).