A blueprint for a joint approach to tackle the issues at wager in the international ornamental industriousness . That ’s how Secretary - General Véronique Timmerhuis of the Social and Economic Council ( SER ) described the International Responsible Business Conduct ( IRBC ) Agreement , which was sign yesterday in the World Horti Center in Naaldwijk , The Netherlands . A broad coalition of stakeholder expressed the desire to ostracise ill-treatment and wrongdoing of any kind .
All the undersigning parties
The understanding ( hereavailable in Dutch ) states that society will individually map the risks involved in their own commercial-grade activities , while later on share them with all the others as transparently as possible . Then , thematic agreements can be made so as to implement policies on recognized risks . At nowadays , the biggest risks are considered the wage of a live salary and limiting the health risks related to the use of chemic harvest protection .
The two ministers ( Carola Schouten , Minister of Agriculture , Nature and Food Quality , and Sigrid Kaag , Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation ) and other undersigning parties had to sign twice : once to officially ratify the document , and a 2d clock time symbolically on the vase above . The peak organisation was made by scholar Tiffany van Lenten .
Whether the arrangement will bring home the bacon , is down to the participating parties and to the shock the guidance mathematical group , to be take shape as part of the arrangement , can make . That chemical group , the General Assembly of Parties , and finally the society at large , will wield a diffused power of variety to encourage improvements . However , no heavy agreements or consequences have been put in place .
BiasedThose present , not in the last place the two diplomatic minister , indicated they do n’t recognize themselves in the somewhat biased reporting by home Dutch media onwards of the signing of the agreement . On the one hand , there ’s no deny that thing do go incorrectly , as Edwin Huizing , Executive Director of Hivos , mention . Why else this agreement ? On the other hand , the many good things happening are easily leave out . Anyone who ’s ever visited a output site in Kenya will have seen the shoal , hospitals and other social projects set up topically by the entrepreneur . Calling the grower ( or anyone imply in doing business concern abroad ) exploitative is , in short , not reasonable .
In a panel discussion , several parties were able-bodied to explicate their own interest and motivation to bless the agreement . Left to right wing : the two diplomatic minister Sigrid Kaag and Carola Schouten , moderator Véronique Timmerhuis , Tuur Elzinga ( trade union FNV ) , Sjaak van der Tak ( Glastuinbouw Nederland ) , Jakob Treffers ( Dümmen Orange ) , Edwin Huizing ( Hivos ) and Steven van Schilfgaarde ( Royal FloraHolland )
Where are the growers?“But where are the agriculturalist ? " , Sjaak van der Tak , chairwoman the Dutch growers Association Glastuinbouw Nederland , rhetorically asked . In his opinion , agriculturalist should be involved more prominently . " The grower is , after all , like the striker in a soccer squad . They ’re the ones who rack up the destination , or at least , without them we do n’t have products . It ’s clear that craft interests are suffice by this arrangement . Now agriculturist should be involved , specially the grower from Africa or anywhere else , really , for serve production interests as well . "
TenThe understanding is the ten percent of its variety in the Netherlands . Perhaps the most well - known is the agreement on sustainable clothing and fabric , but there are also alike agreements for the banking sector , the food manufacture , the alloy industry , the insurance sphere , and more . Two others are currently being rise : one for factory farm and horticulture , and one for sustainable energy .
Guests sat down behind the board as they enter . Here , Sjaak van der Tak ( Glastuinbouw Nederland ) is consider
The IRBC Agreement for the Floricultural Sector was signed by Carola Schouten ( Minister of Agriculture , Nature and Food Quality ) and Sigrid Kaag ( Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation ) . Other parties sign on the agreement are AFRI FLORA , Albert Heijn , Dümmen Orange , Dutch Flower Group , Fleura Metz , Floratradeconsult , Royal Lemkes , Waterdrinker , HIVOS , FNV , Royal FloraHolland , Glastuinbouw Nederland , Tuinbranche Nederland , and the Association of Dutch Flower Wholesalers and Growers . Now it ’s up to IDH , the Sustainable Trade Initiative that ’s supported by multiple European administration , to get the egg rolling .
© FloralDaily.com/Geert Peeters
