Biodiversity becomes major talking point

In 2010, which was declared the International Year of Biodiversity by the UN, the second wave of the barometer allows for an evaluation of the progress within the year, but also to test Brazilians’ levels of awareness, as well as consumers’ sensitivity to these matters in the food sector. The results of the 2010 barometer were revealed at UEBT’s annual conference “The Beauty of Sourcing with Respect” on 16 April, in Paris. With the increase of references to biodiversity in the press, its level of awareness has progressed in one year: from 56% to 60%. Another significant point is that Brazilians show the highest awareness of biodiversity with 94% of people having heard of it, of which 47% could give a correct definition. According to the barometer, respondents lack trust in companies from the food and cosmetics sector, and particularly of their ethical sourcing practices related to biodiversity. Nevertheless, it is important to build this relationship of trust, since there is such a high number of people who would be ready to stop buying a product from a specific brand, if they knew ethical and environmental rules had been neglected in its sourcing and production process. This applies to the food sector (81%), and even more so to the cosmetics industry (84%). Only 21 of the top 100 companies in the cosmetics industry refer to biodiversity, out of which a small minority claim to take it into account in their sourcing practices. This being said, it is possible to see an increase of mentions of biodiversity in the press: 2009 witnessed an increase in the number of articles on this matter in France, Germany, the UK and the US by 32%. This proves that the conservation of biodiversity, an emerging issue in 2009, has now become a crucial topic of debate in environmental matters; a fact further demonstrated for cosmetics companies during the 16 April conference “The Beauty of Sourcing with Respect”, where they discussed their sourcing practices and views on the future.