Lidl and GLOBALG.A.P. Develop First Standard for Protection of Biodiversity

Lidl, together with the certification house GLOBALG.A.P. and other partners, has completed the development of standards for the protection of biodiversity in the conventional production of fruit and vegetables in Europe. In practice, this project enables Lidl to be the first European trader which incites the preservation of the diversity of species, contributes to the preservation of the quality and fertility of soil, while, in the longer term, it contributes to a better state of nature.

From now, this module, called “BioDiversity”, will be available to all participants in the market as an additional module for the established GLOBALG.A.P. standard for good agricultural practices. As the first step, Lidl will implement the standard at more than 250 producers from various European countries, and, as the next step, the GLOBALG.A.P. addition for the protection of biodiversity will be presented to all European producers of fruit and vegetables.

– The implementation of the first biodiversity standard in the conventional European production of fruit and vegetables shows how important the initiative and cooperation are. We are determined in our intention to be inciters of changes in the entire industry in order to improve one of the challenges of our time, the preservation of biodiversity – stated the head of corporate communications at Lidl Srbija, Martina Petrovic.

For this project, Lidl and GLOBALG.A.P. realized a partnership with the company FiBL Spin-off Sustainable Food Systems GmbH (SFS) which had the role of project management, as well as the Global Nature Fund, the company Bioland, the Lake Constance foundation and the Nürtingen-Geislingen University. Agencies and agricultural producers were included in the development and piloting of this standard in Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain, in order to take into account practical requirements. The new additional module was developed with the needs of all the participants in the market, from producers to distributors, in mind.

The president of the Global Nature Fund, Marion Hammerl, pointed out that the loss of biodiversity needed to be stopped urgently, because it had been scientifically proven that, aside from climate change, it was the biggest challenge to the planet and agriculture.

– The new GLOBALG.A.P. standard module helps preserve biodiversity by setting the final date for turning natural ecosystems into agricultural land, requiring a biodiversity management plan. It also helps through establishing more efficient criteria for preservation through an integrated control of pests and many other things – Hammerl explained.

The protection of biodiversity is one of the biggest challenges in the food sector. Therefore, “Honoring Biodiversity” is one of the six topics that are in the focus of Lidl’s sustainability strategy. This way, Lidl emphasizes the importance of a varied and intact natural environment for its own operations. Lidl’s current strategy of biodiversity in the first stage pertains to identifying the raw ingredients whose growing is linked to the particularly high risks to biodiversity. Among other things, to that end, a tool for biodiversity risk assessment has been developed.

More information about the addition directly at the link GLOBALG.A.P.

Lidl Srbija KD Nova Pazova

Lidl

GLOBAL G A P

biodiversity protection standard

conventional production of fruit and vegetables

protection of biodiversity

honoring biodiversity

module BioDiversity

sustainability strategy