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Voluntary Sustainability Standards in International Trade
This handbook provides an introduction to Voluntary Sustainability Standards as instruments to make international trade more sustainable. Chapter 1 sets out to describe what VSS are how they have emerged and how they have evolved. Chapter 2 delves deeper into how VSS work to achieve sustainability goals. Chapter 3 takes stock of the current literature and evidence on the effectiveness of VSS. Chapter 4 turns attention to the use of VSS by other trade-related policy instruments.
Voluntary sustainability standards
VSS have emerged as important tools for governing global value chains (GVCs) and addressing related sustainability concerns (Marx and Depoorter 2022). They are increasingly seen as key transnational governance instruments to pursue sustainable development as they aim to ensure that products and production processes comply with a set of social economic and/or environmental requirements in order to make global production more sustainable. VSS are actively engaged in a wide range of sectors from agriculture and forestry to minerals and electronics. However they are most widely used in tropical agricultural commodity sectors including bananas cocoa coffee cotton palm oil soy sugarcane and tea which are mostly produced in and exported from developing countries.
How do VSS work?
VSS schemes differ in the standards they develop how they set and enforce those standards and how they track the path of certified products along GVCs. But there are also some similarities in how they operate in these respects.
Conclusions
The SDGs highlight the many dimensions of sustainability and stress the importance of international trade and trade policy to achieve their goals. International trade brings several benefits to people and countries but it can also pose significant challenges. This report has discussed the importance of VSS as an instrument to make trade more sustainable. Besides explaining VSS and discussing their achievements and challenges it has identified how they relate to other policy instruments. Each of the chapters provides some key takeaway messages.
Effectiveness of VSS
Given that VSS have become important governance instruments to foster sustainability along GVCs it is important to understand whether these systems are effective in achieving positive sustainability impacts. Many factors determine the effectiveness of VSS including their institutional design the content of their standards and the socioeconomic and political context in which the standards are implemented. In general the effectiveness of VSS can be analysed along two dimensions: their impacts on the ground based on various sustainability parameters and their adoption.
Acknowledgements
This report has been prepared by Dr. Axel Marx Deputy Director Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies University of Leuven and Ms. Charline Depoorter also of the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies in collaboration with Santiago Fernandez de Cordoba and Niematallah E.A. Elamin UNCTAD. The report is based on the University of Leuven’s online edX course “Sustainable Trade”.
VSS and public policy
As explored in chapter II one factor that has led to the proliferation of VSS is their increased recognition by governments and their integration into public policy. This chapter explores the different types of public policies into which VSS have been (or could be) integrated. These include market access regulations trade policy public procurement policy due diligence and export promotion measures.
Introduction: Trade and sustainable development
International trade has expanded significantly over the past few decades powered by the rise of global supply or value chains. In particular it rose rapidly after 1990 reaching a record level of $28.5 trillion in 2021 (UNCTAD 2022). Moreover trade has truly transnationalized economic activities (Hoekman 2014). In addition and more fundamentally – the nature of international trade has changed with the emergence of global value chains (GVCs) whereby parts and components are exchanged across countries before being incorporated into final products (Hoekman 2014). Indeed today around 70 per cent of international trade involves GVCs (OECD 2020) which can enhance countries’ ability to exploit their comparative advantages (UNCTAD 2021a).
Acknowledgements
This publication was prepared by the Nutrition and Child Development Section of UNICEF’s Programme Group in collaboration with the Data and Analytics Section of UNICEF’s Data Analytics Planning and Monitoring Division.
Our recommendations: The route out of the nutrition crisis
The global crisis of nutrition in adolescent girls and women has been overlooked for far too long. This lack of attention has undermined efforts to end child malnutrition achieve gender equality and well-being for all girls and women and secure their right to live with dignity. With the mounting pressures on food and nutrition security governments and their development and humanitarian partners – national and international – must take the lead in bringing about much faster progress for adolescent girls’ and women’s nutrition.
Foreword
A mother finishes preparing a meal and places it in front of her children. She has saved the freshest tastiest foods and the largest portions for them. On days like today when money is tight and food is in short supply she eats less or skips meals entirely to ensure that the rest of her family has enough.
Our findings: The global crisis of nutrition in adolescent girls and women
This chapter describes the findings of our analysis of quantitative data and qualitative evidence on the status trends inequities and drivers of nutrition in adolescent girls and women. We find that undernutrition and anaemia have barely fallen since 2000 and are concentrated in poorer regions and among the most disadvantaged girls and women. Inadequate diets nutrition services and care practices – powered by harmful social and gender norms insufficient policy protection and humanitarian and economic crises – are driving poor nutrition among adolescent girls and women in all contexts.
Executive summary
There has been important progress for the rights of adolescent girls and women in recent decades yet millions still struggle to access the nutritious diets essential nutrition services and nutrition and care practices they need to prevent malnutrition.
Undernourished and Overlooked: A Global Nutrition Crisis in Adolescent Girls and Women
Undernutrition micronutrient deficiencies and anaemia amplify gender inequalities by lowering learning potential wages and life opportunities for adolescent girls and women weakening their immunity to infections and increasing their risk of life-threatening complications during pregnancy and childbirth. In ‘Undernourished and Overlooked: A Global Nutrition Crisis in Adolescent Girls and Women’ UNICEF examines the current status trends and inequities in the nutritional status of adolescent girls and women of reproductive age (15-49 years) and the barriers they face in accessing nutritious diets utilizing essential nutrition services and benefiting from positive nutrition and care practices. The analysis focuses on undernutrition micronutrient deficiencies and anaemia because these forms of malnutrition affect the most vulnerable adolescent girls and women in low- and middle-income countries especially in the context of the ongoing global food and nutrition crisis.
Our analysis: Barriers to good nutrition in adolescent girls and women
The state of nutrition in adolescent girls and women is deeply troubling. Undernutrition micronutrient deficiencies and anaemia persist because adolescent girls and women struggle to access nutritious diets essential nutrition services and positive nutrition and care practices – especially those living under the shadow of poverty harmful norms and discriminatory laws.
Our research: The case for prioritizing adolescent girls’ and women’s nutrition now
This chapter explains why the nutrition of adolescent girls and women needs greater attention – and what this would mean for their well-being and dignity for the growth and development of their children and for social and economic progress. We outline the analysis and research that UNICEF has undertaken to bring visibility to the status and drivers of poor nutrition in adolescent girls and women and to inform solutions that can truly transform their nutrition and well-being.