This collaboration will enhance the work of UEBT and NATRUE towards responsible supply chain management, transparency to consumers, and advancing international targets to halt biodiversity loss set by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
“UEBT stands for sourcing with respect,” said Julie Tyrell, Director General of NATRUE. “Its members commit to sourcing natural ingredients in a way that conserves biodiversity and respects traditional knowledge while sharing benefits with those who harvest the ingredients and make them available. These are values close to the heart of the natural and organic cosmetics sector. The more our sector grows, the more important this becomes. It is a great chance to promote biodiversity and we decided to work together to make it happen.”
With consumer demand for natural and organic cosmetics ever growing, companies are increasingly looking to use ingredients from natural resources. “If done in an ethical and sustainable way, sourcing from nature can really add value to biodiversity at a local level and help motivate its protection,” said Executive Director of UEBT Rik Kutsch Lojenga.
The MOU between UEBT and NATRUE, both created in 2007, will allow the two organisations to further collaborate, share insights and explore common opportunities and challenges.
The membership base of the organisations is complementary, with NATRUE–s strong roots in Europe and increasingly the US, and UEBT–s strength in Latin America and Africa.