This webinar will begin with a brief presentation by Joshua Wickerham from ISEAL (International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling Alliance) on the innovations happening more broadly in standard-setting systems and third-party certifications. What are examples of collaboration in other sectors? What can the botanical sector learn from these examples? We will then move to a discussion of how certifications used in the botanical industry are innovating and evolving to more effectively meet the social and environmental issues they were developed to address. How are they addressing the issue of accessibility? What are the implications of harmonization and/or standard recognition? What is being done to maintain the credibility and rigor of particular certifications while also reducing the burden on producer groups implementing these certifications? What are the systems of governance that reduce conflicts of interest? What are other possible pathways for collaboration?

This webinar is the first of a two-part series exploring the role of certifications in the botanical industry from different stakeholder perspectives.