Fortifying link between business in Russia and SDGs

FAO special section dedicated to tools and instruments for business practices aimed at achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was held within the framework of the first COOPERATION FORUM targeting practitioners from agroindustry, investors, representatives of industry associations and unions, scientific, research, academic institutions, consultancies, and the media. The forum was co-organized by the UN Global Compact Russia, Forest Stewardship Council Russia, and FAO.

The core of the presentations and discussions featured the following topics: principles of responsible investment in agri-food systems; FAO designs and developments for the private sector to apply and follow the SDGs compliance principles, such as the OpenForis platform and EX-ACT; areas of potential cooperation between private business and FAO; and the motivation of agribusiness for changing its strategy and priorities to meet SDGs’ requirements.

Pedro Marcelo Arias, Economist with FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, presented joint projects spearheaded by FAO and the private sector, for instance, tools for achieving the SDGs and the principles for responsible investment in agri-food systems.

Internationally agreed principles of responsible business conduct (RBC) aim to ensure that enterprises contribute to sustainable development. Providing guidance to enterprises involved in agricultural supply chains on how to observe existing RBC standards is essential to prevent adverse impacts and ensure that agricultural investments benefit enterprises, governments and communities and contribute to sustainable development, and in particular poverty reduction, food security and gender equality.

Responsible investment makes a significant contribution to enhancing sustainable livelihoods, in particular for smallholders, and members of marginalized and vulnerable groups, creating decent work for all agricultural and food workers, eradicating poverty, fostering social and gender equality, eliminating the worst forms of child labour, promoting social participation and inclusiveness, increasing economic growth, and therefore achieving sustainable development.

Julian Fox, FAO senior forestry officer, presented the Open Foris platform, which uses Google technologies. Open Foris is an initiative of FAO to develop, share and support specialized tools and platforms that countries and institutions need to conduct multi-purpose forest inventories.

Open Foris is a free software tool that improves the way many developing nations monitor the state of their forests to tackle deforestation and climate change. It is designed to assist countries through the entire lifecycle of a forest inventory - from assessment, design and field data collection to analysis and reporting.

Accurate information about forests is crucial for governments to manage their natural resources sustainably, but nearly 80 percent of developing countries have difficulty obtaining and using basic information about their forest resources. At the same time, deforestation and forest degradation – largely taking place in developing countries – are among the largest sources of carbon emissions globally caused by humans.

The new FAO tools also simplify the complex process of transforming raw data such as tree measurements and satellite imagery into valuable information in the form of interactive web pages with statistics, graphs, maps and reports. Open Foris enables rangers to enter data directly with their smartphones or tablets, eliminating the need to input information collected on paper forms.

Laure-Sophie Schiettecatte, Ex-Act Coordinator and FAO climate change mitigation analyst, in her presentation sent to the participants of the forum, introduced the EX-ACT, an appraisal system developed by FAO providing ex-ante estimates of the impact of agriculture and forestry development projects, programmes and policies on the carbon-balance. EX-ACT allows project developers to evaluate and prioritize activities that provide good economic benefits with minimal impact on the climate. This tool can be used in a wide range of investment projects in areas such as sustainable land use, watershed development, forest management, food security, and crop and livestock intensification.

Vera Artamonova, Product Manager of OneSoil, shared her experience of how a small innovative company adjusts its operations to promote SDG compliance. OneSoil is an agricultural start-up in Belarus that creates applications and an online platform for precision farming. The company's products assist farmers to monitor plants growth, increase productivity and efficient use of resources. The goal of OneSoil is to improve farming methods through precision farming and reduce the negative impact on the environment.

Dmitry Kolchugin, Senior Manager for external communications at AFK Sistema, focused on the growing link between investment in new technologies and sustainability. AFK Sistema has a significant impact on the development of many sectors of the Russian economy and considers the introduction of new technologies as a strategic platform for sustainable business development, including agriculture.

The agricultural holding Step (part of the Sistema) improves grain supply chains based on Blockchain technology; develops and actively applies digital and unmanned solutions to improve efficiency in crop production; builds smart dairy farms that demonstrate the highest productivity in Russia, comparable to the best global practices. The Sistema VC venture fund invested in promising agrotech startups that promote sustainable farming by both farmers and major players in the agricultural and food market. Another example: the Sistema Asia Fund has invested in an online platform that changes the culture of meat and fish consumption in India.

The FAO special session served as a confirmation of the thesis that Russian business is reviewing its commercial strategies, resetting its own long-term priorities in the field of sustainable development, seeking to ensure transparent reporting on the results achieved, and forming new models of relationships with stakeholders. This transformation in the context of the SDGs results in a significant demand from businesses for expertise and practical tools to help them rethink their mission, functions and business models for sustainable development.