Wildpluk Phase 3: Promoting sustainable harvesting of wild foliage

The market for foliage is changing due to consumer and regulatory pressures. Therefore, retailers increasingly want transparency concerning social and environmental impacts within supply chains. There is currently no assurance standard for wild harvested product, therefore these products lie out of the scope of the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative, which benchmarks sustainable practices within the cut-flower industry in Europe. This project is a response to the need to identify solutions to meet this assurance gap.

Regions such as the Pacific Northwest of the USA, Catalonia, South Africa’s Cape Floral Kingdom and the Huaestca in Mexico, are the source of many millions of stems harvested from mountain sides, jungles and lowland areas. Such harvesting provides vital livelihood opportunities for rural people and foliages often have deep roots within local cultural practices. Stems of wild foliage, such as chico, salal, pistache and fynbos, are added into commercial flower bouquets to provide volume and texture. However, much wild harvesting is unregulated and as global demand increases a wide range of ecological and social sustainability risks are emerging. In turn this creates reputational risks within markets.