This article is focused on SDGs from REA (CHAFEA), its dimension and how to apply them to your international promotion European programme.

If you are interested in learning more about sustainability and how it relates to the REA (CHAFEA) programmes, you can read our article on the Farm to Fork strategy applied to these projects

What are the SDGs from REA (CHAFEA)?

The SDGs or Sustainable Development Goals are a series of goals that have been integrated into the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development since 2015. The Agenda has been adopted by the 193 nations that make up the United Nations and, therefore, the 17 SDGs that integrate and seek to chart a 15-year path towards a more sustainable future, based on three pillars: economic, social and environmental development.

SDGs REA CHAFEA Atlas Marketing Studio
Source FAO

They are universal goals, relevant in their development for all nations, and succeed the Millennium Development Goals for the period 2000-2015 with a more sustainable approach.

Dimensions of the SDGs

These seventeen SDG are integral and dependent on each other, in the sense that developing one SDG helps to advance the others.

Being interrelated, the SDG can be divided into three main dimensions: people, processes and planet.

  • Society: focuses on the human dimension of development.
  • Biosphere: for natural resources and the climate
  • Economy: for economic and institutional development
REA CHAFEA SGDs Atlas Marketing Studio
Source: FAO

Integrating the SDGs into the REA (CHAFEA) Promotion Programmes

In this context, it is appropriate to link the content of the SDGs to the development and implementation of the proposals of the REA (CHAFEA) agri-food promotion programmes.

Through the development topics AGRIP-SIMPLE-2021-IM- SUSTAINABLE and AGRIP-MULTI-2021-IM-SUSTAINABLE, and the inclusion of a sustainability justification section for all programmes, whether MULTI or SIMPLE, the EU ensures that proposals fall within this promotion policy that will directly and immediately contribute to increasing the sustainable production and consumption of EU agricultural products.

A good way to justify and promote this sustainable aspect of the REA (CHAFEA) programmes is through the correlation between sustainable activities, methods and consumption and the SDGs. This is possible by directly linking the goals that are best suited to the sustainable promotion of agri-food. Some examples could be:

SOCIETY

SDG 3: Good health and well-being

This objective can be justified through animal welfare initiatives, nutritional improvements in food, improved hygiene technologies on farms and crops, or promoting healthy eating.

SDG 4: Quality education

Through promotional activities such as workshops on healthy and sustainable food, nutrition education and awareness of sustainable production processes, targeting adults and children.

ECONOMY

SDG 12: Responsible production and consumption

This goal can relate to initiatives that promote sustainable methods of production and consumption such as using less antibiotics with livestock, promoting seasonal agriculture, addressing biosecurity issues or promoting less water use in production processes.

SDG 14&15: Life on land and below water

Through animal welfare initiatives, sustainable production, support for indigenous livestock, fisheries and agriculture, and campaigns to protect endangered species, this SDG can be included as a justification for sustainable processes in each programme.

SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals

Collaborating with public and private institutions in promoting sustainability initiatives can give a lot of weight to the sustainability part of an AER proposal, listing joint work projects, studies and other projects in which you have been involved.

BIOSPHERE

SDG 7: Affordable and clean energy

Through the promotion of farming, livestock farming, promotion and distribution methods that use renewable and clean energy, it is possible to give weight to the sustainability part of the REA promotion proposals.

SDO 13: Climate action

In this objective of the process dimension, initiatives such as promoting research into livestock diseases and improving sustainable crops, promoting cleaner chain production, supporting better application of technology to production and distribution processes and promoting initiatives such as reducing salt in products or the use of polluting pesticides can be related to this objective.

The importance of sustainability in REA (CHAFEA) programmes

Recently, the requirement to include a section exclusively dedicated to sustainability in the elaboration and presentation of the proposals for the promotion programmes of REA (formerly CHAFEA) has been introduced. Promoting international promotion methods that favor a greener image of European products is a prerequisite for the development of an effective programme proposal that can be approved by the Agency.

It is therefore important and necessary to keep the sustainability factor in mind when developing a proposal for a CHAFEA programme for the promotion of agri-food products.  This is a very favourable feature to highlight the products and their production methods, promoting an ecological and environmentally friendly image of European products that will support other possible qualities such as the quality of the production methods or the organic product designation.

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