Biodiversity: lack of trust in the cosmetics industry

Vincent Gallon

27 April 2010

As the United Nations proclaimed 2010 to be the “International Year of Biodiversity”, public opinion is increasingly aware of the concerns related to this question. However, as far as the cosmetics industry is concerned, there is a lack of trust in its capacity to address this issue, said the Union for Ethical BioTrade, a non-profit association that promotes the ‘Sourcing with Respect’ of ingredients that come from native biodiversity.

Brazilians in top position in 2010

In 2009, the Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT) launched a worldwide biodiversity barometer, to measure levels of awareness of the French, British, Americans and Germans. In 2010, it was extended to test Brazilians. The results of the 2010 barometer were revealed at UEBT’s annual conference “The Beauty of Sourcing with Respect” on April 16, in Paris.

According to the survey, common knowledge about biodiversity has progressed in one year: from 56% to 60%. A significant point: Brazilians show the highest awareness of biodiversity, 94% of people have already heard of it, out of which 47% could give a correct definition.

“In general, nature is ever more present in the minds of the consumers. If Fair Trade remains today the most well known notion, deforestation and the conservation of biodiversity are equally important. Here too, Brazilians are in the lead, with biodiversity a key theme, much more important than Fair Trade,” says UEBT in a release.

**UEBT’s annual conference “The Beauty of Sourcing with Respect” on April 16, in Paris.**

A lack of trust in the cosmetics and food industries

According to the UEBT, respondents do not have much trust in companies from the food and cosmetics sector, and particularly of their ethical sourcing practices related to biodiversity.

“Nevertheless, it is urgent to build this relationship of trust, since there is such a high number of people who would be ready to stop buying a product from a specific brand, if they knew ethical and environmental rules had been neglected in its sourcing and production process,” says the UEBT. This applies to the food sector (81%), and even more so to the cosmetics industry (84%) according to the survey.

Similarly to the compliance with natural and organic criteria, an independent third-party organisation appears as a guarantee of objectivity.

Actually, an official report of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) already noted in 2008 that few of the companies involved in sourcing the ingredients incorporate some or any of the requirements of the convention into their practices.

Communication remains low

According to the UEBT research, only 21 of the top 100 companies in the cosmetics industry mention biodiversity, out of which a small minority claims to take it into account in its sourcing practices.

This being said, it is possible to note an increase of mentions of biodiversity in the press: 2009 witnessed an increase in the number of articles on this matter in France, Germany, the UK and the USA by 32%. This just goes to show that the conservation of biodiversity, an emerging issue in 2009, has now become a topic of debate in environmental matters.