Committee on Sustainability Assessment
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| File:Cosa 516x192.jpg | |
| Founded | 2005 |
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| Website | thecosa.org |
Committee on Sustainability Assessment (COSA) is a non-profit global consortium of institutions, sustained in partnership with the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Sustainable Commodity Initiative, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the United Nations International Trade Centre (ITC). COSA is a volunteer-driven organization using participatory methods to measure sustainability in agriculture.
The focus of the COSA initiative is developing and applying independent measurement tools and indicators to assess the distinct social, environmental and economic impacts of agricultural practices. One of its key objectives is a common and consistently comparable set of global indicators suitable for farmers, policy-makers, and industry to better evaluate the extent to which their work in agriculture is sustainable, and ultimately to improve their sustainability.[1]
COSA partners in developing countries are trained in the methods to collect empirical data used to assess the basic ecological, economic, and social effects of agricultural practices.[2] COSA is also used in development projects,[3] private supply chains, and with sustainability labels such as fair trade, organic, UTZ Certified, and Rainforest Alliance. As of 2010 COSA is being applied in: Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Tanzania, and Vietnam. It has been applied in other countries in the past during the pilot testing.[4]
References
- ^ See: ISEAL Alliance, the Center for the Study of Standards in Society and the World News Network.
- ^ For example, CRECE, whose COSA work in Colombia is expanding sustainable options for food security and replacement of illicit crops: http://www.recintodelpensamiento.com/crece/
- ^ http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2010/04/13/000333038_20100413002838/Rendered/PDF/514930PAD0P110101Official0Use0Only1.pdf Also see: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPAPUANEWGUINEA/Resources/PNGCoffeeStrategyGiovannucci-Hunt.Final.pdf
- ^ Daniele Giovannucci, Jason Potts, et al. 2008, Seeking Sustainability: COSA Preliminary Analysis of Sustainability Initiatives in the Coffee Sector. IISD, 33.