Riff Fullan, HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation, talks about his role as a facilitator of participatory discussion at such a large event. He asserts the importance of inclusive dialogue in understanding the many aspects of sustainability and its impact upon the cotton industry.

Debating Sustainability in a World Cafe Format In this video, Allan Williams, Chairman of SEEP; the expert panel for the Social Economic and Environmental Performance of cotton, outlines why he believes that the issue of sustainability is best discussed in a ‘World Cafe Format’, where lots of perspectives can be debated in an open way. During the 71st Plenary Meeting of ICAC, October 201, he is presenting a report on SEEP’s activities, including measuring sustainability in cotton production.

Why sustainability is critical for the cotton sector Sabri Unluturk from the Aegean Textiles and Raw Materials Exporters Associations in Turkey discusses why sustainability is important for the entire cotton value chain. Unluturk believes that the cotton industry has great global importance and investments need to be made in its value chain as this will benefit everyone, from the cotton producers to those in the textile market.

Working together to define common criteria for sustainability Hans-Peter Egler is the Head of section for trade related technical cooperation at the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). According to Mr. Egler, sustainability is the key to our common future. Private sector, NGOs, governments can work together to define the criteria that characterize sustainability.

ICAC 2012: Towards a sustainable cotton sector through dialogue and participation Jens Soth from Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation is on the steering group of the 71st Plenary Meeting of the International Cotton Advisory Committee. In this video, he underlines the importance of the events and the topics that need to be addressed. In the first instance, according to Jens more needs to be done to improve the sustainability of the cotton sector. This entails finding a balance between the environmental, economical and social aspect related to the cotton value chain. This can be achieved through a participatory process based on dialogue and exchange amongst the different actors of the value chain. The ICAC 2012 meeting should bring them together and produce a series of concrete, practical suggestions for governments on how to bring sustainability to the cotton sector.

Defendre la production de coton durable pour les pays africains M. Samul Amehou, ancien ambassadeur du Benin a Geneve, a participe a l’International Cotton Advisory Committee 71eme seance pleniere. Dans cette video, il souligne ses attentes sur l’evenement et explique l’importance de la production du coton pour les pays africains.

Sustainability, trade, prices and transparency: Key issues for the cotton sectors V. Srinivas, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Textile, is head of the Indian delegation at the International Cotton Advisory Committee’s 71st Plenary Meeting. In this video, Mr. Srinivas shares his expectations about the event. In particular, Mr Srinivas underlines the key issues that the cotton sector needs to address globally: environmental sustainability; trade and price issues; transparency in trade practices through statistics and effective monitoring and evaluation systems.

Lily Munanka, the current chair of the standing Committee, discusses the main aims of ICAC. She highlights the need for sustanability to be seen as something which benefits all sectors of the cotton industry, from producer to user.

Roger Peltzer, Cotton Made in Africa, outlines his opinions on cotton sustainability. He stresses that if cotton doesn’t become more sustainable it will have a difficult time defending its market share.

Andrew Macdonald a Cotton and Textile Consultant from Brazil, discusses the importance of ICAC’s work and the challenges of understanding and harmonizing concepts of sustainability in the cotton industry.