September 30, 2013, Sevastopol — Representatives from civil society organizations, public authorities and businesses gathered at the round table on “Eco-friendly Foods: Opportunities for Sevastopol” to discuss how to improve access of the city’s residents and guests to healthy and environmentally friendly food. Organized and carried out by MAMA-86 Sevastopol and the Sevastopol City State Administration Public Council Committee for Environment and Life Safety, the event was held within the framework of the Global Green Action Week and the Green Consumer Week’2013 campaign “Environment on Your Plate.”

As was pointed out during the discussion, local food producers are looking for local market outlets, whereas local HORECA businesses and food stores would like to extend their product lines with quality products, while saving on logistics. The city government, on their part, is interested in higher local trade turnover and local enterprise development. So why do Sevastopol farmers lose in their competition with importers and large-scale food producers? Why are their products scarce in public catering and stores if they are more eco-friendly and more healthy? The participants tried to find answers to these questions at the round table, which, as it turned out, in fact was their first opportunity for the stakeholders to discuss these issues and coordinate their positions.

In the course of discussion, various models and options of cooperation, positioning and certification were considered to improve the access of local eco-food producers to local market, and that of residents and guests, to healthy food. The participants pondered European experiences, inter alia eco-foods production in Sweden as reported by Swedish Society for Nature Conservation Project Manager Sara Nilsson, as well as local business needs and opportunities for public-private collaboration. MAMA-86 Executive Director Zoriana Mishchuk highlighted possible models for NGO participation in intersectoral dialogue on sustainable consumption.

MAMA-86-Sevastopol Head Tetyana Herasymova said she has no doubts that the round table will lead to concrete joint steps taken to implement arrangements reached at the meeting. “The benefit of enhanced internal trade turnover for all business activities is obvious, and the interest on the part of local government and civil society is high. We will coordinate further communication to ensure that the decisions we made today bring their fruits,” she said.

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Green Consumer Weeks in Ukraine – week-long concentrated awareness campaigns aimed at popularizing environmentally responsible consumption and focused on one of important themes of sustainable consumption – have been carried out since 2012 by the Ukrainian National Environmental NGO "MAMA-86" with support from the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and in collaboration with various partner organizations.

The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation has been conducting similar campaigns in their country in October for many years running. These campaigns have helped significantly increase public awareness of advantages of environment-friendly way of living, develop a legal framework that encourages sustainable consumption and prohibits or limits supply of environmentally harmful goods and services, as well as form a circle of eco-responsible producers and sellers who, on their part, further the transition of the Swedish society toward more sustainable consumption behavior.