30 September 2016: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) Mountain Partnership and Slow Food have introduced a voluntary product label that aims to improve market access for small, highland producers and create a premium to reward their efforts in biodiversity conservation.

The label provides a distinguishable brand for mountain products, such as fruit, coffee, tea and spices, from developing countries and identifies them as distinct and sustainably produced goods. The label aims to help local producers gain market recognition and ensure the equitable distribution of profits along the value chain. The label is expected to provide a premium to small-scale producers of mountain goods to encourage them to maintain traditional sustainable production methods and continue to conserve and use traditional varieties of plants and animals.

By promoting high-value products and biodiversity conservation, the label contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 1 (end poverty in all forms everywhere) and SDG 15 (protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss). [FAO Press Release] [Mountain Products Initiative] [Terms and Conditions for Use of the Mountain Product Label]