Click here to download slides from the workshop in pdf format (Spanish only, 1.3 MB).  On July 23, 2009, representatives from the pineapple sector, government agencies that provide assistance to the sector, consultants, LCA practitioners, and representatives from the National Institute of Technical Standards were invited to a half-day workshop at the Organization of Tropical Studies headquarters to learn and discuss the potential of developing an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) system in Costa Rica and the process for making a set of rules for creating an EPD for pineapple. Participants from the following associations attended (in addition to the project team):
The workshop began with introductions of the participants, and was led off with a talk from Ana Quiros of ALCALA and Eco Global S.A., explaining the value of life cycle perspectives and the integration of LCA into environmental management and ecolabels, which have advanced rapidly in Europe and Asia, and which will hopefully be gaining more influence soon in Latin America.  Wes Ingwersen then presented a general introduction to EPDs and process of creating EPDs:  The presentation provoked a number of questions from the participants concerning the value of these type of labels and both the benefits and limitations they have for the future. Part II was an interactive session focusing on the steps necessary to write the rules for creating EPDs for pineapple. Silvia Alvarez, the workshop moderator, led the group through discussions on the steps of the pineapple life cycle (refered to as unit processes in the LCA literature) that would be included in analysis, and briefly mentioned other important elements concerning the functional unit and the allocation rules that would need to be established as part of the rule-making process.  Following this discussion and a brief break, the third part of the workshop consisted of two smaller group discussions. Silvia Alvarez led the a group discussion on the impact categories pertinent for including in the LCA, and Franklin Paniagua (professor in the UF-UCR summer environmental law program) along with Ana Quiros led a discussion on the potential for the establishment of an EPD program in Costa Rica. Input from the participants was recoding on white boards and paper.   Afterwards both groups reconvened, shared the results of their discussions.   Participants then independently responded to three written questions 1) Based on what you've seen today, does an EPD system have value for the pineapple sector? 2) If Costa Rica were to develop an EPD system, would you like to be involved? 3) What would be the next necessary steps in development of EPD for pineapple?  The responses to these questions will be summarized in the final project report (coming soon). Discussion is in progress regarding the potential for organizing a second workshop in San Carlos to reach a large base of producers and exporters in that region. |