COVID-19 has slowed progress toward the SDGs by increasing poverty worldwide with severe effects on smallholder farmers — especially in developing and least-developed countries. This underlines the need for a resilient, sustainable trading system that promotes progress toward the SDGs.

Voluntary sustainability standards (VSSs) are instruments to influence how global value chains operate, to strengthen farmer market access and achievement of sustainable development outcomes.

This session will examine VSSs as a collective multi-stakeholder approach toward sustainable trade as well as share findings from the forthcoming report from IISD's State of Sustainability Initiatives (SSI): SSI Review: Standards and Poverty Reduction.

It will explore:

• How can voluntary sustainability standards (VSSs) reduce poverty for small-scale farmers in the wake of COVID-19?
• What determines if small-scale farmers can access VSS-compliant markets?
• How can governments support positive sustainable development impacts for smallholder farmers through VSSs?