Preserving biodiversity while securing value chain sustainability
Preserving and restoring biodiversity
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Givaudan sources a broad variety of botanicals for use in our flavour and fragrance ingredients and products and some are harvested directly from diverse natural habitats around the globe.
We are committed to preserving and restoring biodiversity, and we have been working to understand and mitigate the risks in our wild-harvested supply chains for several years.
One example is our approach to the plant Rhodiola rosea, also known as roseroot or golden root. Traditionally wild harvested in the Altai mountains, in Central and East Asia, the roots of this adaptogen plant are used by our Health & Wellbeing business as an ingredient to relieve anxiety and fatigue.
In 2023, concerns over the sustainability of wild sourcing led the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to classify the plant due to potential extinction risks from uncontrolled trade. Human activities such as overharvesting, grazing disturbances, natural habitat fragmentation and climate change are threatening the viability of the wild populations of Rhodiola rosea, putting at risk the resource and the value chain depending on it.
Domesticating wild plants through agronomy
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Domesticating wild plants through agronomy
Aware of these concerns, we launched our ‘Rhodiogo’ programme many years ago. Led by Givaudan’s Agronomy team, Rhodiogo is a long-term comprehensive approach to supplement the sourcing of the botanical with an exclusive domestication programme aligned with our sustainability commitments.
The programme initially set out to investigate the feasibility of domesticating and cultivating Rhodiola as a way of reducing pressure on the resource. The team then established a broad network of more than a dozen partners including nurseries, technical institutes, as well as producers.
Several years of collaborative efforts and learning taught us much about the selection of genetics, propagation of planting material, the identification of best farming practices and the cultivation of the first hectares. Now, we are looking ahead to the first homemade extract from cultivated Rhodiola rosea roots, a key milestone in this journey.
Ensuring the sustainability of the Rhodiola rosea resource through good harvesting practices is a positive way to support often fragile ecosystems and secure income for communities of pickers.
Such domestication and cultivation programmes also supplement existing sourcing efforts without compromising the availability and sustainability of the resource over time.
With Rhodiogo, we have shown we can engage partners over the long run to support both the sustainability of our sourcing and the preservation of biodiversity over time, contributing significantly to our purpose commitments.