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chris claes
Executive Director at Rikolto International
Chris Claes is a seasoned professional with 25 years of experience in sustainable agriculture, supply chains, and food initiatives, currently serving as the Executive Director of Rikolto International, a global organization focusing on future-proofing food systems with a particular emphasis on supporting smallholder farmers.
Chris holds a background in agricultural sciences, having studied engineering at Ghent University and pursued further studies at KU Leuven, showcasing his commitment to education and expertise in the field.
Throughout his career, Chris has been actively involved in various organizations such as KAMPANI NV, Alterfin, Fairtrade Belgium, among others, leveraging his expertise as a Board Member and Strategic Advisor in promoting agri-finance, fair trade, and sustainable agriculture.
His extensive experience spans regions like Latin America, Europe, Africa, and South-East Asia, contributing to diverse initiatives that aim to drive positive change in the agricultural sector globally.
Aside from his executive role at Rikolto, Chris is also a co-founder of Kampani, an equity investment fund dedicated to supporting farmer organizations, highlighting his entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to fostering sustainable practices in agriculture.
Highlights
For those of my network living or working in or close to Brussels. On June, 20th, at the Super Dialogue, we will present the findings of 'Superlist Social Belgium 2024' and reflect on the way forward with stakeholders from retail, EU policy, civil society and academia. Superlist Social Belgium is the first research in a series that will compare Belgium supermarkets bi-annually on their contribution to a fair food system. The five largest Belgian supermarkets will be compared on their performances in respecting human rights in their supply chains. Given the challenges in the food system to offer a fair deal to everyone involved, supermarkets are key actors to make this happen. The research outcomes will be the starting point for learning and action along these lines. For more information and to register for free, go to https://lnkd.in/e4CDjyxQ. Tickets are limited! Rikolto Questionmark Foundation Oxfam België/Belgique Fairtrade Belgium Maarten Corten
Today I participated in the ‘innovation: a key enabler for sustainable food system transformation in Africa’ conference organized by Enabel and the Directorate-General for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid (DGD) – Ministry of Foreign Affairs Belgium, in the framework of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2024. I am happy to see that the sustainable food system approach is gaining traction within the development cooperation sector in Belgium. Also proud that Heidy Rombouts, PhD, Director General of DGD, mentioned some of the initiatives of Rikolto on food citizenship as a recommendation towards bringing innovation towards food system transformation.
The panel on the reverse way of addressing sustainable food system transformation, starting from diets and (tweaking) the food environment instead of starting from production, was quite interesting. Especially the work that Inge Brouwer (WUR) has been carrying out with partners in Vietnam, where government officials stated that we should design food production in function of healthy diets and not in function of profits. (On a sidenote; this resonates well with what is happening in Europe where politicians ahead of elections, in a shortsighted manner turn back policies that protect biodiversity and nature in favor of farmer incomes.)
The ‘healthy diets’ starting point is a big step forward in making food systems beneficial for everyone, including nature and climate. But since we are talking about systems, we have to be careful that we include production and rural areas as well, because a healthy diet based on imported products makes as little sense in Africa as it does in Europe. Let us encourage the development of inclusive local supply chains, of food products that can shape these healthy diets: cereals, legumes, fruits, vegetables, poultry, ...
That is perhaps the biggest lesson of all when adopting a food systems approach with healthy diets as a starting point: encourage donors and financial institutions to prioritize local food chains over commodity export chains. I'm curious to find out about other pathways towards sustainable food systems starting from healthy diets, especially as Professor Brouwer also mentioned that there is very little evidence that these initiatives really are able to scale...
Thank you Defrise Laurence, carol Durieux, Sofie Van Waeyenberge, Heidy Rombouts, PhD, Jean Van Wetter, Leonard Mizzi for this initiative.
#sustainablefoodsystems #healthydiets Nina Pattyn Charlotte Flechet Thibault Geerardyn
