I’m lucky enough to sitting in my hotel in Nicaragua writing this blog.  The hotel basks in the warming sun and 30⁰C heat in Granada on the shores of Lake Nicaragua, Central America’s biggest lake.  And the city of overlooked by the stunning Mombacho volcano.  But I’m not here for a holiday but for work (I know it’s tough but someone’s got to do it).  Part of that work is to look at a coffee farm which has been certified by the Rainforest Alliance and to see for myself the sustainability benefits this brings.  But what has been really striking to me is how a farmer farming coffee here in Nicaragua has problems keeping the farm operating as a viable economic unit.  Problems that would find resonance with many farmers in the UK.  And how sustainability is part of securing the future, but only if the farmer is also able to get more value out of, and become more powerful in, the supply chain.

Last week was an interesting one for any watchers of global environmental politics and the role business, large and small, can play in delivering planet saving solutions.  In Nagoya, Japan the 10^th Conference of the Parties (COP10) of the Conventions of Biological Diversity came to a close.  Grand words for a grand event that can easily be viewed as a huge talking shop.  In the 10 years since the treaty came into being global species and habitat loss has continued apace.  So good intentions maybe, but little by way of concerted action.