ABSTRACT
IRINA SANTIAGO-BROWN, ANDREW METCALFE, CATE JERRAM, AND CASSANDRA COLLINS
3.1 INTRODUCTION
This article aims to document and compare the most prominent sustainability assessment programs for individual organisations in viticulture worldwide and their certification processes. Sustainability concerns have become increasingly important since the publication of the “Our Common Future” report by the United Nations Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in 1987 [1]. Sustainable development was defined as “economic growth that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs” [2,3]. Since then many countries have developed sustainability initiatives to promote sustainable development. Many of these initiatives have in turn generated regulations, especially on the environmental and social aspects of sustainability. Harmful consequences of chemical inputs from agriculture have been a common driver of many agricultural sustainability initiatives [4]. Because of the high value of wine grapes [5], wine grape growing regions have developed some of the most complex sustainability assessments and certifications for individual agricultural organisations. Most of these assessment programs incorporate a triple-bottom line approach, which evaluates entire production systems considering the interrelationship of economic, environmental and social factors [6].
