Securing Sustainable Vanilla
Monday, October 20th | 1:15PM – 2:45PM
The vanilla sector today offers unique opportunities to future proof the sector. This includes creating the conditions for improving the livelihoods of farmers and the protection of the environment while mitigating risks across the supply chain and enhancing market confidence. This requires addressing the nexus between rural development, market dynamics and politics. It also requires collective engagement, action and communication which is being driven through the launch of a 2030 Charter - the first public industry commitment on sustainable vanilla.
Session Speaker
Gaël Lescornec
Executive Director, Sustainable Vanilla Initiative (SVI)
Gaël Lescornec is the Executive Director of the Sustainable Vanilla Initiative (SVI), a voluntary industry platform committed to promoting sustainability in the vanilla sector, a role she has held since January 2024. Gaël brings over two decades of experience in rural development and multi-stakeholder collaboration, with a strong focus on public-private partnerships across sub-Saharan Africa. Before joining SVI, she spent nearly nine years advancing sustainability in the cocoa sector—first as the European representative of the World Cocoa Foundation, and later as a program manager at IDH, working closely with leading brands and suppliers. Gaël holds a degree in International Relations and International Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).