Food, fish and fiber are necessary staples of our basic existence. However there are currently numerous challenges to ensuring a safe and steady supply of these renewable resources.

• Marine species are in decline due to over-fishing and polluted fresh and salt water systems.
• Pressure on global forests is increasing from a growing demand for paper and other wood products.
• Industrial-scale agriculture is fragmenting ecosystems and converting complex, biologically diverse lands into monocultures.

Increasing awareness of these and other problems, combined with public pressure campaigns, are influencing how businesses make purchasing decisions. Meanwhile, the path to sustainable procurement, or even defining the goals and boundaries of sustainable purchasing guidelines, is still unclear. For business decision-makers, relevant information from academics, researchers and advocacy groups range from inadequate to overwhelming and at times may be inconsistent.

The more clearly a vision of sustainable food, fish and fiber can be articulated, the greater the chance that businesses (and their supply chains) will understand and begin changing procurement practices. The Natural Step's food, fish and fiber research initiative aims to address this very challenge and promote clear paths toward sustainability for industrial-scale users of these resources by:

• mapping the current field of sustainable food, fish, and fiber;
• identifying gaps and obstacles in related sustainability efforts; and
• developing broadly agreed upon characteristics of sustainable food, fish, and fiber.