RISE was developed at the Swiss College of Agriculture (SHL) over a period of four years in cooperation between public and private entities (mainly Nestlé) as a tool to be utilized at pre-competitive level. Based on the experience in practical applications (over 400 farms were analyzed so far in Brazil, Canada, China, India, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Columbia, Lebanon, Kenya, Ivory Cost and Armenia), RISE is adapted and improved on a continuous basis.
The establishment of national and regional «RISE-hubs» (competence centers), which are linked in an open RISE platform, allows for adaptations to local conditions, promotion of the use and further development of the model and its database. In 2004, RISE has been added to the «IISD Compendium of Sustainable Development Indicator Initiatives» (International Institute for Sustainable Development IISD).
In spring 2005 the first full version RISE_1.0 was launched for a widespread application in collaborative projects and fee for service arrangements. It is planned to develop a complementary methodology to assess the sustainability of entire supply chains together with competent partners.
For more information about RISE and its applications please contact:
Dr. Jan Grenz: project leader RISE, specialist for agroecology, international agriculture and crop modeling; lecturer in sustainability research Phone: +41 (0)31 910 21 99 E-mail: jan.grenz@bfh.ch
Dr. Christoph Studer: specialist for water, soil and international agriculture; professor for tropical plant production and natural resource management
Phone: +41 (0)31 910 21 63
E-mail: christoph.studer@bfh.ch
Dr. Christian Thalmann: specialist for biology & biodiversity; research, development & documentation; scientific collaborator
Phone: +41 (0)31 910 21 31
E-mail: christian.thalmann@bfh.ch
