Fair Trade
What is Fair Trade for? • Relieving poverty, suffering and distress in any part of the world. • Promoting research into and education concerning causes and effects of poverty, particularly in relation to the conduct of trade and to the conditions of employment (including self employment) of poor people in any part of the world, and publishing the useful results of that research.
Vision “Our vision is of a world in which justice and sustainable development are at the heart of trade structures and practices so that everyone, through their work, can maintain a decent and dignified livelihood and develop their full potential.â€? By facilitating trading partnerships based on equity and transparency‌.. The Fairtrade movement empowers citizens to campaign for an international trade system based on justice and fairness.
5 strategic goals 1. To develop Fairtrade to extend and deepen its benefits for farmers, workers and their communities so that by 2012 twice as many producers will be benefiting from selling Fairtrade goods in the UK, while those already supplying the UK market are able to double the proportion of the crop they sell via the Fairtrade system. 2. To build further support for Fairtrade across UK society so that by 2012 three quarters of people in Britain recognise the FAIRTRADE mark and what it stands for‌.. 3. To work with business to ensure more companies sell Fairtrade products‌new and established companies dedicated to Fairtrade, restaurants, high street fashion stores, multiple retailers, small businesses and a growing group of household brands converting to Fairtrade.
Continued.. 4. Propel Fairtrade sales and market share to a new level so that by 2012 the UK market for Fairtrade products will have reached ÂŁ2b a year (four times the 2007 level). 5. To scale up activities, systems and work with partners so that by 2012 the global Fairtrade system is known as a beacon of good practice in trade and development, enabling the voice of the poorest to be heard at the highest level.
‘The Great Cotton Stitch Up’ US and EU authorities pay subsidies of $47b to cotton producers, this is having a direct impact on West African cotton farmers.
• Malian producer, farming two hectares of cotton, who is lucky to gross $400 a year, against US farms which receive a subsidy of $250 per hectare.
Amadou Toumani Touré, President of the Republic of Mali • ‘Our demand is simple: apply free trade rules not only to those products that are of interest to the rich and powerful, but also to those products where poor countries have a proven comparative advantage.’
West Africa’s dependence on cotton • Unlike other nations, most cotton cultivation in West Africa is rainfed, so reducing its water footprint. In fact, only a quarter of global cotton is produced in rain-fed conditions rather than irrigated fields. • Mali about 40% of rural households, or 2.5 million people, depend on cotton for their livelihood. Cotton is grown on around one-third of cultivated land, and provides the second largest source of foreign exchange earnings • BURKINA FASO Cotton accounts for around 60% of export earnings and is produced by 250,000 cotton growers, supporting the livelihoods of two million people. • CHAD 40% of the population (around two million people) depend on cotton, which also accounts for two-thirds of exports. • BENIN Cotton accounts for 60% of foreign exchange earnings and employs 45% of rural households. • Source: UNCTAD INFO COMM
Is this ethical? • What should consumers do? • What should brands/ retailers do? • What should governments do?