December 2011
11 posts
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Harriet Lamb reflects on 2011 and looks forward to...
Harriet Lamb, Executive Director, Fairtrade Foundation
Pheww what a year. It’s been tough for everyone – for so many in the UK and too many among our producer partners, hit by storms real and economic. And yet so much achieved in the last twelve months!
Sales hit the billion pound mark, Fairtrade gold was launched, with a Fairtrade church taking it one step further and gilding their weather...
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What a difference a year makes
by Faith Mall, Communications Officer, Fairtrade Foundation
As we look forward to 2012, life is beginning to look rosier for the smallholder banana farmers of the Windward Islands. This time last year, around 2310 farmers weren’t sure if they had a livelihood, after a devastating hurricane destroyed their banana trees.
Earlier this year I travelled to the Windward Islands of St Lucia and...
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Will the New Year bring Fairness for cotton...
by Aurelie Walker, Trade Policy Advisor, Fairtrade Foundation
Fairness is not an ideology. Some people are haves and some people are have nots. This situation is real and requires a real response. Yet in the World Trade Organisation over 10 years of negotiations have still not delivered greater fairness and, dangerously, the world is losing interest.
Ministers of trade from around the world...
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Praise Women everywhere at 'Womens Christmas'
by Joanne Coffey from Fair Trade Organisation, Equal Exchange
Every year in the rush up to Christmas up to £8bn is spent in the UK on festive food, drink, fashion and frivolities. Why not take some time to thank the women in your life in 2012 by celebrating Womens Christmas with Fairtrade.
The streets are thronged with Christmas shoppers, the majority of whom are women. On average 4 million...
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Why do we need to transform the food production...
By Michael Nkonu, Director of Fairtrade Africa
Today (Wednesday 14 December), I’ll be part of a keynote panel, opening the high level Chatham House conference: Transforming the Food Production System. Here’s a few of the thoughts I’ll be presenting to an influential audience of government, business and NGOs.
Why is it that we consider that we have a food crisis now? After...
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Father Christmas delivers a message of cotton...
By Jayde Bradley, Senior Campaigns Officer, Traidcraft
Ahead of the World Trade Organisation ministerial later this week, Traidcraft – with a helping hand from Father Christmas – took the campaign for cotton justice to the US Embassy.
Thousands of Fairtrade supporters from Traidcraft, Fairtrade Foundation and People Tree have been campaigning for an end to US cotton subsidies in the last few...
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Fairtrade producers tell MEPs the real story of...
By Marcela Guerrero Casas, Fairtrade Africa policy officer
I’ve been in Durban with a number of Fairtrade producers from all over the world who have been seizing their chance to tell those negotiating about the realities of farming in the face of a changing climate.
One of the main reasons that the Fairtrade producer networks decided that they wanted to be present in Durban was their...
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Producers in developing countries hit first and...
By Bill Corcoran, freelance journalist
Producers in developing countries have contributed the least to climate change yet are suffering the burden of its impacts – and thus need more and more effective adaptation funding, Fairtrade International CEO Rob Cameron told reporters at a joint press conference held with former chief negotiator for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate...
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A Fairtrade farmer at COP17
By Tomy Matthews, Fairtrade Alliance Kerala
Tomy Matthews, from smallholder co-operative Fairtrade Alliance Kerala in India, has been at the COP17 in Durban. After a packed first week of events and meetings, he shares his thoughts and insights on the climate change conference.
Being a Fairtrade producer at the COP17 has been interesting, for example last week I was in the China Pavillion...
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Fairtrade at COP17: building bridges for the...
By Bill Corcoran, freelance journalist
COP17 delegates and members of civil society took time out from the Durban climate change negotiations on Saturday to attend a cocktail party arranged by Fairtrade and partner organisation the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).
From early evening those who attended the event at the Southern Sun Hotel in North Beach, a stretch...
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What is Fairtrade's role at COP17?
by Bill Corcoran, freelance journalist
Fairtrade can play an important role in shaping the world’s developing carbon markets and other forms of climate finance because the organisation touches the lives of millions of food producers around the globe, Fairtrade International CEO Rob Cameron told climate talk delegates in Durban this week.
During a joint discussion seminar with the Dutch church...