‘Fairtrade secures livelihoods and biodiversity’: countdown to COP17

By Andy Good, Managing Director, Equal Exchange

Next in our series counting down to the 2011 United Nations Conference on Climate Change (aka COP17), how Fairtrade can safeguard not just local incomes, but healthy ecosystems too.

Within the last two months, two of our partners have been hit by climate change related weather catastrophes. Gumutindo Coffee Co-operative in Uganda by landslides in August and this month, Aprainores Cashew Nut Co-operative in El Salvador by severe floods. How many more cases go unreported?

At the heart of Fairtrade are long-term buying commitments. Fairtrade creates a buffer against the open market flood and allows farmers the choice to make more sustainable decisions. Can such small steps help stabilise our climate?

I met Tomy Mathew from Elements and Fair Trade Alliance Kerala (FTAK) at the recent Fairtrade Commercial Conference and was struck as he described Fairtrade’s role in securing both small farmer livelihoods and regional biodiversity in Kerala. He argued that the global commodity crisis since 2004 has encouraged farmers across India to clear trees to plant more cash mono-crops (such as rubber) in response to perceived global demand and liberalisation of the market.

Tomy told me how homestead farmers had started cutting down shade trees, essential for the wellbeing of coffee and spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, vanilla and pepper for instance) as well as local forest reserves for short term gains.

Luckily, homestead farmers in Kerala (on the edge of the UNESCO Nilgiri biosphere reserve) saw that the emerging Fairtrade market offered parallel security for both livelihoods and biodiversity. We co-created their new company Liberation Foods in the UK to meet market access challenges. This year Liberation Foods sold 21 containers of cashew nuts (336 metric tonnes).

As sales volumes of nuts increase, diversity of Fairtrade products has also grown. Look out for Fairtrade coffee, spices and even coconut from FTAK. Their robusta coffee is often found in darker roasts such as Equal Exchange Italian. Farmer participation is also growing and FTAK membership has swelled from 300 to 3,600 as a result.

The long term commitment of consumers to buy Fairtrade certified products is protecting the biodiversity of this region in India by providing a sustainable alternative for the communities of Kerala.