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How Do I Act Sustainably? - Example:
Buying
fairly traded products
This is what the trademark for fairly traded products looks like. If you buy these products, you do not just get good quality, but can also be sure that the producers are not being exploited.
The following text originates from the Austrian section of this worldwide movement (www.fairtrade.at/). It describes the fundamental basics of FAIRTRADE.
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FAIR HAS NEVER BEEN EASIER
"The North enjoys what the South produces: coffee, cocoa, tea, sugar, rice, bananas and many other products from Africa, Asia or Latin America. All of which are a normal, unquestioned part of our lives. Unfortunately, what is not a matter of course if that the producers in the developing countries are actually able to live from their work. The price history and economic dependency of raw materials plummet the small-farming families into poverty. They have to accept even more deprivation so that we can buy our coffee more cheaply. That is unfair.
FAIRTRADE - An Alternative Approach
The principle is very easy: The producers receive a fair price for their raw materials, independent of the price on the world market. This enables self-responsible management, the people in the developing countries can secure their existence in the main and achieve minimum social standards in relation to health and education.
The consumers get good tasting, premium quality food. This is directly transported from the developing countries to Europe in a controlled manner - with a guarantee of origin. You can enjoy what you eat with a good conscience (...). Making a conscious decision to buy a FAIRTRADE product allows you to make a personal, active contribution to a fair world.
Fairtrade means effective development cooperation, with guaranteed benefits for all participants. This includes:
 | The small-farming families , because they can secure their existence through trade using the FAIRTRADE principle and plan their own future in a self-determined manner. The small-farmer cooperatives receive a premium for social and ecological development, which is used in a purposeful manner for pure drinking water, basic medical care, the development of a school system etc. Frequently FAIRTRADE makes the cost-linked conversion to ecofarming possible for the first time.
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| The PLANTATION WORKERS, because the Fairtrade initiatives create humanitarian working and living conditions: a regular working relationship with legal minimum wages, minimum standards under labour law, protection against poisoning from dangerous agrochemicals, a ban on forced labour and a minimum level of medical care, which in the countries of the southern hemisphere is not a matter of course.
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| The CONSUMERS, because they can enjoy almost completely naturally grown quality products. Fairtrade is a guarantee for the origins and controlled flow of goods of FAIRTRADE products, which mainly come from a small-farming background. From sewing the seeds to harvesting them, the products are farmed carefully per hand and because of this are of particularly high quality. You can taste this, and you get the feeling you are acting fairly. When only 10 people in the North drink FAIRTRADE coffee, a whole family can live from it in the South.
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| NATURE, because FAIRTRADE products are farmed with respect for it. In sustainable forms of agriculture, i.e. through mixed cultivation with other plants for individual foodstuff needs, shade-spending trees, a reduction in the use of agrochemicals and fertilisation using compost and protection from erosion. The avoidance and environmentally-friendly disposal of waste needs to be added to this primarily. Rainforests and natural waters are protected. This all has a positive effect on the earth on which we all live and is also useful to the people living in Europe.
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| THE CHILDREN IN THE COUNTRIES OF THE SOUTH, because child labour is prohibited and the family income suffices to care for the children. FAIRTRADE premiums allow schools to be built." |
[Source:
http://www.fairtrade.at/phps/index.php?thema=fairtrade]
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Coffee as an example
A variety of raw materials are available as FAIRTRADE products these days: coffee, tea, chocolate, honey, bananas, sugar or rice. Taking coffee as a example, we want to take a look at how the principles above are put into practice. |
The following text also originates from the Austrian section of the FAIRTRADE movement: "Coffee is the most important agrarian products in global North-South trade, and the second most important export raw material after oil.
Social Standards
The fall in coffee prices on the world market to be observed since January 1999 has led to hundreds of thousands of people falling into poverty in many of the countries growing this product. Small farming families suffer existential problems above all. A way out of this crisis is fair trade. The producers receive around double the current world market price for FAIRTRADE coffee. The FAIRTRADE price does not just orient itself to the price on the world market, but also to the development of purchasing power, so that the producers can live adequately from the income received from their sales.
In 1997 a quintal (45.4 kg) of coffee cost 189 US $ on average on the world market. In 2003 an average of 64 US $ per quintal of coffee was paid. 121 US $ per quintal is paid for FAIRTRADE coffee on average. If the world market price rises above the minimum Fairtrade price, a higher price if also paid by FAIRTRADE. In addition, sustainable projects for coffee producers are also supported with 5 US $ per quintal of coffee. This premium is used in a purposeful manner for social and ecological development projects.
In TIEMELONLA NICH K LUM, a Fairtrade cooperative in Mexico, coffee is grown organically-biologically. This requires much effort and work and requires knowledge of mixed cultures with local trees as spenders of shade. The natural fertilizers used originate from composting plant waste. Weeds are pulled out by hand, insects eliminated without using pesticides. The most important aim is to improve the living conditions of the small-farming families by returning to traditional values and skills and promoting self-determination.
Originating Countries
Fairtrade coffee originates from cooperatives in the following countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Uganda, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda and Venezuela.
Ecological Standards
A consequence of colonialism was the conversion from small family farms to large coffee plantations. A conversion to monocultures mostly took place to increase production. This form of cultivation made the use of mineral fertilizers and pesticide imperative to increase yields. Fairtrade coffee comes from small-farming families only, which have come together to form cooperatives. The promotion of small farmers helps to maintain these small structures, which is of essential importance to the environment and sustainable agriculture.
The small farming families use hardly any pesticides or artificial fertilizers for reasons of cost alone. Small-area, mixed-crop farming demonstrates a more economical balance in CO2 than single-crop farming. It also counteracts the tendency of small farmers having to shut down their farms and moving to the slums in the cities. In principle FAIRTRADE coffee is also produced in a more economically-friendly manner than conventional coffee. 70% of all Fairtrade coffee carries a bio label, because ecofarming is promoted in a targeted fashion in the FAIRTRADE system.
The basic rules for ecological coffee farming are as follows:
| Preference should be given to those coffee plants that are more resistant to pests and diseases in this region. |
| Mixed crop farming with trees that spend shade and agricultural crops such as bananas, pineapples, papayas or spice plants are meant to guarantee protection against erosion. |
| The use of mineral fertilizers and pesticides is avoided as far as possible. Instead farming methods compatible to the environment such as weeding by hand, special care of the coffee plants, intensive use of compost are used to keep the plants in a healthy state.
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Ecofarming in this manner can only function if the producers are paid appropriately for the extra effort they put in. This criteria for growing coffee (...)
is determined and controlled by the FLO." You can find more information on the FLO website under
www.fairtrade.net/.
[Source:
http://www.fairtrade.at/phps/index.php?thema=fairtrade&zo=rohstoffe]
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