Congratulations to mid-Formartine, which was yesterday awarded status as Scotland’s latest Fairtrade Zone!

Former SFTF board member Eilidh Whiteford presented the award at the Formartine Fairtrade Festival, which was part-funded through one of the SFTF’s recent mini grants:

‘The people of Mid-formartine are to be congratulated on becoming a Fairtrade Zone. This award represents a lot of hard work by many people across the area.  Fairtrade makes a tremendous difference to the lives of producers and their families in developing countries, ensuring they get a fair price for their produce and providing dividends for their communities.  The importance of that is well understood in areas like Mid-formartine where so many people are involved in food production and understand the pressures faced by farmers all over the world. The Scottish Fair Trade Forum is delighted to support today’s event and is working with communities across the country to make Scotland a Fair Trade Nation.”

Formartine is an area where farming is important to the local economy and communities. Our experience has been that Scottish farmers understand better than most the plight of farmers in the developing world whose lives have been improved through Fair Trade, and their commitment is invaluable in this campaign to make Scotland one of the world’s first Fair Trade Nations.

Thanks to Formatine for getting us one step closer to that goal!

Despite the typical Scottish weather, the event proved to be a big hit with visitors, enticed by the prospect of sampling fair trade chocolate and bananas. The stall attracted adults and children alike and volunteers informed the visitors of the work of the SFTF. With free chocolate on offer, raising awareness has never been so easy!

Watch out for our May newsletter which features a full report of the event!

Image copyright Scottish Fair Trade Forum / Koko Brown Photography

Fair Trade movement welcomes support by the European Commission to Fair Trade
5 May 2009 (Brussels) -

The Fair Trade movement welcomes the adoption today of a communication on Fair Trade by the European Commission, ‘Contributing to Sustainable Development: The role of Fair Trade and non-governmental trade-relayed sustainability assurance schemes’. The Fair Trade movement is pleased that the EC recognizes Fair Trade’s values and has referenced the principles defined by the Fair Trade movement and offers to continue working together with the European Union, EU Member States and regional and local authorities to the benefit of marginalised producers and poor workers in the South.

Rob Cameron, Chief Executive Officer of Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO) stated, on behalf of the four main Fair Trade networks FLO, WFTO, NEWS and EFTA! ‘We welcome today’s announcement as a very positive step forward. The EC Communication will be welcomed by producers throughout the Global South, especially now during uncertain economic times. Fair Trade’s goal is to support marginalized producers and workers in the South. European consumers have already pledged their commitment to Fair Trade and it is great to see the EC acknowledging this. We look forward to the future support this Communication will generate.”

…Fair Trade has become all the more relevant in the current global economic crisis, as the world’s poor suffer the effects of the economic recession disproportionately. Over a million and a half producers and workers throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America already benefit from the better deal that Fair Trade offers. Worldwide, consumers spent over 2.3 billion Euros on Fairtrade certified products in 2007. This represents a 47% annual increase.
 
A key instrument available to public authorities across the EU to “share the burden of sustainable development” is their public purchasing policies. A large number of EU, national, regional and local authorities across the European Union have already put in place policies and passed legislation on public procurement and Fair Trade.

The Fair Trade movement looks forward to the upcoming European Commission guidelines on social considerations on public procurement and trusts they will, in the framework of existing EU rules on public procurement, provide practical “can-do” guidance on the role that public authorities can play, in practice, in supporting marginalised producers and poor workers in the South. The Fair Trade movement offers to work together with the European Commission services to identify best practices and constructive benchmarks for public authorities….

For the full text of the press release, go to this page.