Fairtrade

Trade negotiators and campaigners prepare for global meeting.
From 10 - 14 September, government trade negotiators, corporate lobbyists and grass-roots campaigners will be converging in Mexico to thrash out policies on international trade. It's time for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial meeting or stock-take on the last two years of trade negotiations. Please read on

United Nations Environment Programme
UNEP publish a quarterly magazine called Our Planet, which you can read on the internet. The 2003/1 issue is devoted to Globalisation, Trade, Poverty and the Environment and contains some excellent, thought-provoking articles.

To highlight the importance of Fair Trade, Kate displayed a range of fairly traded goods for sale after mass during Fairtrade Fortnight. She plans to repeat this monthly, after one of the three weekend masses and will considt mainly of Traidcraft items which are not yet widely available in normal commercial outlets.
The purpose of this is not directly to raise funds for the Parish to donate to the Africa appeal, but to raise awareness of the range and quality of fairly traded goods whaich are increasingly available in supermarkets. The producers of all fairly traded gooded receive a guaranteed fair price for their goods, which gives them to a basic standard of living and enables them to employ other local people, so that the community can flourish WITHOUT the need for aid. Additionally a small social premium is provided for schools, hospitals etc in the area.
By looking for, and purchasing, Fair Trade goods in your weekly you are both supporting third world producers and sending a message to the business world that Fairtrade is a viable way to trade.

Further information can be found by viewing CAFOD's trade policies or look at Kate's article on this web site last year.
Perhaps the most committed supermarket is the Co-op (choose the "Information" Menu and then scroll down to "Fair Trade / Ethical Trading". Alternatively Kate has more information of what we can do to support Fairtrade or you can visit Fairtrade's web site .

"Fairtrade is the only standard that brings producers and consumers together. It still has the potential to grow significantly." (The Guardian Society, Wednesday February 26, 2003)

"The truth about the banana trade" (The Ecologist 22nd March 2002)