To make trade fair, make it green!

At first glance, ‘making trade fairer’ and ‘protecting the planet’ might seem like different objectives. One focuses on tackling poverty by securing decent incomes and just treatment for farmers and workers; the other on preserving the natural environment.

Looking closer we see that conventional trade and business has sometimes exploited the poor and sapped natural resources. People living in poverty can continue to fail to earn a dignified living, and the environment is being damaged.

If farmers are paid fairer prices from their buyers they can better support their families, but if weather patterns are too unpredictable and soil depleted, eventually they are unable to grow the crops.

Fair trade must be fair to the planet otherwise it will never be fair to the people!

That’s why farmers in Senegal are being shown how to protect the forests they rely on for their livelihoods and Kenyan smallholders are being enabled to grow crops that flourish even in extreme weather. Textile workers in India are helped to use eco-friendly dyeing and production practices. Small businesses in Bangladesh are enabled to create recycled clothes from fabric waste discarded from factories.

Buying fairtrade products helps the poorest people in the world, those who are hit hardest by climate change and environmental degradation. Let us do our bit to be the answer to the problem rather than part of the cause.

There will be an opportunity to buy fairly traded goods at the Balerno Fairtrade Fair on Saturday 7 March, 10am to 12noon, in St Joseph’s Hall. Also look out for fairtrade produce in Scotmid, Co-op and other supermarkets.

Phil & Lorna Thompson