7th International Fairtrade Towns
Conference, Oslo
This
September staff from JLGC attended the 7th International Fair Trade
Towns Conference, hosted by the NGO Fairtrade Norway and the City of Oslo, a
Fair Trade Capital since 2010. The fair trade movement aims to tackle global
poverty by ensuring that producers in developing countries are paid a fair
price for their goods and have decent working conditions and sustainable
business practices. Companies that can
demonstrate that they have met these standards display the Fairtrade mark,
which is an internationally recognised consumer label. Fair Trade Towns was founded in 2000 in the
small town of Garstang in Lancashire. Although it is a grassroots community
movement, it requires strong cooperation between local residents, the local
authorities and private businesses to succeed. There are five criteria that a
town must fulfil in order to be certified Fair Trade; the local council must pass a resolution
supporting fair trade and agree to serve fair trade products, a range of fair trade
products must be available locally, schools, workplaces and places of worship
must support the initiative and use fair trade products whenever possible, the
community must organise awareness raising events and promote media coverage of
fair trade and a fair trade steering committee must be established consisting
of representatives from all sectors. The
movement has since spread internationally, incorporating over 1000 towns in 25
countries.
The
conference in Oslo attracted participants from 26 countries who were given the opportunity
to learn from each other’s initiatives and make new connections. The main themes of the conference were the
progress of the fair trade movement in recent years and strategies for the
future, the role of international institutions and local authorities in
promoting fair trade. The conference was
accompanied by a public event outside Oslo City Hall raising awareness of fair trade
for the residents of Oslo. Mayor of Oslo Fabian Stang supported the event,
hosting an evening reception for delegates at City Hall.
Speakers included
Fair Trade Towns founder Bruce Crowther and CEO of Fairtrade International
Harriet Lamb who gave examples of the progress that had been made in improving
working standards in developing countries as a result of fair trade programmes. Erik Solheim, leader of the OECD Development
Assistance Committee, Martin Skylv from the EU and Trygve Olfarnes from the
Nordic Office of the UN Development Programme discussed how fair trade
principles can be incorporated into international development goals moving
forward. A roundtable discussion group,
‘The Banana Session’, looked at the increasing popularity of fair trade
products, particularly coffee, chocolate and bananas in major retail outlets,
while the NGO Fairtrade UK described the success they had achieved in
incorporating fair trade products and principles into the London 2012
Olympics. Representatives from Oslo
City agreed that these principles would also be included in Oslo’s bid to host
the Winter Olympics in 2022. Workshop sessions focussed on the role of local
authorities in promoting fair trade and the Fair Trade Towns movement, during
which representatives from NGOs and local authorities exchanged ideas about how
fair trade principles can be more easily incorporated into public procurements,
particularly when budgets are tight.
A further
prominent theme of the conference was the expansion of the fair trade movement
internationally. Particular attention
was paid to Asia, where an increasing number of towns and cities are aiming to
achieve Fair Trade Town status. There was a strong presence from Kumamoto City
in Japan, which will host the 8th International Fair Trade Town
Conference in March 2014, the first time the event has taken place in
Asia. In June 2011 Kumamoto became
Japan’s first and the 1000th global Fair Trade Town. Shoko Akashi of the NGO Fairtrade Kumamoto
and Deputy Mayor of Kumamoto City, Shintaro Maki, took to the stage to
introduce the work of Kumamoto City and invite the audience to Japan next year.
The fair trade
movement in Kumamoto began as a grassroots citizen’s movement led by Shoko
Akashi. More than 100 stores in the city
now stock fair trade products and over 50 events are held each year to promote
fair trade. The local authority and the Mayor of Kumamoto City have lent their
support to the movement, participating in events and the steering committee,
and switching to fair trade coffee in public buildings such as City Hall and
the Prefectural Museum of Art. In 2010 a resolution to support the
popularisation of fair trade principles was passed during a council meeting,
and the local authority now provides a small fund to assist local NGOs and will
support the International Fair Trade Town conference.
Similar
movements have also been established in large cities such as Nagoya and Sapporo
and the organising committee hope that the conference will boost interest in
fair trade in Japan and encourage more towns and cities to work towards achieving
Fair Trade Town status. Picture © Sue Atkinson
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