Fair Trade Vancouver Blog

tcktcktck, an advocate for the global climate movement, recently featured an interview with Tuulia Syvänen, Chief Operating Officer at Fairtrade International. Fairtrade International works to set international Fairtrade standards and provides support to Fairtrade producers.
 

-From Heather Libby of tcktcktck

TCK: Why did Fairtrade International decide to join the GCCA?

TUULIA SYVANEN: Fairtrade is a movement that represents over a million disadvantaged producers across the developing world, many of which are struggling with the effects of climate change. As we heard increasingly about our producers’ plight, we decided that we must take action to help them tackle this issue, and to make sure their voices and demands for technical and financial support are heard. The Global Campaign for Climate Action is a perfect platform for Fairtrade to share real-life stories of the challenges farmers face and to raise awareness on the seriousness of climate change. It will also allow us to join forces with other civil society organizations to demand additional technical and financial support for producers who so badly need it.

This one's from back in July, but for those of you keeping up with Keiran, here's a post that he wrote on his blog a while back:

Fair Trade: Cafe Virtuoso

Leaving San Diego I planned a short stop at Café Virtuoso, a local Fair Trade coffee roaster.  I was a little late getting on the road but my delayed departure led to a surprising bonus. Every Friday morning they host a small tasting session that anyone can join in on, where they check on the quality of a couple of batches of coffee. Result! I love coffee and this was a great way to end the US part of my trip.

Spoon in one hand, spitting cup in the other, I went to work to decipher the complexities of four different coffees. And of course the slurping. I managed to do this a little too well on my first slurp and nearly got into a fit of coughing. Apparently it meant my airwaves had got a full dose and that’s a good thing. During the session I talked to Stephan, one of the company partners and he told me how they check the aroma of the coffee beforehand (among other things) while the tasting itself looks at flavour, acidity, body and aftertaste. I left it to the pros to figure out the exact differences between the coffees but was able to pick out differences between the coffees they had. Something to look into in future I think.

Chocolate is a popular treat that is enjoyed across the globe. Unfortunately, the industry is marred by business practices that force unseemly labour conditions and are not only hazardous to farmers, but also promote the use of child labour and sometimes trafficking. By supporting these methods of exploitation, consumers unknowingly perpetuate the underdevelopment of communities and harm to the environment.

What many people don't realize is that there is a long chain of production that involves harvesting coca, refining the coca to cocoa beans, and shipping the cocoa beans to manufacturing plants for cleaning, coaching and grinding. The beans are then exported to other countries to be prepared in a number of different chocolate products. All of these processes go towards establishing a cost for the chocolate that we consume. Without proper representation within this chain of production however, many of the cocoa producers don't receive a proportional share and will have difficulty providing for their families and sustaining a healthy life.

While many of us enjoy numerous chocolate products throughout North America and Europe, most of the coca that goes into these products is grown in developing countries within tropical regions of the globe. For many of these countries, cocoa makes up the largest portion of the national economy. 67 per cent of the world's cocoa comes from West Africa where the Ivory Coast alone holds 43 per cent of the world market. Within these economies, cocoa accounts for 33 per cent of Ghana's total export earnings and 40 per cent of the Ivory Coast.

I stepped onto the field a couple of hours before the event started. The place was easy to find as already there were dozens of volunteers from KidSport and Fair Trade Vancouver working to set up the displays and Whitecaps banners for the day.

Soon the players from the four teams that would take part in the event emerged from their change rooms in uniforms and began warming up on the field. Some of them were a bit shy and didn't talk much with volunteers, but there were definitely several players that were eager to jump in front of my camera. I learned later on that as part of the KidSport program, the players are supposed to approach all of the adults that they meet, shake their hand, and ask how they're doing (and mean it). I could tell the leaders in the group did a great job building a sense of community amongst these kids as they were eager to chat and pose for the camera.