7^th International Fairtrade Towns Conference, Oslo

This September staff from JLGC attended the 7^th 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 8^th 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 1000^th 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