London Hosts First Ever European Fairtrade Towns Conference

The first ever European Fairtrade Towns conference will take place on 20 - 21 November 2006 at London Southbank University, opened by Richard Howitt MEP, European Parliament Spokesperson on Corporate Social Responsibility.

Richard Howitt MEP will say: "Towns across Britain have been leading the way for Europe in developing an awareness of Fairtrade through the involvement of local churches, shops, councils and communities. Becoming a Fairtrade Town not only boosts sales locally to help producers in developing countries, but it also encourages us locally to think about where our produce comes from, who produces it and under what conditions. We can now through this event share our wealth of experience with Fairtrade movements developing across Europe, so that Fairtrade Towns become the norm across our continent."

The two-day conference is being held to celebrate the success of the UK Fairtrade Towns campaign and to progress the expansion of Fairtrade Towns across Europe. The aim is to deliver substantial increases in public both awareness of Fairtrade and commitment to the purchasing of Fairtrade labelled products in Europe, to the benefit of increasing numbers of Fairtrade producer organisations in the developing world. There are currently 586 producer groups registered to supply the international Fairtrade market, worth an estimated €1.14bn in 2005. This means that five million people - producers, workers and their families – are benefiting from the Fairtrade system.

The event will be attended by delegates from 17 countries around the world*, representing members of Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO)**, of which the Fairtrade Foundation is the UK member. Attendees will also include local and regional authorities, commercial businesses, universities and colleges and other organisations within the public sphere. The conference is being organised as part of the European Fairtrade Towns Project, part-funded by the European Commission. The project is jointly co-ordinated by The Fairtrade Foundation and partners from Belgium and France. Further conferences in Europe are planned for 2007/8.

The first Fairtrade Town campaign was established in 2001 in Garstang, Lancashire, by Bruce Crowther, a local Oxfam supporter who lives with his family in Garstang and works there as a veterinary surgeon. Since then, the campaign has caught the imagination of communities across the UK and is now spreading to Europe and beyond. The Fairtrade Foundation awards Fairtrade Towns status to towns and cities that set up a steering group and achieve five goals that include making Fairtrade tea and coffee available at council meetings and Fairtrade products more widely available in retail outlets and workplaces.

The Fairtrade Towns campaign has proven very successful with 209 towns across the UK now awarded Fairtrade status, and the number rising on a weekly basis. The achievement of the initiative has attracted the attention of the Fairtrade Foundation’s partners across Europe which have decided to develop similar proposals in their countries, all working in collaboration with community organisations and public authorities.

Fairtrade Mark Ireland, the Irish FLO member, launched their Fairtrade Towns campaign in 2003 and to date have 15 Fairtrade Towns with another five to be awarded status by the end of 2006. Rättvisemärkt, the Swedish FLO member, began their Fairtrade Towns Campaign this year and have one Fairtrade City, Malmo, with a further five to be awarded status by the end of 2006. Fairtrade Max Havelaar Norway also initiated their Fairtrade Town Campaign this year, Sauda being the first town to be awarded status. In France, 167 local authorities have signed up to their Max Havelaar France campaign. Max Havelaar Belgium have 21 cities and towns, with an additional 86 campaigns in progress. In Flanders a third of cities and towns are Fairtrade including Brussels.

Speaking at the event, Bruce Crowther, Fairtrade Towns Co-ordinator for the Fairtrade Foundation will say: “This Wednesday it will be five years ago to the day when Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation presented the certificate declaring my hometown of Garstang the world’s first Fairtrade Town. At the time many thought the title of ‘world’s’ first was presumptuous and even I with my idealism could not have dreamt that five years later I’d be speaking at a Fairtrade Towns Conference attended by people from as far away as the USA, Japan and Australia.”

The conference’s agenda will include:

• identifying and developing procedures to strengthen the links within and between local communities and private and public organisations;
• developing strategies to enable the UK Fairtrade Towns model to meet the requirements of each individual country;
  

For further information or to arrange an interview with Bruce Crowther, phone 020 7440 7695/7686 or 07770 957 451 or email martine.julseth@fairtrade.org.uk or eileen.maybin@fairtrade.org.uk.

Notes to Editors

*Delegations are expected from the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, Brazil, Canada, USA, UK.
**FLO unites 20 national initiatives across Europe, Japan, North America, Mexico and Australia/New Zealand. The FAIRTRADE Mark is a certification mark and a registered trademark of FLO of which the Fairtrade Foundation is the UK member. This independent consumer label appears on products as a guarantee that disadvantaged producers are getting a better deal.

1. Richard Howitt MEP is European Parliament Spokesperson on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Labour Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs. He is the author of the European Parliament's response on CSR currently under debate in the Parliament, and regularly campaigns to raise awareness of Fairtrade issues both internationally through his work in the Parliament, and locally with Fairtrade campaign groups in his East of England constituency. A member of the EU-ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly and Parliament's Development Committee for nine years, Richard has written a number of parliamentary reports on Europe's relations with developing countries. He is Vice Chair of the Parliament's Human Rights Sub Committee, a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and was rapporteur on this year's influential European Parliament Human Rights Report.
2. The idea for Fairtrade Towns came to Bruce Crowther in the middle of the night five years ago. “I even dream about Fairtrade,” he admits. “I am inspired by Thomas Clarkson, the man who led the campaign to abolish the slave trade. He kept a candle and a quill pen by the side of his bed so that he could jot down any ideas that came to him to ensure that they were not lost by morning.” He is a self-proclaimed ‘Fairtrade obsessive’. “At lunchtimes my wife would like to talk about the garden but for me is has to be global. poverty,” he explains. “I eat and drink Fairtrade everything – the house is full of Fairtrade.” Before Bruce started work for the Fairtrade Foundation, he was an activist with Oxfam in Garstang. “I invited the heads of the local churches and schools to a meal which used Fairtrade products and it occurred to me that if we could get the council and the local businesses to use them too we could become a Fairtrade Town.”
3. To become a Fairtrade Town (or any other populated area), 5 goals must be met:

• The local council must pass a resolution supporting Fairtrade, and serve Fairtrade coffee and tea at its meetings and in offices and canteens.
• A range of Fairtrade products must be readily available in the area’s shops and served in local cafés and catering establishments (targets are set in relation to population)
• Fairtrade products must be used by a number of local work places (estate agents, hairdressers etc) and community organisations (churches, schools etc)
• Attract media coverage and popular support for the campaign
• A local Fairtrade steering group must be convened to ensure continued commitment to Fairtrade Town status.
  

The full range of Fairtrade products now includes coffee, tea, chocolate, cocoa, sugar, bananas, apples, pears, grapes, plums, lemons, oranges, satsumas, clementines, lychees, avocados, pineapples, mangoes, fruit juices, quinoa, peppers, green beans, coconut, dried fruit, rooibos tea, green tea, cakes and biscuits, honey, muesli, cereal bars, jams, chutney and sauces, herbs and spices, nuts and nut oil, wine, beer, rum, flowers, sports balls, rice, yoghurt, babyfood, sugar body scrub, cotton wool and cotton products.

For further information, contact the Fairtrade Foundation press office on 020 7440 7686/7695 or mobile 07770 957 451 or email martine.julseth@fairtrade.org.uk

The Fairtrade Foundation,
Room 204, 16 Baldwin’s Gardens,
London EC1N 7RJ.