FAIR TRADE + ECOLOGY
Stop global warming with Fair Trade!

"Environment and Climate Change" is a main theme of the G8 summit to be held in Toyako, Hokkaido in July, 2008. To prevent global warming and climate change, the industrialised nations who are responsible for global warming need to review their past industrial and economic systems and find a new method to reduce their impact on the environment.

Responsibility for global warming lies in industrialised nations!

It was concluded at the 13th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP13) that all countries, including the United States, the largest greenhouse gas emitter nation, and China or India, which are high emitter-nations but who have not imposed any emission reduction target, should do so in order to prevent global warming.

The scientists of the world submitted the IPCC(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report to COP13. This report nearly identifies the cause of the global warming as an increase in greenhouse gasses from human industrial and economic activities. The scientifically based report now rejects arguments that pose doubts on the connection between global warming and human economic activities and rejects such claim that even denies the presence of any global warming. Now the world is forced to face up to the realities of preventing global warming.

Greenhouse gas, a major contributor to global warming, acts to warm the earth surface by absorbing solar heat. Adequate amounts of gas in the air can maintain adequate temperatures for living beings, but excessive amounts of gas will increase heat absorption and can trigger global warming.

A major component of greenhouse gas is CO2 (carbon dioxide). Fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, have been intensively used since the industrial revolution in the late 18th century, increasing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere by 30% in the past 200 years. Along with this the average temperature on earth has increased by about 0.74 degrees in the past 100 years. The rate of increase is especially sharp during the past 50 years, almost doubling the rate of the past 100 years, indicating the accelerated speed of global warming. It is projected that a 1.5 degree increase in temperature from the level before the industrial revolution would extinguish one million species of living beings and a 2 degree increase would seriously affect 1 billion people on earth, causing water shortages, the spread of epidemic diseases etc. COP13 urged all countries to take steps to reduce greenhouse gasses. Although no agreement was reached for specific reduction targets, it asked all industrialised nations to take actions to cut emissions in a verifiable manner, including setting reduction targets. It also asked developing nations to cope with the problem in a verifiable manner with financial and technical support based on sustainable development.

CO2 emissions by nation in the Table (left) shows that 22% of the total world emissions of 26.5 billion tons is emitted in the United States, followed by China, Russia and Japan.

Who will be the victims of global warming?

The WMO (World Meteorological Organization) has reported on the global scale abnormal weather, such as floods, rain storm, heat wave, cold wave etc. that occurred in 2007. It talks about the floods in south Asia affecting 30 million people, the heavy rain and typhoon in China, the first cyclone ever documented in the Arabian Sea, the heat wave in south eastern Europe and others. The report clearly shows the frequent occurrence of global natural disasters caused by abnormal weather.

Such natural disasters threaten people in developing nations most, with their insufficient and delicate social infrastructures such as traffic and communications. Many Fair Trade producer groups have been hit by the heaviest flood recorded in the past 10 years from July to September in 2007. Hundreds of thousands of people in these countries were forced to live in shelters. To make the matter worse, a cyclone hit southern Bangladesh in November of the same year, killing some 3000 people and forcing 1.5 million people to evacuate. People's lives were seriously threatened by the unprecedented destruction. Furthermore Bangladesh is an agricultural country with 62% of the population engaged in agriculture and more than 70% living in farming villages. Natural disasters also mean a loss of income for people who depend on nature for their livelihoods.

CO2 emissions in Bangladesh are the lowest in the world. If the increase in natural disasters is a result of global warming, the people of Bangladesh who are not responsible for global warming are paying the price for the CO2 emissions of industrialised nations. Industrialised nations must now make serious efforts to prevent global warming and to minimize the occurrence of natural disasters rather than providing relief after disasters have occurred.

Fair Trade + Ecology

Fair Trade promotes the use of traditional hand-skills and organic agriculture in order to provide sustainable livelihoods for communities in the developing world. Compared with the machine production which is capital and oil intensive, production by hand seldom contributes to CO2 emissions. In addition to that, organic agriculture does not allow the use of chemical fertilizers which produce CO2 emissions in the process of making chemical fertilizers from oil. Fair Trade also has any examples of pioneering practices in these spheres. A report by FAO(Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation) in 2002 estimates that Organic Agriculture reduces CO2 emission by 48-66% compared with conventional agriculture using pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

For example Fair Trade textiles are often made with hand woven, electricity free textiles by artisans and support small scale farmers who use natural and organic farming methods. Natural materials for handicrafts, such as Bamboo, hemp, and paper, are all grown in producers’ local areas. Not only are they grown without chemical pesticides or fertilizers, but materials are used locally which reduces the impact of transportation.

Furthermore, Fair Trade products are usually goods which are not available in the importing countries. Fair Trade tries to reduce CO2 emissions as far as possible by respecting local production for local consumption and minimizing import from distant countries. Fair Trade is generating job opportunities in developing countries, strengthening local infrastructure, skills bases and helping to build local markets. By maximizing the value added to raw materials Fair Trade creates more livelihoods for smaller amounts of raw materials ? a sustainable model that conventional business has a lot to learn from.

The Fair Trade movement calls on people around the World to support Fair Trade producers by promoting and buying Fair Trade products in a call for social and environmental change.

[References]

Kiko(Climate) Network

JCCCA(The Japan Center for Climate Change Actions)

MOFA(The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan) "COP13 and COP/MOP3 - outline and evaluation - "Dec. 2007

”Ondanka Jigoku - Dashutsu no Scenario”(Global Warming Crisis - Scenario on Escape (from Global Warming) by Ryoichi Yamamoto, 2007. Published by Diamond Incorporated in Japan.

CHANGE NOW, TO PREVENT GLOBAL WARMING!

We interviewed Professor Ryoichi Yamamoto of the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo.

Q. How serious is global warming now?

A. Global warming not only means higher temperatures but an accumulation of a massive amount of heat energy on the earths surface. The energy accumulated in the past 50 years is equivalent to 400 times as much as the amount human beings use in a year. And this has caused heavy drought, torrential rains, hurricanes etc. A more serious problem is a drastic reduction of ice in the Arctic. 2007 alone saw the melting of ice equivalent to three Japanese archipelagos. When ice melts, sunlight that used to be reflected by the ice goes into the ocean. Heat is absorbed, accelerating global warming further. If global warming continues at the current level, a 2? increase in temperatures, which can cause serious damage to human beings, could happen as early as 2016.

Q. How much do CO2 and other greenhouse gasses need to be reduced by to stop global warming?

A. Kyoto Protocol set the target of a 5% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the level in 1990 in industrialised nations during the period of 2008 and 2012. However this would reduce only 1 billion tons a year. Greenhouse gas that will not be absorbed by forests will reach as much as 15.2 billion tons a year. It's like a drop in the ocean. The radical solution is possible only by an immediate reduction of greenhouse gas emission on earth by 80%.

Q. What needs to be done for that?

A. First, each country should set a target of 80% reduction of greenhouse gas emission by 2050. Countries should take such energy measures that shift fossil fuel to recyclable energy and promote eco-products (environment friendly products) by introducing tighter environmental regulations. It would also be effective to introduce greenhouse gas emission permit transactions. Should the 2 ? increase be reached in 2016, we only have 10 years left. Immediate structural change from industry to society and life is necessary.

Q. What can each of us do to cut CO2 by 80%?

A. Taking an example of cars, we can change to more fuel efficient cars and use a variety of transportation, including a combination with bicycles other than limiting the frequency of car usage to one fifth of the current level. In addition, in order to curb energy consumption, we should promote the concept of “consuming locally produced food products” that use less energy in transportation, processing etc. apart from saving electricity,

Q. Although Fair Trade requires transportation energy, the energy consumption is at a minimum allowable level considering the usage of natural material and handmade production in most products. What do you think about Fair Trade?

A. When purchasing goods, we should consider the social aspect of sustainability as well as the environmental aspect. Needless to say Fair Trade products are environmentally friendly. However we should give more credit to its social aspect, the contribution to social stability. The word “Fair” in Fair Trade has deeper meanings. We should be fair not only in the relation between industrialised and developing nations but also in the relation between animals and human beings and social responsibility for future generations in several thousands years ahead.

Interviewed by Naoko Tanemori, People Tree