Official Report 1072KB pdf
The next item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S6M-02664, in the name of Clare Adamson, on the fair trade pledge. The debate will be concluded without any question being put. I invite members who wish to participate to press their request-to-speak button or place an R in the chat function.
Due to illness, Gordon MacDonald has agreed to step in for Clare Adamson.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament notes that the Scottish Fair Trade Forum works closely with parliamentarians from all parties to support actions to improve the livelihoods of farmers and workers who consumers, including those in the Motherwell and Wishaw constituency, rely on to produce many every-day foods and products; recognises what it understands to be the Fair Trade Pledge, to ensure better prices, safe working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers; understands that the pledge also includes the selling and buying of Fairtrade products, from coffee and tea to flowers and gold, and encouraging consumers to look for the Fairtrade Mark; welcomes what it sees as the Scottish Government’s commitment to further progress Scotland’s potential to achieve inclusive growth through the delivery of increased sales and awareness of Fairtrade products, and notes the view that these actions, which were adopted in the International Development Strategy published in 2016 and are planned up to 2030, are key actions in achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
12:51
Unfortunately, as the Presiding Officer said, Clare Adamson is unable to speak to her motion on the Scottish Fair Trade Forum pledge. As I have supported the Balerno fair trade group in my constituency for many years, I hope that I can do justice to the motion.
The Scottish Fair Trade Forum pledge is a way for MSPs to show their support for all actions that improve the livelihoods of farmers and workers from developing countries who produce many of the products that we consume every day. The pledge involves supporting a fair economy and committing to tackle the climate emergency.
The Scottish Fair Trade Forum was established in 2007 by a group of Scotland-based fair trade campaigners to promote the cause of fair trade in Scotland and support our becoming a fair trade nation.
The forum has similar aims to those of the Fairtrade Foundation, which was established back in 1992 by Christian Aid, New Consumer, Oxfam, Traidcraft, the World Development Movement and the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development. That same year, Co-operative Group supermarkets became the first supermarket chain to sell a Fairtrade product, Cafédirect coffee.
The first Fairtrade fortnight in the United Kingdom, which was directed by Barnaby Miln, was launched on 12 February 1997 at the Augustine United church on Edinburgh’s George IV Bridge. During Fairtrade fortnight, Miln encouraged supporters to ask for fairly traded products, and he provided them with a list of 85 supermarkets in Scotland’s cities and larger towns.
In 2013, Scotland became, after Wales, the second nation in the world to achieve fair trade nation status and support sales of products that offer a better deal to workers in developing countries.
The result of all that effort is that, today, there are more than 6,000 Fairtrade products on sale, from coffee and tea to flowers, clothes, wine, beauty products and even gold. What they all have in common is that they carry the Fairtrade mark, which certifies that products or ingredients have been produced in safer working conditions in which workers’ rights are respected and with fairer pay levels.
Why is promoting fair trade important? In developing countries, independent small farmers who work their own land and market their produce through a local co-operative are paid a price that covers the cost of sustainable production. They are also paid a premium, which producers can invest in development. By being able to exceed their production costs, they can improve their lives by having access to better education and healthcare and more nutritious food.
We also have Fairtrade producers. I will give an example. Most Fairtrade tea is grown on estates, and the primary concerns for the workers who are employed on tea plantations are fair wages and decent working conditions. If the producers agree to pay decent wages, guarantee workers the right to join trade unions, provide good housing, where relevant, maintain health and safety as well as environmental standards, and ensure that no child labour or forced labour can occur, they are awarded contracts that allow for long-term planning and sustainable production practices and under which they can receive partial advance payments when requested. As a result, fair trade benefits workers and communities by spreading profits more equitably and stimulating the local economy. Profits are often reinvested in community projects such as health clinics or childcare and education projects.
Almost 1,900 certified Fairtrade producer organisations across 71 countries received a Fairtrade premium of £169 million in 2020. On average, each producer received £90,000 as an additional premium to support their local community.
There are a large number of local fair trade community groups across Scotland. Balerno, in my constituency of Edinburgh Pentlands, gained Fairtrade status in 2013, thanks to the volunteers who promoted the benefits of fair trade to the local community. Every year, Balerno fair trade group organises among schools the fair trade art competition, and hosts the annual coffee and craft fair. During the year, it encourages local businesses, from family-run Carlyle’s Bar and Kitchen and the local Scotmid to the community café at the Mill, to stock fair trade products.
That effort to keep fair trade in the public eye resulted in Balerno fair trade group being awarded Fairtrade community of the month by the Fairtrade Foundation in June last year.
Our schools also promote fair trade, especially during Fairtrade fortnight, and I know that Clare Adamson would have thanked schools in her area, such as Newmains, St Aidan’s, Morningside primary and St Bernadette’s, for their efforts in raising awareness of fair trade produce.
I should also take this opportunity to mention the schools in my constituency, starting with Stenhouse primary, which was awarded fair trade status in 2010, as was Dean Park primary in 2013, and the continued support of and participation by pupils and staff at Balerno high in local fair trade events.
Many of the schools in my constituency and in Clare Adamson’s will promote fair trade by selling fair trade products in their tuck shops, or using fair trade products in their staffroom. Their pupils will learn about how global trade works and why fair trade is important, and produce awareness-raising posters for their school and their local communities.
We can all help the fair trade movement not only by supporting local organisations during Fairtrade fortnight, but by stimulating demand by asking for fair trade products in shops, cafés and restaurants. We can also spread the fair trade message among our families, friends and colleagues, and, as a result, assist, in a small way, in supporting communities in developing countries.
Edinburgh is a fair trade city, and Scotland has been recognised as one of the first fair trade nations. That highlights the fact that we, the people of Scotland, share a vision of being a good global citizen and are committed to playing our part in addressing poverty.
Thank you, Mr MacDonald.
I am aware that I might have inadvertently given the wrong number for the motion, which is S6M-02864.
The first speaker in the open debate is Sharon Dowey, who joins us remotely. She will be followed by Colin Smyth. You have up to four minutes, Ms Dowey.
12:58
I thank Clare Adamson for lodging the motion for debate and wish her a speedy recovery.
Many of us will have seen the Fairtrade logo in shops, often on coffee, chocolate or bananas, but, beyond recognising the Fairtrade sticker, I do not think that many of us know what fair trade is, what it means and what role it can play in our future. That is why, for the past couple of weeks, I have been learning about fair trade businesses in Ayrshire. The Honeybee and the Hare café in Ayr, for example, is a small, independent café that provides high-quality artisan coffee, hand-made food, art works and gifts. I have learned a lot about the sustainable supply chain and sustainable products, which has helped me to put fair trade business into perspective. The owners explained that fair trade means workers’ rights, fairer pay, safer working conditions and sustainability, while for shoppers, it means quality and ethically produced goods for a fair wage.
To learn more about fair trade in Scotland, I have been communicating with the Scottish Fair Trade Forum to understand its approach, its activities and how it is bringing together fair trade groups, businesses, non-governmental organisations, faith groups, universities, colleges and public sector organisations. Fair trade is not just about buying nice chocolate; it is a culture that we need to develop across Scotland.
Local authorities have an important role to play in promoting fair trade through supporting local organisations. Across South and East Ayrshire, those organisations include Ayr Fairtrade Partnership, South Ayrshire Fairtrade zone committee and East Ayrshire Fairtrade Group. It is encouraging to see that, because of their work, South Ayrshire became a Fairtrade zone in March 2018—that zone brings together the work of Ayr, Prestwick and Troon—and East Ayrshire became a Fairtrade zone in October 2016. That is why, today, across South and East Ayrshire, many businesses can be found that have committed to fair trade business practices.
It would make a real difference if all MSPs encouraged their local authorities to get more involved in fair trade activities such as Fairtrade fortnight. The annual Fairtrade fortnight activities help to spread the message about the importance of fairer and more sustainable trading practices. Fairtrade fortnight also provides an opportunity to hear stories about workers from the developing world who grow food and clothing materials, or mine precious metals.
Such initiatives can help us in achieving our sustainable development goals and fairer trade. Educating younger generations is a great start that gives us all a better chance of becoming more sustainable. Younger generations can utilise their skills and knowledge to shape a more compassionate and sustainable world. That is why I am pleased that many South Ayrshire schools take part in fair trade events. Kyle academy, whose geography and religious, moral and philosophical studies departments won a prize for sustainability at the Scottish fair trade awards in November, is a great example. I urge all MSPs to encourage schools from their constituencies to get involved.
There is so much more that we, as MSPs, can do. We can encourage our councils to do more for fair trade groups and campaigns. We can also sign the Scottish Fair Trade Forum’s fair trade pledge campaign, which demonstrates our support for all actions that improve the livelihoods of workers who produce many of the products that we consume. I am proud that I signed that pledge in October but, as MSPs, we should be leading by example, which is why I urge my colleagues across the chamber to sign the pledge. We should also come together to push for the Parliament to stock more Fairtrade products. Those steps would demonstrate our unity in seeking to achieve fair trade goals.
As a fair trade nation, our efforts aim to embed fair trade values across all sectors of Scottish society, whether that means looking for the Fairtrade mark on the products that we buy, attending one of the many fair trade events or simply donating to help to promote fair trade.
13:03
I thank Clare Adamson—whom I wish a speedy recovery—for lodging her motion, which provides us all with an opportunity not only to highlight just how important fair trade is, as her able assistant Gordon MacDonald did, but to say thank you to the Scottish Fair Trade Forum and everyone who is part of the fair trade journey in Scotland.
It is less than two weeks since Fairtrade fortnight took place. As convener of the Parliament’s cross-party group on fair trade, as well as being the chair of the Dumfries and Galloway regional Fairtrade steering group, I am passionate about fair trade, but it is the local groups, the businesses and the producers in our communities that make Fairtrade fortnight happen.
After the past tough two years of us all being separated from our friends and families, it was great to once again get out and about and take part in person in Fairtrade fortnight events. I was lucky enough to attend a number of events in my region, including the wonderful Fairtrade big brew in the Dumfriesshire village of Dunscore. Per head of population, it must have more fair traders than anywhere in the country.
I saw at first hand just how tirelessly local volunteers are working to promote fair trade, despite the challenges that we have all faced. I want to say a heartfelt thank you to every volunteer, shop, organisation and school across the country that is helping to deliver trade justice for so many vulnerable farmers and workers in developing countries, week in and week out. As the motion highlights, they, and parliamentarians, are supported in their endeavours by the Scottish Fair Trade Forum under the leadership of its chief executive, Martin Rhodes, and its chair, Charles Sim, and vice chair, Liz Manson—both Charles and Liz, I am proud to say, are South Scotland constituents of mine—and the other vice chair, Rachel Farey, of the One World Shop in Edinburgh.
The forum does an invaluable job in supplying information, knowledge, training and resources to local fair trade groups. It promotes fair trade businesses here in Scotland and has supported partnerships with producers during the pandemic. It also supports producers worldwide, and has Fairtrade producer representatives from Malawi and Rwanda on its board. The work of the forum led to the step change in fair trade activity that resulted in Scotland securing fair trade nation status almost a decade ago. That remains vital as we take the next step on the fair trade journey.
The fair trade principles of better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability and fair terms of trade for workers have never been more important. Fair trade challenges the injustice and unfairness of conventional trade. It is also at the heart of the fight against climate change. Trade justice and climate justice work hand in hand.
During Fairtrade fortnight, the forum arranged for producers from Ghana, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Malawi and Palestine to take part in online events, including one with our own cross-party group. During those events, I was struck by stories of the devastating impact of climate change on some of our most vulnerable developing countries. Farmers of crops such as tea, coffee and cocoa, who are already battling the impact of volatile market prices and rising production costs with little power in the multimillion pound supply chains that they contribute to, are now having to deal with more freak weather, extreme rainfall, prolonged dry seasons and the prevalence of plant disease in their crops.
By ensuring that farmers and producers in the global south are paid a fair price for their goods, the Fair Trade Forum is a lifeline for those producers, allowing farmers to be more resilient and to reduce their own carbon footprint without worrying about how to afford medicine, food or their children’s education and housing.
Is there more that we as individuals and the Government can do to support fair trade? Of course there is. Ask any local fair trade group that has tried to get a fair trade sign placed at the entrance to its village but which has been hit by bureaucracy. Look at how much, or how little, of the multibillion pound public sector procurement budget is actually spent on fair trade goods. It is clear that there is an awful lot more that we can all do.
That is why we should be proud to be a fair trade nation. We should all back the fair trade pledge and commit today to redoubling our efforts to support fair trade and, by doing so, to change the world for the better by a little bit every day.
13:07
This time of global conflict reminds me how interconnected our lives are. The fallout of what happens in Ukraine will not only affect geopolitical matters but will lead to difficulties in food supply and security. Ukraine is one of the world’s biggest exporters of grain. Tectonic plates have shifted politically and economically in the weeks since the invasion. How the world works together, not only at a time of conflict but in one of climate change and drought, will have an impact on us all.
Today’s motion says that the fair trade pledge is there
“to ensure better prices, safe working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers”
and that the Parliament
“understands that the pledge also includes the selling and buying of Fairtrade products, from coffee and tea to flowers and gold, and encouraging consumers to look for the Fairtrade mark”.
Many of the products that we buy and use every day are grown or produced by people who are not paid a fair price for their work or produce over a long period of time. Workers and farmers with smallholdings often work in poor or dangerous conditions and are denied fair access to markets. Fairtrade ensures that workers and small farmers are paid a fair price and campaigns for those producers to have the opportunity to participate in global markets without exploitation.
One of the successes of fair trade has been the building of a partnership between consumers and producers. Many of the staple goods that we find in our homes come from producers who were not previously paid fair prices for their work or products. That perpetuated a cycle of poverty and denied many families a dignified life.
As MSPs, we all have a role in our own constituencies and in Scotland as a fair trade nation. Prior to the election last May, every one of us was asked to sign the fair trade pledge, which stated:
“If I am elected to the next Parliament, I will take actions to promote Scotland’s fair trade nation status, listen to the voices of producers in global supply chains, support actions to build back a fairer economy and tackle the climate emergency. I also support measures to increase the public procurement of fair trade products.”
Colin Smyth mentioned that. It is something that we need to work with our councils on.
What can we do practically? We can join our local fair trade groups. I am part of a fair trade group in Dunbar, which is going really well, and there are a few others in East Lothian. Fair trade groups are at the heart of the fair trade movement. They organise, activate and lobby to raise awareness of the need for fair trade and to bring about change at all levels. There are groups in communities, schools, colleges, universities, faith groups and, of course, workplaces. Many workplaces have worked towards achieving Fairtrade status from the Fairtrade Foundation. Collectively, those groups make Scotland a fair trade nation and contribute to the international Fairtrade towns movement.
We can also encourage our schools to teach fair trade. The Fairtrade Foundation’s Fairtrade school awards take schools and nurseries on a journey from awareness of fair trade through to embedding it in the life of the school or nursery and the local community. Going for the award offers a great opportunity to consider global issues from a fair trade perspective. Teaching about fair trade fits within the curriculum and it can support pupils to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes that are needed in our interconnected world.
We can also encourage businesses in our constituencies to support fair trade and to buy and sell Fairtrade products. Ethical consumption is on the rise in the UK, and consumers expect businesses to be taking more action than ever before to make their supply chains transparent, equitable and environmentally friendly. What was once a unique selling point is now industry standard. It is one of the greatest successes of the ethical consumer movement. Investing in fair trade can help businesses to effortlessly signal a commitment to more sustainable, more responsible and fairer standards of production. Fairtrade products fulfil the ethical commitments to fairer wages, improved working conditions, community investment and environmentalism.
I thank Clare Adamson for lodging her motion. Let us do what we can to support fair trade in our localities and in Scotland.
13:11
I thank Clare Adamson for lodging the motion and Gordon MacDonald for speaking to it in her absence. I wish Clare a speedy recovery. I apologise that I cannot stay for the whole debate, but I am grateful to be able to speak. I thank the Deputy Presiding Officer for letting me leave early.
Fair trade is not just good in itself as a system of standards for buying and selling specific commodities. It is also a model for how we can do trade better, both globally and locally, and how we can build fairer, healthier and more peaceful and sustainable relationships within Scotland and across the world. The climate crisis, the Covid pandemic, international arms and the conflicts that they exacerbate—all those things remind us that none of us are islands, even those of us who live on them. We are linked together in global relationships of responsibility, complicity, shared history, future possibility and, I believe and hope, solidarity and care. The fair trade movement offers us a way to acknowledge those relationships and to build them together.
Fair trade is an urgent and effective remedy for particular instances of trade exploitation—those networks of oppression that dominate international trade in sectors including the cotton, banana and chocolate industries. Fairly traded supply chains represent a vital alternative to those horrors. However, fair trade is a hugely important framework for a wide range of goods and commodities, and not only the most egregiously exploitative. We have the opportunity in our positions of privilege to make sure that the decisions that we make and those that we influence are aligned with fair trade principles and practice.
The Fairtrade premium is at the heart of the Fairtrade system, and what it tells us needs to be at the heart of how we look at our economies. The premium is paid to suppliers not as individual farmers or businesses, but for the benefit of the communities that they belong to. It reminds us that we are not the atomised actors of traditional economic theory, coldly calculating our maximised self-interest. We are communities, ecosystems and neighbourhoods that are intricately bound together in shared experience. Our economies, like the economies of co-operation that are supported by the Fairtrade premium, are there to enable that shared endeavour, and not the other way round.
Communities in the majority world—the global south—are facing deeper and crueller challenges than ever before. They include the intensification of climate impacts, as we have heard; the health and vaccine inequalities of Covid; fortress nations clanging the gates shut against refugees; and land grabs to feed the rich and fix the net-zero balance sheets. This is not a question of charity; it is a question of basic justice and fundamental human rights. The best fair trade organisations know that. They do not just seek increased markets and better conditions for the suppliers that they deal with; they are looking for transformational change at every level, and we, in the Scottish Parliament, as well as people in our Fairtrade towns and cities across the country, can be a part of making that happen.
I am proud to have signed the fair trade pledge and to celebrate the work of the fair trade movement, not least in the continent of Africa, where I was born and grew up. However, significant as those benefits have been for many in the majority world, fair trade needs to go much further, much wider and much deeper. We need to challenge not only the worst, most brutal and cynical forms of trade exploitation but our everyday assumptions and our unthinking expectation that the majority world will be a giant supermarket shelf, crammed with monoculture goodies to feed our pleasures. In a world where we are rightly looking to feed ourselves more locally and sustainably, we need to ensure that everyone can do the same.
I look forward to the day when we need no fair trade pledges, no Fairtrade certificates and no Fairtrade labels—when fair trade is simply trade and the alternative is unthinkable.
13:16
I congratulate Clare Adamson on recognising the fair trade pledge and bringing this important issue to the chamber. I thank Gordon MacDonald for opening the debate.
My constituency of Cunninghame South sits within North Ayrshire. In 2014, through the hard work of the North Ayrshire Fairtrade zone group, supported by the local authority, North Ayrshire was recognised as a Fairtrade zone. I am pleased to say that that status has been awarded again this year, for the eighth year running. I take this opportunity to acknowledge the members of the North Ayrshire Fairtrade zone group, and I recognise the hard work and determination of everyone who has been involved in making that happen. Thank you.
When we discuss fair trade, people automatically think about products such as coffee, bananas and chocolate. However, it is not just about the products; it is about the people. Buying Fairtrade means rights for workers, safer working conditions and fairer pay, and consumers can pride themselves on buying high-quality, ethically produced goods.
However, despite the efforts of groups such as the North Ayrshire Fairtrade zone, a vast number of products continue to be grown or made by workers who are not treated fairly. Those workers often produce goods in dangerous conditions and are denied the same access to markets as other producers.
We are a nation of chocolate lovers: the United Kingdom chocolate market is worth billions of pounds, and demand is growing yearly. It leaves a bitter taste to learn that cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana live in abject poverty, with the Fairtrade Foundation reporting farmers earning as little as 75p per day—the same amount as one bar of chocolate that is sold here costs.
It is also reported that, as is often the case, women bear the greatest burden, having fewer rights than men. They not only work long hours in the cocoa fields to earn less than men; they are expected to look after their children and to manage extra tasks such as carrying water and household chores.
In today’s more informed and connected world, we cannot be ignorant of the truth. The fair trade pledge, along with Fairtrade fortnight, gives a stage for thousands of individuals, businesses and organisations across Scotland to come together and share the stories of the people who, like the cocoa farmers, work hard to produce goods but are exploited and underpaid, and to join together and reject those practices. I urge everyone to choose the world we want and to highlight the inequality and injustice that is felt by those people.
Education and awareness are powerful tools. It is important that, while we advocate for change, children develop their understanding of how fair trade benefits farmers and workers across the globe. A number of schools in my constituency are registered as Fairtrade schools. Secondary and primary pupils alike are striving to achieve awards, ranging from understanding how their school uses Fairtrade products to fully embedding fair trade into their daily school life and working to raise awareness of fair trade in their local community. I express my gratitude to the teachers in those schools, who have played key roles in informing the next generation of the benefits of fair trade, normalising equality and making lives better.
Buying Fairtrade is easy. There are more than 6,000 Fairtrade products. I encourage everyone to look for the Fairtrade mark when shopping. Choosing Fairtrade means standing with others for fairness and equality, allowing farmers to tackle poverty and build resilience to the climate crisis that we face.
Everyone can change the world for the better by businesses signing up to the fair trade pledge, consumers choosing to buy Fairtrade products and all of us educating our children to do the same.
13:19
I, too, want to thank Clare Adamson for securing today’s debate. I also thank Gordon MacDonald for standing in to kick off the discussion, and the Scottish Fair Trade Forum for all its work.
It is timely that we meet so recently after Fairtrade fortnight to highlight the benefits of fair trade, but we also need to focus on it all year round. Fair trade is crucial in ensuring that goods are produced ethically, and it is a key tool that we, as consumers, have in knowing that the price that we pay delivers for our environment and in relation to fair work principles for producers. Fair trade directly benefits the communities that the producers live in.
The Corana RI Irupana co-operative in Bolivia provides a brilliant example of the benefits of fair trade for people and communities. Research shows that the co-operative is in a stable situation that has resulted in 60 per cent of its members being able to access electricity, 97 per cent recycling their organic waste, an impressive 86 per cent believing that they are better off in the organisation than they were before being in it, and 54 per cent having jobs created in their community. The delivery of high-quality sustainable products, easier access to credit for smallholders and investment in community services, including food security and scholarships, are but a few of the many benefits that fair trade has for consumers and producers worldwide.
A couple of weeks ago, at our cross-party group on fair trade, it was inspiring to hear from producers. There was the story of Sholi Coffee in Rwanda, which started as a small association of 30 women and has not stopped growing since. We heard about the contribution of the Kasinthula Cane Growers’ Association from Malawi, which managed to convert largely unproductive land to sugar cane production, thereby providing an income for 282 subsistence farmers and employment for nearly 800 permanent and seasonal field workers. We then heard about the positive impact of fair trade in supporting producers and their communities in Palestine.
As other members have said, however, the challenges that have been posed by the pandemic have had an impact; they have left producer organisations struggling to cope, and have affected the livelihoods of their workers. Research shows that Covid-19 significantly affected the business viability of fair trade producers, with a majority of producers reporting a decrease in production and lower fair trade and non-fair trade sales in 2020 than there were in 2019. A significant minority experienced lower prices and fewer buyers. The Africa and middle east region was the worst hit, with almost 70 per cent of the sampled producer organisations there reporting declines in production and sales.
There is much more that we need to do. Fairtrade has made a difference to the lives of more than 500,000 farmers and workers in nearly 60 countries. As the second country in the world to be named a fair trade nation, Scotland is ahead of the game, but there is so much more that we need to do. It is not us just about signing the pledge as individuals; we must also consider how ethical public sector procurement can make the maximum possible difference. It is about looking at what we as consumers can do to support local fair trade shops.
I am proud of the fact that Edinburgh has been a Fairtrade city since 2004. We have fantastic shops such as Hadeel, with its focus on Palestinian fair trade crafts, and the One World Shop, which brings in fantastic sustainable and fairly traded goods from across the world. We have, on our high streets, access to fair trade products in Oxfam shops, which have products from more than 70 countries around the world. As Gordon MacDonald said, we also have Co-operative Group and Scotmid shops on our high streets across Scotland. At the recent meeting of the fair trade cross-party group, we also focused on the fact that we can all buy fair trade goods online, wherever we live in Scotland.
There is much more that we can do. Let us hope that today’s message is a positive one. It is a call to action for all of us that we can all buy fair trade goods. I encourage everyone to go online, check out their local shops and support communities across the world. They need our trade and our investment, which is transformative.
I call the minister to respond to the debate, for about seven minutes.
13:24
At the outset, I thank Clare Adamson for lodging her motion. I wish her well and hope that she has a speedy recovery. I also thank my colleague Gordon MacDonald for stepping in so well.
In addition, I thank colleagues from all parts of the chamber who have shared stories from their constituencies, which has highlighted—as Gordon MacDonald set out so well—the level of support that exists for the fair trade movement in communities up and down the country.
I will reflect on some of the contributions that we have heard. Gordon MacDonald was absolutely right to congratulate the Balerno fair trade village group and the schools in his constituency, as well as those that he mentioned in Newmains and Morningside in Clare Adamson’s constituency; I previously represented those schools when I was in the House of Commons.
Sharon Dowey mentioned the Scottish Fair Trade Forum, which I will come to, and rightly congratulated the Honeybee and the Hare cafe in the region that she represents. I pay tribute to Colin Smyth for his work in Parliament and his region on promoting and prioritising fair trade. I also echo his thanks to those who campaign in schools and communities to promote fair trade.
Paul McLennan reminded us why the issue is important, given the horrific events that we are seeing in Ukraine. As we know, the human cost of that is not felt by Ukraine in isolation—it is spread much more widely. As we look to ensure food supplies around the world, we must do so with fairness and with producers in mind.
Maggie Chapman rightly reminded us all of our collective and individual responsibilities, and pointed out that fair trade is not about charity but is about justice and rights.
Ruth Maguire mentioned the North Ayrshire Fairtrade zone group—I, too, congratulate the group—and reminded us of the work that we still have to do to extend availability of products to ensure better treatment for, for instance, the cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.
Sarah Boyack highlighted some real examples of the benefits—in Bolivia, Rwanda and Malawi—that fair trade delivers for people. She was right to say that we have more to do.
In my constituency of Airdrie and Shotts, Airdrie became a Fairtrade town in 2015 and North Lanarkshire Council achieved Fairtrade status in 2020. In addition, many organisations such as Shotts healthy living centre and St Andrew’s Hospice sell fair trade goods. Members are absolutely right to draw on those experiences. I thank those organisations for the work that they are doing.
Nevertheless, as Sarah Boyack and other members have said, we have more work to do. The year 2023 will mark 10 years since Scotland achieved fair trade nation status. We were rightly proud of that accolade back in 2013, and we continue to take pride in it as we prepare to renew our commitment to fair trade for a second time. Next year, an expert panel will decide whether we can continue to call ourselves a fair trade nation.
However, what does being a fair trade nation mean? How does it help the 700 million people around the world who still exist on less than $2 a day; the 63 million children who still do not have access to education; or the 55 per cent of people living in rural areas who do not have access to soap and water? Being a fair trade nation means that, in everything that we do as a country, the principles of fairness, social justice and gender equity are at the forefront of our minds.
It also means that, as a Government, those principles must be at the heart of our policies. Gordon MacDonald set out perfectly the impact that that has on people around the world. That includes policies such as our commitment to ensuring that more of our funding goes directly to our partner countries, thereby shifting the balance of power and supporting people in Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia to build more resilient and equal communities.
At the 26th United Nations climate change conference of the parties—COP26—we committed to increasing our climate justice fund to £36 million over the current session of Parliament, thereby providing additional support for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable communities.
From April 2022, we will start to increase our international development fund by 50 per cent, to £15?million per year, with the first increase, to £11.5 million, being due next month. In doing so, our programme will continue to recognise the needs of communities in our partner countries that are impacted by Covid-19, and we will carry on with our efforts of the past two years to provide them with support as they build back from the pandemic.
We also remain committed to responding to global crises through our £1 million per year humanitarian emergency fund, which has, over the past two years, been activated for Lebanon, Niger, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Afghanistan and, most recently, Burkina Faso.
Nevertheless, our funding is only one part of our contribution and support for the global south. Our approach on policy coherence for sustainable development makes it clear that our wider policies in Government, and how people in Scotland embrace active global citizenship, also play huge parts in Scotland’s global impact and contribution. Our buying choices and our commitment to fair trade are a key part of that.
Being successful in our bid to renew our fair trade nation status will be due in no small part to the efforts of the Scottish Fair Trade Forum. The forum, which has been core funded from the international development fund since 2007, has worked tirelessly to build support for the fair trade movement across all sections of Scottish society. In all that it does—its engagement with fair trade groups from the Borders to the islands; the annual Fairtrade awards, which recognise the achievements of individuals, community groups and businesses; and its work in schools, helping teachers to educate the next generation about being good global citizens—the forum has been driving forward change.
The work of schools has been a thread in the debate, so I should say that my oldest two children, Isla and Finlay, have been learning about fair trade in their school. That is so important because they have become not just advocates but—-to be frank—evangelists for ensuring that we buy fair trade goods when we are out getting the messages.
I am proud of all that has been achieved since we became a fair trade nation, but it is vital that we keep up the momentum. That is why I am pleased to announce, in addition to the £1.7 million that the Scottish Government has already provided to build its capacity, the Scottish Fair Trade Forum will be provided with another £324,000 over the next two financial years to take forward our fair trade nation work. In addition, I have—like many of my fellow members—signed the Scottish Fair Trade Forum’s pledge. In doing so, I am committing to take action to promote Scotland’s fair trade nation status.
When global catastrophes occur, whether they be natural disasters such as the recent devastation that was caused by tropical storm Ana in Malawi, or acts of aggression such as the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, we feel compelled to act. However, while pictures of the daily struggles of fair trade farmers and producers rarely make the headlines, the challenges that they face, day after day, simply to put food on the table, are a harsh reality for millions of people.
Sometimes it can feel like there is little that we can do to change that, but the simple fact is that there is something that we can do. We can make a huge difference just by choosing products that carry the Fairtrade mark, the next time we shop. The Fairtrade premium ensures that farmers and producers can feed their families, build homes, buy medicines and send their children to school. Those are basic human needs—things that many of us take for granted—but for some, they are luxuries that remain out of reach.
Together, we can change that. Time and again, the people of Scotland demonstrate that we are a caring nation. Whenever there is a cry, whether it be from close to home or from the furthest corners of the earth, we will do all that we can to help. I thank Clare Adamson, Gordon MacDonald and colleagues for their leadership in that regard today.
13:32 Meeting suspended.Previous
First Minister’s Question Time