- Virtual festival during Fairtrade Fortnight will highlight how the climate crisis will affect the future of our food.
- Fairtrade patrons Adjoa Andoh and Allegra McEvedy to headline Fairtrade’s flagship events.
- Free admission, with optional donation towards helping farmers fight the effects of climate change.
Fairtrade Fortnight 2022 (21st February – 6th March) returns with its Choose The World You Want festival for the second year to highlight how Fairtrade is the simple choice we can all make to support farmers and workers to adapt to the effects of climate change. The Fairtrade Foundation hopes people will engage with Fairtrade Fortnight once again this year, as part of their ongoing efforts to protect people and planet.
Kicking off the two-week campaign on Monday 21st February at 7pm, actress and Fairtrade patron Adjoa Andoh will chair a screening of a ‘special cut’ of Caroline’s Story, a ground-breaking new documentary by Nyakobi Kahura. The film is part of a series that showcases how the climate crisis is impacting farming right now, and how through working with Fairtrade, producers are already taking action to overcome these challenges. The ‘Farmers Fighting the Climate Crisis’ virtual event will feature a Q&A with Caroline Rono, a Kenyan coffee farmer featured in the film, and Bernard Njoroge, Senior Program Officer for Kenya at Fairtrade Africa.
Fairtrade Foundation CEO Mike Gidney will host a panel discussion with producer representatives, posing the question ‘what next?’ following the UN climate talks. Taking place at 1pm also on 21st February, the session will include an audience Q&A. Fairtrade producer representatives played an important role at the global event and the session will reveal their vital perspectives on the challenges we face moving forward.
Chef and Fairtrade patron Allegra McEvedy MBE will host ‘Climate education for Climate Justice’ at 4pm on 23rd February, an event to explore the role of the education sector in building a more just, sustainable world for farmers and the planet that we all share. The session acts as a professional learning session for teachers but also goes beyond classroom walls, exploring how institutions, government, individuals, and civil society can work together to create change. Expect to hear from members of the Let’s Go Zero campaign that unites schools to become carbon zero by 2030, youth activist Phoebe L Hanson from Teach The Future, as well as Harriet Lamb CBE, CEO of Ashden, Professor Douglas Bourn, Director of the UCL Development Education Research Centre, and Jennifer Buchan, Primary Teacher at Hutchesons’ Grammar School.
Tune into ‘The Unfair Climate Crisis’ at 6pm on 1st March to hear more about the injustice at the heart of the climate crisis, loss and damage, and need for climate funding to reach farmers. This event will be a discursive exploration of the intrinsic link between climate, trade, and injustice within the context of Fairtrade’s long-term work of improving global trade justice, featuring Mithika Mwenda, Executive Director of Panafrican Climate Justice Alliance, and another special guest to be announced.
Tony’s Chocolonely will collaborate with Fairtrade on a chocolate tasting and quiz at 4pm on Friday 4th March, which will address the issues in cocoa supply chains, the impact of climate change on cocoa farmers, and how Fairtrade and Tony’s help farmers face these challenges. ‘Tony’s & Fairtrade’s choco-quiz & tasting’ will be hosted by Antiracism Educator, Social Activist, Student and Sustainability Advocate, Angel Arutura, and the panel will include Fairtrade cocoa farmer, Deborah Osei–Mensah, Nicola Matthews, Tony’s Countess of Cocoa, as well as the Fairtrade Foundation’s own Cocoa Senior Supply Chain Manager, David Finlay. The first 100 to sign up will receive a free bar of Tony’s, so this is not one to miss!
Many more events organised by Fairtrade’s extensive network of campaigners, partners, brands and retailers and supporters under the umbrella of the festival will run throughout the two-week period. These include events organised by Fairtrade community groups across the UK, events run by Fairtrade’s commercial partners, such as Tony’s Chocolonely, retail partner events, a Fair Focus webinar, two high level policy events engaging our APPG and politicians and much more.
The full line up and exact times for the festival can be found at www.fairtrade.org.uk/choose-the-world-you-want-festival/
This Fairtrade Fortnight is an opportunity for individuals, communities, and businesses around country to stand with farmers in low-income countries like Honduras and Uganda who are impacted daily by climate change.
Sarah Brazier, Campaigns Manager at the Fairtrade Foundation, said: ‘The farmers and workers who grow our food need to be able to adapt to new ways of farming. We have another chance at COP27 this year for world leaders to tackle the climate crisis and secure finance, fast.
‘We hope that joining the festival will encourage support for Fairtrade from the British public and British businesses, who will be inspired to choose Fairtrade and choose the world they want to see – a world where climate justice is a reality for all.’
Each year, thousands of schools, organisations, and communities nationwide play a key role in promoting Fairtrade Fortnight through their own campaigns, events and materials, in order to help raise awareness of the link between trade and poverty. This includes a ‘Fairtrade Walk’ organised by Fairtrade London, to explore the history of trade and exploitation, a virtual baking masterclass with Fairtrade Yorkshire, and an online event on climate, race and fashion with Fair Trade Wales.
As valued members of the Fairtrade movement, thousands of Fairtrade towns, villages, schools, and churches are proud to use Fairtrade products, including tea, coffee, sugar, and biscuits, and to support Fairtrade as a key solution for making trade fairer for those in lower-income countries.
Join us this Fairtrade Fortnight and choose to act for climate justice. To find out more about how to take part in 2022, visit www.fairtrade.org.uk/fortnight
#ChooseFairtrade
#FairtradeFortnight
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For more information, interviews and images, contact: mollie.letherensmith@fairtrade.org.uk
notes for editors
1. About Fairtrade
Fairtrade changes the way trade works through better prices, decent working conditions, and a fairer deal for farmers and workers in low-income countries.
Fairtrade International is an independent non-profit organization representing 1.9 million small-scale farmers and workers worldwide. It owns the FAIRTRADE Mark, a registered trademark of Fairtrade that appears on more than 37,000 products. Beyond certification, Fairtrade International and its member organizations empower producers, partner with businesses, engage consumers, and advocate for a fair and sustainable future.
Fairtrade is committed to fighting the climate crisis. Fairtrade Standards encourage producers to protect the environment by improving soil, planting trees, conserving water and avoiding pesticides, while Fairtrade’s programmes include climate academies for farmers to share best practice. At the same time, Fairtrade makes training available to producers so that they can use the latest agricultural methods, such as intercropping and shade-grown coffee to adapt to conditions.
The FAIRTRADE Mark on a product means that the Fairtrade ingredients in that product have been independently verified by FLOCERT, an independent certifier accredited by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). FLOCERT can and do suspend or, in some cases, even decertify Fairtrade producer organisations if their audit shows that Fairtrade Standards are not being complied with. Find out more at http://www.fairtrade.net
2. Sankofa project
Bismark Kpabitey is part of the Sankofa project. The project ‘Alliances for Sankofa’ is supported by the Coop Sustainability Fund and Chocolats Halba, the Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa (SWISSCO) and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), the International Trade Centre (ITC) and Max Havelaar Foundation Switzerland. It is implemented by ITC together with the Kuapa Kokoo Cooperative Cocoa Farmers and Marketing Union Limited (KKFU) and partners including the Government of Ghana, Fairtrade Africa, WWF Switzerland and the Yam Development Council. Technical support to the project is provided by Ecotop Suisse GmbH, South Pole and the Nature and Development Foundation (NDF).