Fairtrade Fortnight 2021

The Fairtrade Foundation is inviting individuals across Britain to take part in an online festival, being launched to highlight how the climate crisis is affecting the future of food and those who produce it. Taking place during Fairtrade Fortnight 2021, from 22 February – 7 March, the Choose the World You Want Festival will feature a series of online events designed to engage, inform and educate people around the urgent message of Fairtrade and climate change.

Fairtrade Fortnight 2021 marks the start of a new climate campaign asking the British public to get behind Fairtrade so that farmers overseas can benefit from fairer prices, fairer trading practices and the resources needed for tackling the climate emergency in climate vulnerable countries such as Kenya and Honduras.

As global trade changes in ways we could not have imagined a year ago, poverty will continue to be a key contributor to further environmental degradation and the inability for farmers to adapt to environmental shocks. The farmers behind some of our favourite foods need empowerment, fair value, fair prices, and fairer trading practices to resource the investment needed for mitigation, adaptation, diversification and resilience in the face of the climate crisis.

As part of the festival The Revd Dr Kevin Snyman, who leads Commitment for Life, the United Reformed Church's (URC) global justice programme, has curated the Fairtrade Foundation's online Ecumenical Service of Worship which focuses on how the climate crisis is affecting the future of food and those who produce it. The online festival will include panel discussions, performances and workshops involving farmers in the developing world.

Dr Snyman, URC Programme Officer for Global Justice and Partnerships, said: "Covid has ripped aside any lingering illusion of the international economic system working for the world's poorest. It offers a forewarning of the devastating disruptions to come because of climate breakdown. The temptation will be to set aside ethical trading to rescue the failing economy, but this is precisely wrong. Now, more than ever, the Church must pray, and agitate, for increased support of Fairtrade, along with complete debt forgiveness. We must place the needs of the poorest producers front and centre in a new, economic and financial architecture that makes a green, anti-racist and anti-elite recovery possible."

"In this critical year for accelerating global efforts to tackle the climate crisis – which is already affecting the livelihoods of farmers on the frontline globally – we hope that joining the festival will inspire renewed support from churches and congregations – from choosing and serving Fairtrade products, to registering or re-committing to be a Fairtrade Church."

Visit the Choose the World You Want Festival: https://www.fairtrade.org.uk/choose-the-world-you-want-festival/