Martin Whitfield MSP has signed up to support a parliamentary motion backing this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight.

This year the annual campaign, coordinated by the Fairtrade Foundation and which takes place between 27 February and 12 March, focuses on the climate crisis.

It is helping highlight the increasing threat that the crisis poses to some of the planet’s most beloved food products and the livelihoods of the farmers and agricultural workers who grow them.

Martin Whitfield MSP said: 

“I have been a long term supporter of the Fairtrade movement and welcome the positive economic, environmental and social benefits it can bring for some of the poorest farmers, workers and communities around the world.

“10 years on from Scotland becoming a Fair Trade Nation, the issue remains as important as ever, with Fairtrade standards being instrumental in helping to tackle poverty, empower producers, promote sound environmental practices and encourage fair employment. 

“I welcome the work undertaken by everyone who is active in supporting and promoting the Fairtrade movement and wish all of the local organisations participating in this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight every success with their activities.”

The full motion supporting Fairtrade Fortnight is as follows:

That the Parliament marks Fairtrade Fortnight 2023, which takes place between 27 February and 12 March and focuses on the climate crisis and the increasing threat that this poses to some of the planet’s most beloved food products and the livelihoods of the farmers and agricultural workers who grow them; understands that Fairtrade Fortnight is an annual initiative, coordinated by the Fairtrade Foundation, which aims to highlight the message that, whatever your budget and wherever you shop, when you choose Fairtrade, you support farmers to take care of the environment through the Fairtrade price, its Premium and its programmes; acknowledges that the first Fairtrade Fortnight took place in Scotland, directed by Barnaby Miln, and campaigned to get every supermarket in Scotland to stock Fairtrade products; supports the Fairtrade standards, designed to tackle poverty and empower producers, which include economic criteria such as a minimum pricing safety net, environmental criteria such as emphasising ecologically and agriculturally sound practices and the promotion of organic production, and social criteria such as requirements for democratic self-organisation, collective bargaining, fair employment practices, women’s empowerment and prohibitions on forced and child labour; believes that, by learning about how everyone is connected through the things that people eat, drink and wear, everyone is better equipped to shape a more compassionate and sustainable world, and wishes everyone involved with Fairtrade Fortnight every success with the 2023 campaign and their year-round efforts.

Find out more about this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight in Scotland at www.scottishfairtradeforum.org.uk/news/fairtrade-fortnight-2023