Action Briefing Apr 2004 - May 2004
	The Newsletter of Birmingham Friends of the Earth

On the Fairtrade Treasure Trail

Birmingham Friends of the Earth held a Fairtrade Treasure Hunt on Saturday 6th March to mark Fairtrade Fortnight and promote the work of Fairtrade Association Birmingham (FAB), the new coalition of local groups working with the City Council to achieve Fairtrade City status for Birmingham this year.

Twelve teams of contestants followed a trail of City Centre cafes and shops (each of which stocks at least one Fairtrade product), hunting down pieces of a treasure map to claim a Fairtrade prize.

The Treasure Hunt was a fun event but there was a serious message behind it too. Although the prices we pay for commodities such as coffee, tea and chocolate have not risen in real terms over the last forty years, the costs of their production in the developing world has risen substantially. Farmers and growers are having to work harder and longer for less money; many are forced into crippling debt or may even have to leave their land and homes altogether when, as happens frequently, market prices take a downturn.

It’s ten years the launch of the Fairtrade Mark, the Fairtrade Foundation’s independent consumer label that guarantees UK products bearing the Mark have been produced under equitable terms of trade and decent working conditions for growers. Fairtrade organisations offer stability, paying up to 50% of the price in advance, often releasing growers and their families from years of debt. They also provide a premium that producers can reinvest either in their business or in helping their local community and environment.

Birmingham Friends of the Earth would like to thank everyone who took part in and helped organise the Treasure Hunt, especially Sara, Andy, Sally and Lucy, and John Boyle of West Mids Co-op. The participating shops and cafes were: the One Earth Shop and Warehouse Cafe; Carrs Lane Church Centre; Oxfam shop and cafe (Corporation Street); Shared Earth; St. Martins in the Bullring; Costa Coffee; Pret a Manger; Edwardian Tea Rooms, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery; and (somewhat controversially!) Starbucks who donated the first prize, Fairtrade filter coffee and chocolate with a cafetiere and mugs. Well done to the winning team, the Monkeys, and to the runners up, the Cavaliers and the Moseley Moles.

For more information about Fairtrade visit the Fairtrade Foundation website www.fairtrade.org.uk, call 020 7405 5942 or email mail@fairtrade.org.uk.

James Botham