Camborne On The Way To Becoming A Fair Trade Town

4.26.58pm GMT Mon 19th Mar 2007

As Julia discovered, the Fairtrade label can be founds on a wide range of tasty products

On Saturday 10th March, Julia Goldsworthy opened Camborne's Fairtrade Market in the town square. The event was held as part of the wider nationwide Fairtrade fortnight designed to raise awareness of ethical trade. Ms Goldsworthy has lent her strong support to this ever growing consumer and trade issue.

Led by Oak and supported by Camborne Town and Kerrier Councils, Camborne is on its way to joining an elite number of other towns across Britain and Europe by becoming a Fairtrade town.

There are very real positive effects of buying Fair Trade products. A small change in shopping behaviour towards buying Fairtrade can mean a nurse being employed by a village, the building of a schoolhouse or a diversification in farm production.

Income from Fairtrade products is guaranteed to return to the producer, where it can be then decided by the local community where the funds can be best used. It is this type of localisation that we need to aspire too if we are to ensure sustainable futures for all.

Commenting, Julia Goldsworthy MP said:

"Ethical shopping has rocketed in recent years as consumers awareness of global social and environmental issues has developed. Living in a global village, our actions as consumers have direct impacts upon communities thousands of miles away.

"Through local markets like this we can raise the profile of this brilliant initiative and demonstrate how, as consumers, we can make simple changes to our weekly shop to ensure a huge and positive impact on the lives of those producers who were once at the mercy of commodity markets that disregard social and environmental issues.

"My office will now be converting to Fairtrade, offering only Faitrade products to everyone who comes through our doors."

Brian Terry who helped to organise the Fair Trade market said:

"I'm delighted that the Fairtrade market was such a success, it was a very enjoyable day. It's wonderful that we have the opportunity to raise Camborne's status and generate publicity for the town whilst supporting such a worthy initiative.

"Offering a wide variety of Fairtrade goods will be good for local traders and Camborne shoppers as well as disadvantaged producers in the developing world. There are over 2500 Fair Trade products available, ranging from coffee to rugby balls and over one in two people now recognise the Fair Trade logo. As awareness of the initiative grows and environmental issues rise up the agenda, so opportunities for the town will also develop.

"On Saturday we collected over 200 signatures supporting Camborne's ambition to become a Fairtrade town. We aim to have submitted our application to the Fairtrade Foundation within a month. We already have more Fairtrade events in the pipeline, including a stall at Trevithick Day and a fashion show during the summer which I hope will be a fantastic event."