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Get the knowledge: How products impact poverty
Fair and ethical trade means rights and fair pay for workers, and high-quality, ethically produced products.
The global trade of goods and services is made up of complicated, sprawling networks: individual products will pass through many hands – often in multiple geographical locations – before they arrive on shop shelves.
At the top of these convoluted supply chains are the major brands and companies whose products form part of everyday life for many. At the bottom are the workers responsible for actually making them.
In a bid to save money on costs, many brands and companies locate their operations in countries that are less economically-developed, where labour is cheaper and there are fewer rules around working conditions.
This means that workers, including children, are often exploited and made to work long hours in unsafe environments for little pay and few opportunities to contribute to the economic and social development of their communities. These operations are often environmentally damaging, too.
These unjust practices have a terrible impact on the lives of those being exploited, but they also affect everyone else. As evidenced by the impacts of Covid-19, Brexit and the war in Ukraine, our global trade networks are already fragile.
Escalating environmental challenges only threaten them further, as so many workers are on the frontline of climate change facing crop failure, drought, flooding and other natural disasters, putting their livelihoods and global supplies at risk. As such, we need fair and ethical global trade to ensure safe, secure and sustainable supply chains.
Fair trade initiatives
There are a number of global initiatives in place to drive fairer and more ethical global trade. One of the most well-known is Fairtrade, designed to make sure farmers and workers around the world get a fair deal for the products they grow and make that are traded across the world.
Under the system, producers of everything from coffee and flowers to makeup and clothing are guaranteed workers’ rights, safer working conditions and fairer pay. This in turn leads to wider positive change, such as developing women in leadership, and investment in climate-friendly farming techniques.
There are more than 1.66 million farmers and workers in over 1,400 organisations across the Fairtrade system around the world, making products for small businesses and major brands alike. If a product is Fairtrade, it will bear the Fairtrade logo on its packaging. Obtaining certification to display the logo on products is a rigorous process, with companies having to meet a strict set of criteria that proves their products are up to Fairtrade’s high standards. Swapping items on your shopping list for a Fairtrade alternative helps to support the cause.
Then there’s IDH, a sustainable trade initiative which brings together more than 600 companies and governments to drive sustainable trade models in emerging countries. Since its launch in 2008, the programme has reached more than four million farmers in 30 countries.
There’s also the Global Living Wage Coalition, which operates in 44 countries to ensure workers afford a decent standard of living that includes food, water, housing, education, healthcare, transport, clothing and other essential needs including provision for unexpected events.
As the International Labor Organization points out in its 2019 Spotlight on Work Statistics report, simply having a job is no guarantee of decent living conditions, with 20% of people living in poverty despite being in employment.
As the stats show, however, the majority of these individuals are located in the global south, in areas where exploitation is common. In Africa, for example, 32.6% of people with jobs are classed as ‘extremely poor’ compared to just 1.4% in the Americans and 1.1% in Europe.
Check it out
For more information on these issues:
- The Fairtrade Foundation’s guide to Fairtrade
- Sustainable trade initiative IDH
- The Global Living Wage Coalition
- The International Labor Organizations Spotlight on Work Statistics report
- The Consumer Goods Forum’s Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative
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