Aber Environment and Ethics

Kept and maintained by the Environment and Ethics Officer of the Guild of Students at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. All original posts and information provided here are the responsibility of the Environment and Ethics Officer, and are in no way taken to be those of UWA or the Guild of Students.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Fairtrade University?

Fairtrade towns, cities, churches, even countries...so what's different about a Fairtrade University?

Here are the five conditions that need to be met in order to 'be' a Fairtrade University

  • The Student Union and the university authorities both create a Fairtrade policy incorporating these five goals.
  • Fairtrade foods are made available for sale in all campus shops. Fairtrade foods are used in all cafés/restaurants/bars on campus. Where this is not possible, there is a commitment to begin to use Fairtrade foods in these establishments as soon as it becomes possible to do so.
  • Fairtrade foods (for example, coffee and tea) are served at all meetings hosted by the university and the SU, and are served in all university and SU management offices.
  • There is a commitment to campaign for increased Fairtrade consumption on campus.
  • Set up a Fairtrade Steering Group.

Why Fairtrade? Fairtrade delivers a better, fairer deal for farmers through long-term contracts that offer stability and security, bringing labour and environmental standards up instead of pushing them down, and guaranteeing a price so that the farmer isn't left struggling if the market crashes. Furthermore, a social premium is included so that farmers get a bonus to spend on a long-term investment project - education for their children, setting up a local health clinic, improving roads and so forth.

Contact Charlotte (cel4@aber.ac.uk), the Fairtrade coordinator, to get involved!!

Here are some pictures from universities that have been there and done that on Fairtrade (and we're not one of them!!). Oxford Brookes was the first to get Fairtrade University status and Swansea University are the only HE institution in Wales to have Fairtrade status.

Edinburgh University Vice-Chancellor and Student Union President







The cafe at Leeds University - Fairtrade vending machines, little packs of Fairtrade sugar, piles of Fairtrade snack bars...I thought I was in paradise compared to the struggle for Fairtrade here in Aber.

posted by Aber Environment and Ethics @ 9:30 pm 

1 Comments:

Blogger Elsie Wilson said...

"I thought I was in paradise compared to the struggle for Fairtrade here in Aber." Now wait just a minute; Aber itself is a Fairtrade town: There is a whole lot available here, there are cafés, churches, shops.... UWA, i grant you, has struggles, but let's not sell the surrounding town short.

10:09 am  

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