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Centad joined hands on May 9, 2009 with Fair Trade Forum, India to celebrate World Fair Trade Day in Agra with a local producers’ organisation named Pushpanjali. Pushpanjali works with twelve small producers’ organizations in Agra committed to the ethical practices of Fair Trade. WFTO President Mr. Paul Myers was the chief guest on the occasion.
Centad in collaboration with Fair Trade Forum India and Pushpanjali, Agra organized a seminar on “The seminar on climate change, fair trade and its impact on human life” in the premises of R.B.S. Degree College, Agra. The key objective of the seminar was to make students, public, and producers aware about the urgency of Climate Change and significance of Fair Trade in the midst of increasing threat to the lives on the planet due to Climate Change. The half a day seminar comprised of two panel discussions .While the first panel discussion was chaired by Mr. Paul Mayers, Linu Mathew Philip from Centad was the chair for the second panel discussion. The Key speakers at the seminar were: Prof. S.Sharma from WFTO, Mr. Kumar Gautam from Centad and Mr. SVS Chauhan, Dr. R.S Verma, Dr. Ranjit Kumar, Dr. Mridula Singhal, and Mr. Bhuvnesh Singhal from R.B.S Degree college, Agra. The discussions were jointly moderated by O.P Yadav of Fair Trade Forum, India and S.C. Mittal of Pushpanjali.
Paul Mayers, the president of World Fair Trade Organisation, Netherlands said that Fair Trade is being celebrated in more than seventy countries and millions of people around the world take a pledge today to commit to fair trade. The world is facing a financial crisis but more worrisome is the fact the planet is facing an environmental crisis. Climate Change is no more an issue of conjecture, Paul Mayer said. Highlighting the need to imbibe Fair Trade in our day to day lives and making an urgent appeal to the youth to practice fair trade, he further remarked that “Fair Trade is essentially an attitude and if translated in behavior, it has the potential to resolve the crises of world, be it food crisis, financial crisis, fuel crisis, or the crisis of Climate change.”
Kumar Gautam in his address narrated a few excerpts from relevant literature to bring home the point the farmers and artisan together form very significant group of producers both in terms of their number and also the nature of their produce but unfortunately they are also the poorest and most vulnerable sections of society. The current neo-classical development, where price signal the quality of the produce, has not done justice to them. Hence there is a need for paradigm shift where quality must signal the price, hands must precede machine, wages are fair, and production, consumptions and livelihoods are sustainable. Gautam also discussed the issues involved in Climate Change UNFCCC negotiations and reiterated that developed countries must shoulder the responsibility of reducing their carbon emissions and provide the required finance and technology to help developing countries mitigate the adverse impacts of Climate change. He concluded by emphasizing on the need to involve the communities in the policymaking and planning actions to fight climate change, without which the entire purpose would be meaningless.
SVS Chauhan, the third speaker made a very illustrative presentation and declared Climate Change a catastrophe more dangerous even than the world war III, if any. He sensitized the youth about the biting realities of Climate Change and urged the students to come forward with resolve to avert the crisis. The following speakers stressed on the need for Green Living and showing considerations for not just people but also about plants, animals, and the places they live. Green living means thinking about climate change and energy use, as well as about biological diversity and the well-being of those who draw their livelihoods from nature. Thinking greener, act green and live green was the clarion call given to the youth. For this, it was further pointed out that the first step toward being a responsible green citizen is becoming aware about the issues and taking time to think about them. “Be aware of the impact your lifestyle has on the environment and know your options. Living green is about making responsible decisions”- the speakers said. One of spekers said “we have the power to choose what you spend your money on. Consume less. In a nut shell, be a green Consumer.” The presenters informed the students about variety of ways how carbon emission can be reduced by making wiser decisions in day to day life and their life styles.
The panel discussion that proceeded after the Inaugural session was chaired by Linu Mathew Philip, Acting Executive Director, Centad and the participants included Dr. Siya Ram Sharma, Joint Director, Health Department, Agra; Dr. Mridula Singhal, Professor of Department of Commerce;Mr. Bhuvnesh Singhal, Mechanical Engineer, Dayal Bagh Deemed University, Agra and Prof. Ranjit Kumar, Professor of Water Pollution, Dayal Bagh Deemed University, Agra. The panel discussed the context of the Climate Change negotiation under the UNFCCC, problems and solutions to overcome the climate change crisis. The discussions tooks place on a wide range of issues ranging from medical problems,mitigation process and day-to-day activities which contribute to aggravation of climate change. The main conclusion arising from the discussion was the need for effective technology diffusion and the concerted effort on part of academia, civil society and policy makers to enable a technology environment which can mitigate and adapt to the challenges of the climate change.
Prior to the seminar earlier during the day, more than 500 students from school and colleges participated in 4 kms long Marathon race for awareness building on fair trade & climate change at Eklavya Sports Stadium of Agra.T-shirts were distributed to the participants on the occasion.
Participants of Marathon race with Fair Trade message
After this, representatives from Centad interacted with small producers, artisans and craftsmen of Agra at Pushpanjali’s office and received open feedback from the producers. A presentation about Pushpanjali’s work was also delivered.
Presentation by Pushpanjali Members
The excitement of the fair trade day celebration reached its fever pitch at 1:30 pm. The moment was marked with “BEATING THE DRUM” to beat climate change and beat financial crisis. In about seventy countries across the world people joined together and beat the drum to strengthen their resolve to beat climate change and beat financial crisis.
Picture above shows Mr. Paul Myers, WFTO Chief and Acting ED of Centad Linu Mathew Philip, enthusiastically Beating the Drums.
The moment witnessed overwhelming response from all sections of society and people came forward to beat the drum transcending the parochial borders of caste, class, religion and gender. A press conference and mass pledge and swearing-in event followed to adopt fair trade and save the planet.
All the events were widely covered by the print media and electronic media .While local media houses in Agra Sea New, and Moon News prominently covered the event, the national new channels such as Jain TV, ANS, Zee News also covered. News Papers like Amar Ujala, Hindustan, DLA, I next, Compact, and Akinchitya Bharat reported the event in fair detail.
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