Fairly Nuts

Earlier this month the Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO) announced new Fairtrade standards for soybeans and pulses. This is particularly exciting news for vegetarians and vegans who can now expect a (small) wave of Fairtrade-marked chickpea, lentil, soya and other bean products to appear on our shelves over the next year. Personally I will be lobbying hard to be able to enjoy a fully Fairtrade falafel and houmous wrap before the end of the summer.

Far more importantly, there is now the potential for smallholder farmers in countries such as Ethiopia, Burma and Paraguay to benefit from minimum prices, stable contracts and a social premium for their community of up to $80 a tonne for organic pulses. Pulses and beans can also be grown in between wheat, rice and other crops, thereby maximising yields and providing income from supplying both local and international markets.

I’d like to think that those with enough of a social conscience to buy Fairtrade also care about their environment.  In September, Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) made a first attempt at frankness in relation to meat and climate change.  There is no getting around the fact that a growing world appetite for meat is a major barrier to cutting emissions. Pachauri points to UN figures that show total emissions from meat production far exceeding those of transport (18% and 13% of global emissions respectively). As with so many things, moderation is probably the key but we have somehow to invert ‘Meat-free Mondays’ to a equivalent (‘Chewy Tuesdays’?) where meat is no longer the norm. There is probably a case for local small-scale meat production but there is simply no justification for the rainforest-trashing model that supplies us at the moment.

I doubt that we will see any great increase in enthusiasm for vegetarianism in the ‘hard-up’ year ahead, despite the savings to be made. It would be nice, though, if we could elevate the issue of food to the same level as energy and transport in the climate debate. If food could receive as much media scrutiny as these two sectors  (and move on from simplified damnation of food miles)  then I think the message of climate change could engage and resonate with a much bigger proportion of the world.