Fair trade in forest products: policy lessons

This paper examines the contribution that fair trade schemes in forestry products make to eradicate poverty. It considers the wider impacts on the local economy and explores successes, difficulties and limitations based on two case studies, a Peruvian nut collector and an Ecuadorian cocoa exporter.

The author’s core assertion is that Fair trade schemes in forest products can bring benefits to poor and isolated forest dwellers. The case studies demonstrate that good practices introduced by fair trade schemes may spread wider than the scheme. A good example of this is in Ecuador where practices such as increased transparency in weighing, pricing and grading cocoa have begun to be adopted by traders in the conventional trading chain. The authors also stress the importance of including all parties involved in social and environmental impact assessment.

Policy conclusions on fair trade in forestry products include that:

• in assessing the part of fair trade schemes in poverty eradication, impacts on participants, non-participants and the spread of good practice need to be considered
• only certain types of commodity supply chains are appropriate for fair-trade initiatives
• for best results, the trading environment in the country of origin has to be conducive to transparency and equity
• donors should be open-minded regarding the types of responsible business initiatives that they support