The Government has walked away from its treaty obligations on climate change, writes Barry Coates, Executive Director of Oxfam New Zealand.
New Zealand
Our land, our lives: Time out on the global land rush
Land seven and a half times the size of the New Zealand was sold off globally in the last decade, enough to grow food for a billion people. This is the equivalent to the number of people who go hungry in the world today. Already an area of land the size of Auckland is being sold to foreign investors every four days in poor countries. As the world’s leading standard-setter and a big investor itself, the World Bank should freeze its own land investments and review its policy and practice to prevent land-grabbing. In the past the Bank has chosen to freeze lending when poor standards have caused dispossession and suffering. It needs to do so again, in order to play a key role in stopping the global land rush.
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Thousands of Kiwis to take a Coffee Break for Oxfam this Fair Trade Fortnight
This Fair Trade Fortnight (May 7 -22) thousands of Kiwis will take part in Oxfam’s Biggest Coffee Break – a nationwide Oxfam event, aimed at raising awareness of Fairtrade and raising funds for Oxfam’s work towards a just world without poverty.
[Read more…] about Thousands of Kiwis to take a Coffee Break for Oxfam this Fair Trade Fortnight
Submission on the proposed amendment of Article 3 of the Australia New Zealand Closer Economic Rela
As Commerce Minister Simon Power noted when announcing the conclusion of the review of trading rules between New Zealand and Australia “an important aspect of [CER] and its success is that both countries have continued to work at it to ensure it remains a living agreement.” The same could be said of any successful trade agreement, however, the attention paid to the rules of origin for the CER stands in stark contrast to work done on keeping the rules for our Pacific neighbours up-to-date. This submission from Oxfam New Zealand calls on New Zealand and Australia to immediately improve the rules for Pacific exporters.
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Tackling Poverty Through Trade: How New Zealanders buying Fairtrade benefits producers in developing
While the market for Fairtrade in New Zealand is still relatively small it has experienced very healthy and sustained growth since its beginnings in 2004. Initially nine companies were involved in selling Fairtrade coffee and tea. Retail sales reached NZ$261,050 in 2004 and in 2008 the New Zealand Fairtrade market growth in was 69 per cent. By 2009, the number of New Zealand companies licensed to sell Fairtrade products increased to 51 and their combined retail sales topped NZ$17.5 million. This growth in Fairtrade retail sales is great news for small-scale farmers and workers in developing countries. Increased Fairtrade sales means that more trade is taking place under Fairtrade conditions and that more farmers and workers are receiving the economic, social and environmental benefits of Fairtrade. This report has been produced by Fairtrade Labelling Australia & New Zealand (FLANZ) and Oxfam New Zealand. Analysis has covered the period of New Zealand Fairtrade purchases and sales from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2009.
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