No climate resilience without trade justice: joint position paper for COP25

This position paper is a joint statement from the global fair trade movement, including Fairtrade International, on the occasion of the COP25 climate summit in Madrid, 2-13 December 2019. The Amazon fires and the social explosions sparked by environmental degradation across the planet, coupled with globe-spanning strikes on Fridays for Future, bring to light the emergency of the climate crisis facing the planet at the time of the 25th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), COP25. At the centre of the crisis are smallholder farmers, who increasingly struggle with droughts, floods and with changing and unpredictable weather patterns. Many are abandoning their fields and migrating as their adaptation strategy of last resort. Concrete and ambitious action is urgently needed to redress the concerns surrounding migration and food security risks that haunt the world’s SDG aspirations. That is why the global Fair Trade movement urges the Parties of the UNFCCC to recognise that fair trading policies and practices are a crucial component of climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. Urgent investment is needed to build a climate-resilient economy based on social and economic justice.