Third International Conference on Gross National Happiness  22-28 November 2007, Nongkhai and Bangkok

As a promoter of sustainable development in Southeast Asia, the HBF Chiang Mai Office was one of the conference's sponsors. In this capacity, we invited three resource persons to actively participate in the conference, in particular in the workshop on "Slow and Fair Trade"....

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"Slow Trade – Sound Farming. A Path to Sustainable Markets?" RCSD public lecture, at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, 29 November 2007

Geneva-based policy consultant Aileen Kwa addressed the politics of trade and agriculture and impacts of international agricultural trade on local livelihood. Trade is often assumed by the developed countries for its broad based development; however, it ignores equal power relations between developing and developed countries, and between transnational corporations and local farmers.

Chomchuan Boonrahong, Director of former HBF partner Institute for Sustainable Agriculture Community (ISAC), highlighted ISAC’s work on self-reliant and ecologically sound organic farming of small farmers, and growing demand in organic products in Chiang Mai.

In October, HBF successfully launched the EcoFair Trade reform proposal "Slow Trade-Sound Farming" in Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila. At these three events, members of the expert panel (Arze Glipo and Aileen Kwa) and one of the authors (Tilman Santarius) presented the publication. The subsequent discussions with multiple stakeholders were thematically embedded in current debates and relevant issues in the resprective countries.

For the program of the Bangkok event
at Chulalongkorn University, see our flyer

EcoFair Trade Dialogue: Reform Proposal published!

Slow Trade – Sound Farming. A Multilateral Framework for Sustainable Markets in Agriculture. Published by Heinrich Böll Foundation & misereor: Berlin 2007; 96 p.; ISBN 978-3-88916-271-7

... This report explores new directions for trade rules beyond the free trade paradigm. Placing the challenges posed to agriculture and rural communities at the center of attention, it proposes political perspectives and policy instruments for a trading system that offers genuine opportunities for the poor, preserves the environment, and helps agriculture leap into the post-fossil age...

To read more and download the reform proposal: http://www.ecofair-trade.org/en/web/Reform_Proposal.html

South and Southeast Asia Regional Consultations May 2006, in Chiang Mai

EcoFair Trade Dialogue Regional Consultations
During 2006, the EcoFair Trade Dialogue project of the Foundation has conducted a series of Regional Consultations. These meetings are stakeholder dialogues, which bring together experts from governmental bodies, civil society organizations, farmer unions, academia, media, and other constituencies. They serve to get feedback and to further develop the ideas and proposals developed by an Expert Panel, along with experiences and realities of the participants. Furthermore, they are intended to root the project and some of its messages and results in the respective world regions. They also hope to support and promote regional dialogue processes on the issues.

South and Southeast Asia Regional Consultation
The second South and Southeast Asia Regional Consultation took place in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on May 30-31, 2006, and was hosted by the Southeast Asia office. Some 35 representatives of NGOs, adademia, parliaments, senates and government institutions joined the event, coming from Thailand, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, The Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia. Participants discussed a draft version of a “Key Messages Paper” that summarizes core ideas and reform proposals of the Expert Panel. In addition, participants discussed the issue of the “Role of Exports”, i.e. which role agricultural exports may play in a country’s overall development, and which experiences have been had with exports in Asia. Discussion then continued with the “Governance of Imports” issue. Participants spoke about their experiences with market liberalization and policies to regulate and govern imports, and which instruments would be needed in the future.

Besides, the issue of “Market Concentration” was on the agenda, looking at the role of transnational corporations within the food chain, respective experiences with corporate practices in the region, and approaches on how to tackle concentration of power in agricultural markets. Resulting from this debate Jayson Cainglet authored the study “From Bottleneck to Hourglass: Issues and Concerns on the Market Concentration of Giant Agrifood Retailers in Commodity Chains and Competition Policies” which has been published as Global Issue Paper no.29.

 http://www.ecofair-trade.org/

The new Global Issue Paper can be downloaded here

• Jayson Cainglet: “From Bottleneck to Hourglass: Issues and Concerns on the Market Concentration of Giant Agrifood Retailers in Commodity Chains and Competition Policies”