Balancing the cost of food air miles: Listening to trade and environmental concerns
17 September 2007
Related pages: Millennium
Development Goal 7: Environment |
Millennium Development Goal 8: Trade
Trade is fundamental to development. To beat world poverty, it is essential
that economic growth is encouraged in the world's poorest countries. They must
be able to trade on the global market, exporting their goods freely and getting
a fair price for them.
However, exporting goods can mean transporting them by air. When we consider
that the reduction of carbon emissions and protection of the environment are
also crucial to development, we are presented with a dilemma. Do we, in rich
countries, help poor countries to trade their way out of poverty by buying their
exports, or do we say no to air-freighting and buy local produce instead?
Banning air-freighting hits poor farmers
This is a question that the UK Trade and Development Minister Gareth Thomas
addressed at a debate on 17th September.
The debate follows the
 Soil Association's decision to look into the possibility
of withdrawing its organic certificates from air-freighted produce. Soil
Association certificates make it clear to consumers that a product has been
grown organically; if they were removed from goods transported by air-freight,
consumers choosing to buy organic may select another product, one grown locally
rather than imported from a developing country.
 Image courtesy of Sven Torfinn/Panos Pictures
At the debate, research was launched by the
International Trade Centre into
the impact for African farmers of a ban on air-freighted organic produce. DFID
believes that the Soil Association should not remove certification, because of
the harm it could do to farmers in developing countries, and also because it
would do little to solve climate change.
With British shoppers spending over £1 million every day on African fruit and
vegetables, and supplies of organic African produce growing, a ban could result
in the loss of a valuable market and affect many small farmers. Recent estimates
suggest that almost a million rural African livelihoods depend at least partly
on the fruit and vegetable trade with the UK. Also, studies show that organic
farming can be more profitable than conventional methods of production. As
organic horticultural exports from the developing world to Europe are calculated
to be worth US$100 million a year, it is important that the UK continues to buy
these goods and support this trade.
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Key facts on trade |
- Driving six and a half miles to buy your shopping emits
more carbon than flying a pack of Kenyan green beans to the
UK.
- British shoppers spend over £1 million a day on imported
fruit and vegetables from Africa and the livelihoods of more
than a million farmers and their families depend on this
trade.
- Air-freighting fruit and vegetables from Africa accounts
for less than one-tenth of 1% of the UK's greenhouse gas
emissions.
- Research from Cranfield University shows that the
emissions produced by growing flowers in Kenya and flying
them to the UK can be less than a fifth of those grown in
heated and lighted greenhouses in Holland.
- The organic fruit, vegetable and flower export trade to
Europe is worth an approximate US$100 million annually in
exports from developing countries.
- In 2005, the value of fruit and vegetables air-freighted
to the UK from Africa north of South Africa and south of the
Sahara was £200 million.
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Taking account of the environmental cost
While DFID welcomes the Soil Association's concern about the impact of food
production on climate change, the air-freighting of fruit and vegetables counts
for only a small proportion (less than 1%) of UK greenhouse gas emissions. There
can be no denying that food transport has an environmental and social cost, but
most of this (about 85%) comes from UK roads.
As Gareth Thomas said at the debate:
"...the distance food has travelled is not a good way to judge whether the
food we eat is sustainable. Driving 6.5 miles to buy your shopping emits more
carbon than flying a pack of Kenyan green beans to the UK."
 Image courtesy of Mark Henley/Panos Pictures
There
is a need to compare the social cost of carbon emissions with the benefits that
arise from trade. At the same time, tackling climate change is a priority in the
fight against world poverty. The only fair option, which considers the
livelihoods of those in developing countries as well as the need to
protect the environment, is to ensure that the prices of the goods we consume
cover the costs of their environmental impact, wherever they are from and
however they are produced.
The UK Government must work towards this goal, and is currently leading
international efforts to make the price of air transport take account of its
highly significant effect on the environment. The Government is also encouraging
more
efficient distribution within the food and drink sector, and has proposed
that food industry trade bodies look into achieving
a
20% reduction in the social costs of transporting food in the UK by 2012.
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How you can make a difference
In the developed world, we must support the growth of poor countries'
economies while reducing the impact of food production and consumption on the
environment. DFID welcomes the introduction by
Marks
and Spencer and
Tesco
of air-freight labels on their products, and the commitment of the
Co-op
Group to “to reduce carbon but never at the expense of the world’s poorest”.
We can all do our bit to help development by continuing to buy fruit and
vegetables imported from Africa, and paying a fair price that reflects the
carbon footprint of these imports. And we can consider ways to make our food
shopping trips more sustainable, for example by fitting them into fewer visits
to supermarkets, farmers markets or local shops. It is important that, as
consumers, we are aware of the wider impact of food consumption, from farm to
fork.
But, as the Co-op Group have said, we must "ensure that the world's poorest producers are not penalised for what are essentially the sins of world's
richest consumers." In Kenya, for example, carbon emissions are 200 kg a head,
while in the UK they are almost 50 times that. African economies are currently
growing by around 5% or more - in part due to agricultural exports. Agriculture remains the most likely source of economic growth
and poverty reduction in most African countries. If Africa is to grow by 7%, and
halve poverty, get its children into school and achieve the Millennium
Development Goals, it must be free to trade with the rest of the world.
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More on trade and the environment
To find out more about how DFID is combating world poverty by promoting trade
and tackling climate change, please follow these links:
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