The Guardian UK

Trade Aid

They both have their pros and cons and Rainforest Alliance certification is better than nothing, but I would still put the Fairtrade Foundation ahead of it easily.

McCafe could do a lot better in my opinion as I think they have taken the cheap option to appease a public they believe want to be more ethical but may not research the ins and outs of the certification. It’s all about awareness and then acting on what we know and value.

On this topic, I have been happy to see BP take up Fairtrade certification on the coffee they use in their Wild Bean Cafes.

There is another method that can be mentioned here as well – direct trade – where coffee suppliers work directly with co-ops to bring a product that has been purchased directly at a good price. This can involve a need for more direct questioning of how a product was sourced.

I don’t know enough about the diamond trade to say much there, but I like your question about ‘labels’ that relate to what we’re talking about.

It comes down to research and knowing what the standards and processes are for the different labels.

There are no regulations around the use of such certifications except use of such labels where permission has not been given by the governing body of that certification standard to use its logo.

The one being used by McCafe is an interesting one. Essentially it is an environmental regulator, not a trade regulator. It provides no guarantees on what is being paid to growers of the product and only a percentage (30% I think) of the sold product needs to meet the requirements of the certificatoin. That means that if one were to buy a bag of coffee beans using the label used by McCafe, only 30% of those beans need to meet the requirements – thus you have no guarantees on how the other 70% have been produced.

The label in question is the Rainforest Alliance Certification.

Here are two places to check it out:
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/certification.cfm?id=main

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainforest_Alliance

The best thing to do is find valid criticisms and decide if you can live with those criticisms. If not, boycotting the product may be a valid form of shopping activism.

The diamond issue is an interesting one, because of course, not all diamonds are unethically gained, but it can be a tricky process trying to work out whether or not the diamond being purchased is a ‘conflict’ diamond.

Have you seen the movie, Blood Diamond?

Here is some interesting information from the UN, on conflict diamonds:
http://www.un.org/peace/africa/Diamond.html