Montreal, 14/10/1999 – Montreal and Mexico shade coffee projects among 25 new CEC grants
One in five coffee drinkers in North America is
'very interested' in purchasing shade coffee, according to a study sponsored by
the Montreal-based Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). "If this consumer
interest can be translated into consumer preference, then we could see the market doing
something very good for the environment," says the CEC's Executive Director,
Janine Ferretti.
Shade coffee, so-named because it is grown under the canopy of tropical forests, is
considered environmentally preferable to coffee grown on land where the forest has been
cut down and important wildlife habitat lost. Many Mexican shade coffee farmers rely
entirely on natural predators common to an intact ecosystem, rather than chemical
pesticides, to control pests.
The CEC, established under the NAFTA environmental side accord, focuses particularly on
the environmental implications of trade liberalization among the three NAFTA member
countries. "Here's an area where trade could help save forests that are crucial
in North American ecological terms, and help sustain the livelihoods of peasant farmers
who live there, so naturally we're interested," says Ferretti. "Twenty
percent of a multi-billion dollar industry could really make a difference."
Ferretti released the continent-wide market study today at an event at Café Rico, a
coffee shop in the Plateau area of downtown Montreal that specializes in roasting and
selling 'fairly traded' coffee. The survey of some 2,500 people in Canada,
Mexico and the United States is the largest and most extensive consumer study on the
subject of shade coffee ever conducted.
She also took the opportunity to announce the awarding of grants to two community-based
projects, in Montreal and in Mexico, to nurture the development of the shade coffee
market. The CEC, through its North American Fund for Environmental Cooperation (NAFEC), is
contributing US$38,000 to Equiterre, a Montreal-based NGO that will encourage
importers, roasters, retailers and consumers to purchase fairly-traded and environmentally
sound coffee from Mexico. In Mexico, the NGO Conservation International will
receive US$35,000 to help traditional shade coffee farmers in the Chiapas region develop
the means to participate in the international market.
"Our best work is when we're involved at both the community and continental
levels," says Ferretti. "Both perspectives are needed if you want to do
something that is actually sustainable. In this case, these two NAFEC projects not only
reinforce our work in shade coffee, but offer some concrete responses to questions of
general concern to us regarding how to promote trade in green goods and services."
The CEC announced 25 NAFEC grants today, totaling US$1million of which the shade coffee
projects are but two of the recipients (for complete list of NAFEC grants announced today,
please see CEC press release, "25 Environmental Projects receive $1 million from
CEC," or http://www.cec.org.
The CEC is planning a conference in Mexico early in the new year at which participants
in every stage of the coffee production, marketing, distribution and retail process will
gather to identify blockages in bringing shade coffee to market and possible solutions.
For more information, call Charles Dickson
at the CEC in Montreal (514) 350-4308, e-mail cdickson@ccemtl.org
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