Just a few metres from Leuven station, you can book your dream trip at the Reispunt travel agency and savour a fair trade ‘petit noir’ right afterwards at the adjacent Fair Trade coffee shop. While the travel agency offers literally something for everyone, it is Tierra’s nature trips in particular that stand out in the brochure printed in vegetable-based ink.
Freja Food was established in 2000. Now, the company produces more than 20 kinds of biscuits and sells them in more than 300 Belgian wholefood stores. With its traditional cookies, wafers and cakes, Freja Food brings together ingredients from farmers from the North and farmers from the South.
When shopping for a fair product, you will usually look for the Fairtrade label. The trade and development organisation behind this blue and green label, ‘Max Havelaar Belgium’, has been around for 25 years. The organisation recently renamed itself into ‘Fairtrade Belgium’. The ‘Trade, not aid’ baseline has not changed though. Still, the organisation has recently broken new ground by launching South–South trade and the Fairtrade Sourcing Program.
Jules Clarysse started producing bath textiles on a very small scale more than 70 years ago. With an annual production of 20 million bath towels, 20% of which will be fair trade by 2014, Clarysse NV is today the market leader in Europe. Even during the crisis, Clarysse has continued to invest in sustainability.
The Belgian Fair Trade Federation (BFTF) defines itself as the Belgian platform for fair trade. Brought to the baptismal font in 2010 after two years of gestation, it brings together 13 full members and 4 observer members.
Located in the heart of the wooded environment of Heusden-Zolder, Ana Kindermans designs in her workshop jewellery made of fair trade gold. Ana is a pioneer: she is the first Belgian designer to have opted for fair trade gold.
The TDC carried out a market study on wild-sourced botanicals and the EU market, thus anticipating the growing opportunities for these products in the food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. In this context, the study focuses on wild-collected medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) which have a potential for livelihoods enhancement and conservation action. Moreover, these species are assessed in terms of sustainable trade.
Joker and Anders Reizen’s offer consists of sustainable trips with a healthy dose of adventure for young and old. The social responsibility aspect is handled by the subsidiaries ViaVia Tourism Academy and Karavaan. Greet Huybrechts, the sustainability coordinator, has witnessed the transformation of Joker into a tour operator with nine branches in Flanders, proudly bearing a Travelife certificate.
While sipping a Mongozo, a small African fair-trade banana beer, Peter Raymaekers lifts a corner of the veil on the guiding principles of Wereldcafé Leuven, a unique concept that has in fact been in existence for ten years already. The secret of this success? The surprising alliance between a company in the form of a cooperative and an association supported by almost ninety volunteers.
Few countries in the world match Ecuador’s natural beauty and cultural richness. With its coast, its sierra, the Amazon and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador is home to four ecosystems and a rich biodiversity. One quarter of the population is indigenous and still cherishes age-old traditions. The ‘indígenas’ growing self-awareness makes Ecuador a pioneer in developing community-based tourism.
Just a few metres from Leuven station, you can book your dream trip at the Reispunt travel agency and savour a fair trade ‘petit noir’ right afterwards at the adjacent Fair Trade coffee shop. While the travel agency offers literally something for everyone, it is Tierra’s nature trips in particular that stand out in the brochure printed in vegetable-based ink.
Freja Food was established in 2000. Now, the company produces more than 20 kinds of biscuits and sells them in more than 300 Belgian wholefood stores. With its traditional cookies, wafers and cakes, Freja Food brings together ingredients from farmers from the North and farmers from the South.
When shopping for a fair product, you will usually look for the Fairtrade label. The trade and development organisation behind this blue and green label, ‘Max Havelaar Belgium’, has been around for 25 years. The organisation recently renamed itself into ‘Fairtrade Belgium’. The ‘Trade, not aid’ baseline has not changed though. Still, the organisation has recently broken new ground by launching South–South trade and the Fairtrade Sourcing Program.
Jules Clarysse started producing bath textiles on a very small scale more than 70 years ago. With an annual production of 20 million bath towels, 20% of which will be fair trade by 2014, Clarysse NV is today the market leader in Europe. Even during the crisis, Clarysse has continued to invest in sustainability.
The Belgian Fair Trade Federation (BFTF) defines itself as the Belgian platform for fair trade. Brought to the baptismal font in 2010 after two years of gestation, it brings together 13 full members and 4 observer members.
Located in the heart of the wooded environment of Heusden-Zolder, Ana Kindermans designs in her workshop jewellery made of fair trade gold. Ana is a pioneer: she is the first Belgian designer to have opted for fair trade gold.
The TDC carried out a market study on wild-sourced botanicals and the EU market, thus anticipating the growing opportunities for these products in the food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. In this context, the study focuses on wild-collected medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) which have a potential for livelihoods enhancement and conservation action. Moreover, these species are assessed in terms of sustainable trade.
Joker and Anders Reizen’s offer consists of sustainable trips with a healthy dose of adventure for young and old. The social responsibility aspect is handled by the subsidiaries ViaVia Tourism Academy and Karavaan. Greet Huybrechts, the sustainability coordinator, has witnessed the transformation of Joker into a tour operator with nine branches in Flanders, proudly bearing a Travelife certificate.
While sipping a Mongozo, a small African fair-trade banana beer, Peter Raymaekers lifts a corner of the veil on the guiding principles of Wereldcafé Leuven, a unique concept that has in fact been in existence for ten years already. The secret of this success? The surprising alliance between a company in the form of a cooperative and an association supported by almost ninety volunteers.
Few countries in the world match Ecuador’s natural beauty and cultural richness. With its coast, its sierra, the Amazon and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador is home to four ecosystems and a rich biodiversity. One quarter of the population is indigenous and still cherishes age-old traditions. The ‘indígenas’ growing self-awareness makes Ecuador a pioneer in developing community-based tourism.
