The Forest Foundation, Inc.

From December 6th - 8th, The Forest Foundation, a Durham-based organization, was invited to participate in the African Growth and Opportunities Act Forum in Washington, D.C. The controversial AGOA legislation was passed during the Clinton Administration to assist in economic development of Africa and to address the growing crises in HIV-AIDS and underdevelopment of the continent.

A key component under AGOA is that imports from identified nations receive special duty and tariff reductions. As well, companies wanting to do business in Africa are given lavish investment advantages. The conference was divided into three divisions: ministerial level, government to government talks; non-governmental organizations (NGO) addressing social issues; and business and enterprise development.

The Foundation participated in the Hand Craft track of the Business Development division, where artisans from over 20 countries were brought to D.C. for a series of training seminars and opportunities to network with and sell crafts to several large buyers, including TJ Maxx, Smithsonian Stores and Eziba.com, as well as to other smaller importers. The fact that crafts were being addressed as a mechanism for development was a great achievement. However, some large buyers are known for unfair trade practices: playing producers off against one another, beating them down on prices to gain volume discounts (a concept foreign to most artisans who gain few advantages with larger orders) and taking advantage of artisans who do not understand or calculate the true value of their labor.

There was much controversy over the Agri-business track, which was heavily represented and supported by U.S. multi-national corporations, like Con-Agra, Monsanto and Hershey’s (West Africa is the largest producing region for cacao, a portion of which is known to be harvested by child labor). Controversy centers on the requirement of African nations to extend lenient trade terms to U.S. businesses, where large corporations can exert their comparative advantage. In addition, these agri-businesses can take advantage of poor regulations in these developing countries, which are desperate for investment, to introduce genetically modified organisms (GMO’s) as well as industrial agricultural systems for increased food production. Though these countries are in great need of improved efficiency in food production to feed growing populations on less land, while reducing devastating pressures on their biologically diverse resources, it is questionable whether western-styled, high-input, agri-systems hold as much promise as more localized, sustainable, mixed, agro-forestry regimes. Of great concern is the impact AIDs (as well as political instability and global climate change) will have on agricultural production as working age populations die, leaving only the very young and old to work the fields.

Many African representatives voiced despair that U.S. trade representatives were not hearing them and their concerns over the “one sided” negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Many realized that without Europe and the U.S. reducing subsidies to their own agricultural sectors and reducing tariffs on foreign goods, Africa was never going to be able to compete, or develop. As well, African artisans who produce brilliant variety of textiles and crafts were having difficulty in the global market because of the competitive advantage of Asia in manufacturing, cheap labor and China’s success in keeping its currency artificially low, making goods from other countries seem high.

The Foundation’s goal in attending was to identify fair trade, producer groups and artisans working in natural fibers and in areas of high biodiversity. The Foundation initiated a relationship with a Rwandan PEACE basket project dedicated to assisting rural women in recovery from the horrible genocide, where over 1 million people had been killed. Women have had to take up the burden of rebuilding their country because of the high mortality of men during the conflict. After recent elections, over half of Rwanda’s parliament is now represented by women! Rwanda is also home to the last populations of the highly endangered Mountain Gorillas, who have also suffered from warfare, bush-meat trade and political instability of their brethren. Wild populations of gorillas are expected to go extinct in the next 20 years. Political instability has lead to reduced tourism visitation, an important source of revenue for these nations.

The Forest Foundation, based in Durham, North Carolina, is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization that works to promote and support sustainable livelihoods through model programs in environmental education, green business, and fair trade.