How does fair market sustain banana production if the bananas are already in sustainable supply through an unfair market?
I disagree.
One fair trade principle appears to be sustainability. In a free market, this just isn't possible - even if you remove any societal or ethical injustice and have two states where there is nothing holding them back but their own economies.
Resources.
Natural resources. When I first came to BC there were signs every where that forestry was a sustainable industry. But over logging has taken all the economically viable trees and the industry is now struggling. I've talked to loggers who knew 15 years ago that their children would never be able to work in the industry because of unsustainable practices. We do not have an infinite supply f resources and eventually will run out. But we will probably choke to death in our own sh!t (pollution) before that happens.Sustainability of what?
I disagree. Regulation and trade barriers aren't necessarily the same thing. Economic policy apoplying within a country's borders that are not intended to discriminate against imports is not a trade barrier per se since local and foreign producers must abide by the same rules. For example, a Canadian breakfast cereal producer must print the box bilingually in French and English, as do his foreign competitors. This policy does not apply to the competitors only and so does not discriminate and is thus still free trade.
What were the signs?Natural resources. When I first came to BC there were signs every where that
forestry was a sustainable industry.
Funny!What were the signs?
Resources.
Right, but this doesn't deny that even with trade barriers in place, unregulated free trade could still be harmful to sustainable development.
How can any determination of sustainability really be made if we don't fully understand the supply and can't predict the demand?
You cannot have totally free trade with trade barriers by definition, since trade barriers limit free trade by definition.
Those are some of the key questions that are acknowledged in economic feasibility studies.
Those are some of the key questions that are acknowledged in economic feasibility studies.
Sorry, I misread your earlier post about trade barriers and free trade.
The point still stands that free trade does not magically allow for sustainable development.
Do you think that going head to head with this chunk of forest and it's close location to high demand markets had anything to do it?
Fair enough, but if that is a critical factor in the fair trade equation, I can't see there being any progress in the efforts.
Let's not forget the big picture here; you are still trying to compare 2 (or multiple) economies, cultures, etc and attempting to make them 'equal' in terms of fairness... The goal in this case is a pipe dream at best
No it doesn't, but they are two separate issues. You could have fair trade but unsustainable develoment just as you could have unfair trade but still sustainable development. In some respects they are two separate debates.