Tools of the trade

At www.mathiasandamadou-thegame.eu/ you can play (in several languages) an interactive game sending you on different missions taking place around Africa, facing various sorts of problems. You can win a downloadable African music album as well as have your personalised t-shirts printed

Our position and suggested pledges to MEP candidates

RISC has published a reader which tries to make the complex world of trade agreements more comprehensible and asks the question: how far can the opening up of trade meet the needs of the world’s poorest people? A background section summarises the arguments which have been put for and against EPAs using extracts from key documents. The appendices include longer extracts from these documents to give a better idea of the complexities involved as the long process of negotiation has unfolded and the campaign against EPAs has been countered by its proponents.

Hegoa's Campaign Dictionary, which explains key concepts in the debate about the EPAs, is now available in English as an A4 download.

The UN Environment Programme & WTO have published an interesting report that examines both the contribution of world trade to CO2 emissions and the impact that climate change could have on world trade and efforts to mitigate and adapt. It also covers how multilateral agreements on climate change interface with trade negotiations. One sentence flags up a warning: "A successful conclusion of WTO negotiations on opening markets to environmental goods and services will help improve access to climate-friendly goods and technologies".

WTO

Oxford Fair Trade Coalition and RISC are organising a one-day conference on the future of fair trade at the Said Business School, University of Oxford. Workshops will include looking at the impact of EPAs.

A promising role play on EPAs

A German team of nine authors has written a role play on EPAs for secondary school pupils (16 to 18 years old). The role play was played at the Congress //weltweitwissen (//worldwide knowledge) in Sachsen in November 2007.