Banana Link and its partners are committed to looking for ways to reverse the "race to the bottom". In practice, this means finding ways of improving social and environmental standards and of raising prices to producers and wages to workers. A number of different, complementary approaches are being taken.

At the international level, Banana Link and its partners have held two international banana conferences (IBC1 in 1998 and IBC2 in 2005). These two key events brought together all the major stakeholders in the industry in order to analyse and acknowledge the profound problems which face it and to commit themselves to finding practical solutions to these problems.

On the ground in producing countries, Latin American unions and small farmers' organisations in the Caribbean and Ecuador have built regional and international alliances, so as to coordinate their strategies in the face of companies which have always operated across national boundaries. The trade unions have also sought to negotiate framework agreements with employers, working with the support of the International Union of Food & Agricultural Workers (IUF), with success in the case of Chiquita.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Companies, partly as a result of IBC1, have largely acknowledged the need for "corporate social responsibility" and some have put in place their own codes of conduct or adopted voluntary standards. More recently, progressive companies have started to show a genuine will to engage in the creation of a sustainable banana economy. Such moves could inspire similar progress in other sectors of the world economy. Any company wishing to engage in genuine debate and make practical improvements should and will be encouraged.

Citizens and consumers can and do play an important part in the process of reversing the current race to the bottom: by choosing to buy fair trade and/or organic produce; by asking the people who supply them questions about the conditions in which the bananas they buy (or don't buy) are produced; by asking policymakers to ensure more transparency on pricing along the chain and to legislate appropriately. Above all, citizens across the banana-consuming world can show their practical solidarity with those at the beginning of the chain who suffer the consequences of being relatively powerless.

While voluntary standards initiatives can - and ethical choices made by consumers certainly do - make an important difference, there are legitimate questions about the verification of some of the voluntary standards. In spite of the fact that the number of consumers who choose to buy ethical products is increasing, such consumers are still in a minority, especially in North America, Eastern Europe and Japan. Many farmers' organisations, trade unions and other civil society organisations believe that what is needed is not more voluntary initiatives or more consumer choice, but rather sound regulation.

Differentiating Tariffs

Differentiating tariffs according to the sustainability of production systems, and implementing social and environmental clauses in the WTO could provide crucial levers for ensuring that the minimal standards, embodied in the ILO conventions (themselves the basis for most voluntary standards), are enforced. The high EU tariff could also be re-invested in an international fund to support a wholesale transition to a sustainable banana economy, with those closest to the production process having a key role in the wise use of the resources that would be liberated. There is no reason why this could not also apply to other trading blocs or nation states which apply tariffs or import levies at their ports, such as Japan (part of the year) and Russia.

Visit www.ibc2.org to read the EUROBAN proposals on tariff "recycling" and a permanent multi-stakeholder banana forum

Which Bananas?   Information to consider when choosing your bananas.