Articles in Asia

ENVIRONMENT MINISTER Elliot Morley has welcomed the contribution being made by Co-op Bank mortgage customers to combat the climate change impact associated with their homes. The Bank has announced that during the next 12 months its "green" mortgages will contribute around £ 250,000 to help tackle climate change. This will help replant a forest in Uganda, provide fuel-efficient cooking stoves to the poor of Madagascar and lead to the generation of renewable energy in India.

FAIRTRADE goods made from cotton will be available in the UK for the first time. The newly certified Fairtrade cotton, which comes from small farmers in India and Peru, Mali and Senegal, will allow for the production of a clothing-line among other products placing Fairtrade into a new market. Laljibhai Narranbhai, a farmer from Agrocel Pure & Fair Cotton Growers' Association in India, said: "I will finally be able to support my family thanks to the Fairtrade price we will get for ...

OVER 1,550 co-operatives have been affected by the recent south Asia earthquake. Reports from the International Co-operative Alliance office in New Delhi revealed the devastation that the Kashmir earthquake, on the Pakistan/Indian border, had on co-ops and its members. Around 1,500 of co-operatives affected are in Pakistan, while 50 of those hit by the quake are in India. Many of them are primary co-ops. The ICA says that a total of 70,000 co-op members have been affected by the tragedy.