Associations celebrate UN resolution on World Cotton Day
They said it is a historical moment to acknowledge the importance of cotton as a global commodity and World Cotton Day raises awareness of cotton’s contribution towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The proposition to officialise the date was led by Africa's Cotton Four or C4 — Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali — plus Côte d'Ivoire. However, prior to the UN decision, the date was already unofficially celebrated as, in 2019, the International Trade Centre together with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the World Trade Organization and the ICAC launched World Cotton Day to reflect the importance of cotton as a global commodity.
Pamela Coke-Hamilton, executive director of the International Trade Centre, said: “At ITC, we have seen the benefits of our work for small scale farmers in Africa and we have witnessed the changes it has made in their lives. We've helped them to grow sustainably and add value to their products. Cotton embodies the heart of our work. We strive to empower small businesses throughout the cotton value chain for better lives while creating a more sustainable future.”
Kai Hughes, executive director of ICAC, added: “The theme for World Cotton Day 2021 is ‘Cotton for Good’ and provides us with an opportunity to shout about the positives of cotton. Not only does cotton provide a livelihood and food security to millions of small farm holders in Africa and Asia but it can be recycled and reused and returned to the earth to biodegrade naturally unlike synthetic fibres.
"Cotton also sequesters more carbon in the soil and its biomass than it produces as it grows, making it a critically important ally in the fight against climate change. No other natural product can boast of such versatility and World Cotton Day is the perfect time to recognise not only the positives it brings to our lives but especially to the hundreds of millions of people in least-developed countries who depend on cotton.”
