Social Entrepreneur Highlights Mexico’s Sustainability Movement, 6/16, Missoula

2005-06-16 17:30:00

Stensrud Building, 314 North 1st Street West, Missoula

Contact: Jeff Birkby
[email protected] or 406-531-2930 or 406-721-3798

Social Entrepreneur Highlights Mexico’s Sustainability Movement

Bioplaneta Network Links Fair Trade Producers and Global Consumers

Hector Marcelli Esquivel to appear in Missoula June 16th, 2005

314 North 1st Street West (Stensrud Building)

Social hour–5:30 pm

Presentation–7 pm

Making certain global trade works for the Mexico’s rural producers has been the focus of
the work of Hector Marcelli Esquivel, a pioneering social and environmental advocate from
Mexico City.

And while globalization hasn’t always been a boon for the global masses, Marcelli says he
believes it can be harnessed as a force for positive change. "Instead of taking to the streets
and blockading the World Bank offices, we say we’re going to use the world trade strategy
in favor of the social-ecological process," he said.

Marcelli will visit Missoula in mid-June as part of speaking tour through the Northwest.
His talk, free and open to the public, will be held Thursday, June 16th at 7 p.m. at the
Stensrud Building, 314 North 1st Street West. The presentation will be preceded by a social
hour starting at 5:30 p.m.

In the late 1990s, Marcelli launched the Bioplaneta Network after seeing how free trade
agreements like NAFTA had bypassed rural communities in favor of large multinational
corporations. Within these communities, there is an expanding collection of cooperatives
and locally owned small businesses that are concerned with community development.
Bioplaneta links these "fair trade" producers across Mexico to maximize their access to
international markets to create a channel of free trade that is fair, equitable and sustainable.
Organic agricultural products, local and indigenous art and handicrafts, and eco-tourism are
among the enterprises promoted within the network.

"Bioplaneta seeks to link the gaps that exist between the least-privileged sectors of the
global world village, always respecting the values, culture, and natural and traditional
resources of each participating region of our network," he said. "We help transform the
current greed-based commercial negotiation scheme into one that embodies the equal
exchange and fair compensation of goods, services, ideas, and culture."

And as a result, the fair trade movement will help preserve Mexico’s landscapes and
cultures. Bioplaneta’s motto, Marcelli notes, is "diversity enriches."

Deeply concerned with environmental and social justice issues, Marcelli has spent more
than 20 years working in sustainable development in Mexico, and Central and South
America. Marcelli’s work has garnered him global recognition as a social entrepreneur
from organizations such as the Ashoka International and the Union of Swiss Banks.

More information on Hector Marcelli is available on this website:
http://www.changemakers.net/journal/02june/nauman.cfm

The event is sponsored by AWISH-Montana, the new affiliate of A World Institute for a
Sustainable Humanity, a nonprofit dedicated to educating the public about the concept and
practice of sustainability and sustainable development. For more information, call 531-2930
or 721-3798.

Thanks,
Jeff Birkby
National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT)

[email protected]

http://www.ncat.org—————————————————————————