New Appeal To Help World's Poorest After Hottest Year On Record

Gateshead Millennium Bridge glows green and yellow as Traidcraft launch charity campaignTraidcraft

The award-winning Gateshead Millennium Bridge, sometimes known as the "blinking eye" bridge, looks even more striking than usual after being lit up in green and yellow to promote a new Traidcraft appeal.

Traidcraft, a charity founded on Christian principles which campaigns for justice for producers in the poorest parts of the world, lit the bridge to mark the launch of its Let It Grow campaign.

The aim of the appeal is to raise £600,000 to fund projects helping smallholders in some of the poorest countries.

Examples include FIVE, the Flourishing in Vulnerable Environments project, that to date has benefitted an estimated 30,000 people.

The project helps Kenyan farmers learn new farming techniques, get organised and work together to counter the effects of climate change, helping to increase incomes, build skills and improve quality of life for all involved.

Mwathi Musyoka, a grandmother who has benefited from the work, said: "With the help of the FIVE project things have changed. I have been able to 'terrace' my farm and prevent soil erosion and I can also conserve water enabling my crops to survive during times of drought. I am very proud that other farmers come to see me for advice on how to farm and improve their yields.

"Generating more income has made a huge difference to how I'm able to take care of my granddaughter Purity and the rest of my family as we now have the income to celebrate Christmas and Easter – something that before we were never able to do."

Roderick Stuart, head of communications at Traidcraft, said: "Stories such as Mwathi's highlight the reason Traidcraft exists. Mwathi's granddaughter Purity now has a clearer route out of poverty and a brighter future where Mwathi's family have the income to give her the upbringing and the education she deserves.

"It can often feel difficult to know how to help, but by donating to our charity or by buying fair trade products from Traidcraft, people in the UK are truly making a difference to the lives of families in developing countries."

Traidcraft's Roderick Stuart on the Gateshead Millennium BridgeTraidcraft

The bridge project was launched as NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that 2016 was the hottest year on record and this has had a devasting effect on people living in poverty.

Paul Cook, director of advocacy for Tearfund, said: "With 2016 setting the new record for the world's hottest year, it reminds us how rapid climate change is, and how it brings more intense droughts, storms and floods – and more people going hungry.

"Increasingly, in the course of Tearfund's work we hear comments such as this from a church leader in Malawi: 'We had two weather patterns which could be specified clearly – winter (the cold season) and summer (the hot season). It feels like we have one season (hot) now.'

"We can't beat poverty and injustice unless we beat climate change, and we are the only generation who will have the chance to do that. That's why it is urgent that we take action."