ABSTRACT
The signatory countries agreed how much coffee they would produce to maintain higher prices and stabilize the markets. Although many people and economies depend on coffee, and much money is earned in this sector, the production of coffee is characterized by severe problems. Poverty, bad working conditions, child labor, and environmental degradation are a daily reality. Coffee was cheap and plentiful. Life was good for the downstream coffee industry, but increasingly difficult for the farmers, who became trapped in poverty. The NGO campaigns and the media attention were starting to hurt brand value and could no longer be ignored. The projects that are started by companies and NGOs in the first phase of market transformation may sound to some like a waste of time and resources. Greenpeace, one of the more campaign-oriented NGOs, decided to follow the money trail and investigate the financial structure behind the illegal fires.
