NEW YORK, Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — The United Nations has announced that it will approve designating 7 October of each year as World Cotton Day on its permanent calendar. First launched in 2019 at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) headquarters in Geneva, World Cotton Day continues to grow each year.
On World Cotton Day, stakeholders from the global cotton community come together to speak on the many benefits of cotton including the facts that:
- Cotton is grown in over 70 countries and provides an income to hundreds of millions of people every year.
- A single ton of cotton provides year-round employment for an estimated 5 or 6 people (often in some of the most impoverished places on earth.)
- Cotton is the only agricultural crop to provide both food and fiber.
- Cotton has a negative carbon footprint and degrades 95% more than polyester in wastewater helping to keep our land and water clean.
The event theme for 2021 is ‘Cotton for Good’ to celebrate the fiber’s enduring positive impact. A virtual celebration will feature notable speakers such as Bert Jacobs, CEO and Co-Founder of Life is Good, and Maxine Bédat, Director of New Standard Institute. Other global industry experts include Cotton Council International, Viterra India, International Cotton Advisory Committee, Better Cotton Initiative, and African Cotton Foundation. Keynote topics include responsible fashion, sustainability, and the importance of cotton in countries around the world.
With the cotton industry’s focus on sustainability, attendees will learn about the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol®, which aligns with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals to bring quantifiable and verifiable goals and measurement to sustainable cotton production.
To learn more about the activities planned for World Cotton Day, please visit www.worldcottonday.com. Follow #WorldCottonDay on social media and join the global conversation.