Modern Slavery and the Environment

By Megan Light
July 2020

Kevin Bales asserts in his book, Blood and Earth, that if modern slavery was a country, it would have the third highest CO2 emissions on the planet. The 2018 Global Slavery Index estimates that 40.3 million people are subjected to modern slavery, a term that covers a multitude of exploitation and abuse, including forced labour, human trafficking, child labour, and debt bondage. Emerging research demonstrates that these activities create, exacerbate, and are preconditioned by climate change and environmental degradation. The ecological dimensions of human vulnerability to modern slavery cuts across sectors typically involved in environmental harm, but is perhaps most prevalent in agriculture, forest, marine, and freshwater ecosystems. The interconnections work both ways:

· modern slavery contributes to environmental degradation and climate change in the short and long term and,

· climate change and environmental degradation, in turn, increase vulnerabilities to exploitation.

Supply Chains & Modern slavery

Forced labour, human trafficking, child labour, and debt bondage are forms of modern slavery that have been institutionalised and embedded into supply chains. Realistically, there will be an abundance of items in your home and workplaces that have been tainted by issues of severe labour abuse, as well as massive environmental damage.

Modern slavery is spillover of an economy and a society based on desire for wealth and power. Individuals are held by against their will, often with a threat of violence or severe consequences, for the purposes of economic exploitation. It is the total control of one person over another; the commodification and dehumanisation with the end goal of increasing profit. Modern slavery is a global phenomenon, with no country being left untouched. Whilst Mauritania has the highest percentage per population, with 600,000 people in some sort of debt bondage (BBC, 2017), car washes and nail salons in the UK are also particularly susceptible to elements of modern slavery, with the 2015 Modern Slavery Act focusing on this domestic aspect.

However, it is the production of cotton, fish, palm oil, minerals and beef, among other consumer goods, that are where the majority of modern slavery and environmental degradation occurs. The example of IUU fishing show the prevalence of conditions that lead to the exploitation of people and planet, and how they mutually reinforce and perpetuate one another.

Illegal, Unreported, Unregulated Fishing

**IUU FISHING**
IUU fishing is one of the greatest threats to marine ecosystems, and has left the majority of our oceans on the brink of collapse. By taking advantage of corrupt administrations and exploiting weak management regimes, IUU fishing undermines national and regional efforts to manage fisheries sustainably, and conserve marine biodiversity.
As trips have to be longer and further out to sea to catch the desired amount of fish, operations seek to keep costs down by employing labour cheaply and illegally. With the boats at sea for extended periods of time, facing isolated and precarious conditions, individuals are of enhanced vulnerability to being subjected to modern slavery. Moreover, fishers are often migrant workers, who are already unaware of their legal status and local labour laws, and their passports or documents may be taken. Violence is also often used to ensure compliance.

The interconnections of human and ecological vulnerability regarding modern slavery are not confined to these sectors. Emerging research, which I am grateful to be involved in, is showing that few aspects of the Sustainable Development Goals are left untouched by modern slavery. Goal 12 on Responsible Consumption and Production, is particularly important given the supply chain implications, but Reduced Inequalities (Goal 10), Gender Equality (Goal 5), and Climate Action (Goal 13) cannot be properly addressed without combatting modern slavery.

The link between human, community, and planetary wellbeing is inextricable, but perhaps is most pronounced in sectors where they effect the most vulnerable. The exploitation of people and planet when and where they are weakest is morally and politically corrupt. However, in tackling this immense and interconnected abuse we have the opportunity to encompass so much good, to build back better, and to create a planet that works for people and nature.

Return to Human Rights & Wrongs

Kevin Bales (2016) Blood and Earth

Environmental Justice Foundation, IUU Fishing

Ecosystems and Environment Team, Rights Lab