Author Archives: Amber Torell

Political Lands and Foods; Indigenous Communities in Brazil as Land Defenders

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Bananas, sugar cane, palm oil, soy– theses are just some of the foods tied to the deracination of indigenous communities from their ancestral lands. Land rights for indigenous peoples in Latin America have always been contentious as territories have been appropriated for use of farming, natural resource and extractive industries, and other uses not originally intended by their original populations. While companies like the United Fruit Company quickly and other multinational agricultural companies took over in places like Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica, agricultural development projects in Brazil’s Cerrado and Amazon ecoregions have quickly displaced indigenous populations in Brazil, leaving an estimated 13.8 percent of land as formally designated for these communities, according to the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, and 31% as agricultural land (USAID).   

Image by the Rights and Resources Initiative: depicting the RRI’s Forest Tenure Database four land tenure categories. (click here to see enlarged image)

For me, this research makes clear the nexus between land rights and access for indigenous communities, and mismanaged foreign investment which has disrupted local livelihoods and economies. To think systemically about land rights is to understand the ways that vulnerable communities are negatively affected by land grabs (particularly by governments to address food insecurity), or indirectly through foreign direct investment (FDI). 

Land rights are directly tied to our course ideas of transparency, food justice, and sustainability. Through networks like the Rights and Resources Initiative, organizations, governments, and others are vying to increase transparency with access to land globally. Food justice is inherently tied to transparent access to land: when we don’t know where our food is coming from, it’s difficult to identify who’s rights are violated at different stages of cultivation, harvest, processing, and transportation of these foods. Many rights are violated in the simple acquisition of land before it is even developed for agriculture. 

In the case of Brazil, this rings true. Thirty-eight large companies now control much of Brazil’s agricultural land, including large companies like Cargill and Coamo, which have faced significant backlash for their deforestation practices which have primarily displaced indigenous people in the Center-West region. In March 2020, Indigenous leaders from the Yanomami tribe testified in front of the UN security council warning against the genocide of indigenous and uncontacted groups in the region.   

Yanomami indigenous leader Davi Kopenawa denounces deforestation and indigenous land invasion in Brazil, via Conectas Human Rights

Systems thinking connects this course to fundamental ideas of land and food justice. Unpacking what transparent and equitable food systems will look like in the future will require serious action to protect indigenous habitation of land in addressing egregious issues of climate change, food security, and sustainability within the food chain. 

 

Economic Vulnerabilities Among Migrant Farmworkers in the U.S.

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Undocumented farmworkers in the U.S. (roughly 50 percent of crop agricultural workers) are already disproportionately impacted by health and economic vulnerabilities in the U.S. In addition to the challenges raised in  Undocumented farmworkers are left at high risk for COVID-19  authored by jingz2, COVID-19 will pose unique economic challenges to migrant farmworkers, highlighting the extreme vulnerability of global economies as they rely on U.S. migrant farmworker income. 

The article highlights the lack of legislative inclusion for undocumented migrant farmworkers under labor laws like the Fair Labor Act of 1938 and the National Labor Relations Act of 1835. However, these laws are already exclusionary to migrant farmworkers; far worse impact during COVID-19 will be the decline in migrant workers’ economies as agricultural supply chains grind to a halt, and migrant farmworker remittances decline. As we discuss farm vulnerabilities in the global south due to poverty, low agricultural yields, and warming global temperatures, migration may no longer be as much of a solution for struggling farmworkers abroad.

While the agricultural sector makes up more than USD$1 trillion of the U.S. economy and 5.5 percent GDP, the economic vitality for migrant farmworkers remains in the form of remittances sent externally to family members in migrants’ countries of origin. Last year, the World Bank cited a record USD$554 billion in remittances generated from migrant workers to low and middle-income countries (LMICs). As COVID-19 exacerbates worker vulnerabilities, the World Bank expects a sharp 20 percent decline in remittances, disrupting the livelihoods of families globally. 

Data Source: World Bank via Forbes

Not only will the health of migrant farmworkers disrupt the U.S. food supply, but it will also disrupt the economies of millions that rely on remittances, limiting their ability to purchase food and other essentials. As we consider the impact of COVID-19 on migrant farmworkers in the U.S., we must also remember the direct effect it will have on families abroad. 

For resources on protections for migrant farmworkers, please visit the following: 

Farmworker Justice COVID-19

Georgetown Law: COVID-19 Resources for Workers

Center for American Progress: Protecting Farmworkers From Coronavirus and Securing the Food Supply

Economic Policy Institute: Coronavirus and farmworkers, Farm employment, safety issues, and the H-2A guestworker program

FAQ: Immigrant Workers’ Rights and COVID-19—A Resource for Workers and Their Advocates

Chocolate and Trafficking: Producing Anxieties over the Chocolate Industry

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Whether it crunches, snaps, or melts– chocolate varieties have much of the same impact on global populations that harvest it. Human trafficking and child labour pervade the chocolate industry, with U.S. Department of Labour estimates citing over 2 million child labourers engaged in the dangerous task of harvesting cocoa beans. 

For me, hearing this is nothing new.

In 2015, I first engaged with a non-profit called Dressember-– a non-profit that seeks to eradicate human trafficking by calling attention to unethical fashion production. Dressember also raises awareness for other unethical industries. They even promote ethical alternatives to chocolate, coffee, and clothing brands. 

Infographic via dressember.org 

Despite knowing this, going into this contemplative practice was still even more difficult to process as I watched farmworkers taste for the first time the product that they didn’t even know was being produced from their labour. This produced a certain anxiety that I recognized immediately– if farmers don’t know where their product is going, and if populations largely don’t understand where it is coming from, how can we generate awareness for labour injustices like these? How can we promote more transparency in the supply chain to ensure human rights protections? These are things I wonder as I sit behind my screen, with the privilege of simply contemplating, allowing myself to entertain ideas of socially just practices. But how is this put into action?

Among increasingly conflicting ideas about globalization and “fair trade”, I found it hard to connect myself to an immediate solution during this exercise. The contemplative practice connected me to the true complexity of the issue. Damaging and unsustainable practices give me insight into the ecological blindness that companies operate with, but with child labour, this opens us to the ethical blindness that companies operate with, viewing human bodies and children as dispensable lives.

Womxn, Food, and Security Amid COVID-19 in Yemen

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ON APRIL 9, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced that it will reduce its international aid contribution by 50% to Yemen. Amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis that threatens Yemen’s population and puts nearly 14 million people at risk of starvation according to the United Nations, the COVID-19 pandemic will disproportionately impact the status on womxn in an already conflict ridden country. 

In addition to the estimated 3M womxn at risk of gender-based violence (GBV) in 2018, the UNFPA Humanitarian Response Report estimated that rising food shortages left an estimated 1.1 million pregnant womxn malnourished. The reduction in WFP aid will increase the already estimated 12 million Yemenis in need each month that the WPF feeds, increasing the risk towards malnourished womxn and children.

Schoolgirls in Yemen enjoy WFP provided meals. Image courtesy of WFP/Mohammed Nasher

The crisis calls into question the shifting roles that womxn will take on to tackle food insecurity as international organizations become strained. What additional burdens will this place on womxn already experiencing violence? My prediction is that more womxn will step into roles of political leadership, peacemaking, and environmentalism with the rise of COVID-19. 

In the face of the crisis, womxn have already stepped up to organize and speak up about food insecurity in the midst of the pandemic, raising issues of inclusive peace talks and starting grassroots initiatives in their communities to help alleviate hunger. Muna Luqman, founder of the Food for Humanity Foundation has used her platform to work on coronavirus relief in Yemen. In the coming months, Yemeni womxn will not only face the blunt impact of the food crisis that COVID-19 is exacerbating, they will also serve as primary leaders and organizers in their communities in the midst of declining humanitarian aid to the country. 

The original inspiration for the article can be found at https://insight.wfp.org/inside-the-lives-of-women-living-through-the-crisis-in-yemen-e45d5662972