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Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Water contamination can be equally damaging. In Guatemala, for example, contamination of the Pasión River with the pesticide malathion, used on palm oil plantations, killed thousands of fish and affected 23 species of fish. This in turn deprived 12,000 people in 14 communities of their primary source of food and livelihood.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 99l
- Paragraph text
- [With a view to respecting, protecting and fulfilling the right to adequate food and nutrition, the Special Rapporteur recommends that:] All States incorporate the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes in its entirety into their legal systems and ensure adequate monitoring to ensure implementation;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- It is also critical to address malnutrition in all its forms as one issue to avoid policy fragmentation. In a recent study among 139 low- and middle-income countries for example, only 39.6 per cent had nutrition policies that addressed all forms of malnutrition, despite facing the effects of a "nutrition transition".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Micronutrient deficiency describes a condition in which there is a lack or shortage of vitamins and minerals. Also referred to as "hidden hunger", it increases vulnerability to infection, birth defects and impaired development and can lead to premature death. For example, iron deficiency leads to anaemia, vitamin A deficiency weakens the immune system, and iodine deficiency interferes with brain development.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change further notes that in Central America, north-east Brazil and parts of the Andean region, increases in temperature and decreases in rainfall could lower productivity by 2030, aggravating food security among the poorest members of society.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Second, States have an obligation to protect the right to food. They must ensure that enterprises or individuals do not deprive individuals of their access to adequate food. In the context of fisheries policies, this requires States, in particular, to protect the access rights of traditional fishing communities from industrial fishing and to control private actors that could affect the lands, territories and water on which these communities depend.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Farmer field schools have been shown to significantly reduce the amounts of pesticides use, as inputs are being replaced by knowledge. Large-scale studies from Indonesia, Vietnam and Bangladesh recorded 35 to 92 per cent reduction in insecticide use in rice, and 34 to 66 per cent reduction in pesticide use, combined with 4 to 14 per cent better yields recorded in cotton production in China, India and Pakistan. Farmer field schools have also proven to be empowering by helping farmers to organize themselves better, and stimulating continued learning. The successful dissemination of the push-pull strategy (PPS) in East Africa, promoted by the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), is largely due to the demonstration of fields managed by model farmers, which attracts visits by other farmers during field days, and to partnerships with national research systems in Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and other countries that have made research and development efforts to bring about the necessary adaptations such as choice of maize cultivars. The growth of the Campesino a Campesino movement in Cuba relied on technical advisers and coordinators supported by the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAB). Between 2001 and 2009, the number of "promotores" increased from 114 to 11,935, and a total of 121,000 workshops on agroecological practices were organized.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- Joint ventures, however, are not a panacea. A number of studies indicate that this model does not necessarily deliver better livelihoods for small-scale farmers or improve rural development and the realization of the right to food. The firm frequently controls all business decisions, and the joint venture might manipulate accounts to avoid paying out dividends. Questions arose in South Africa, for instance, after the beneficiaries of the post-1994 land restitution and redistribution programmes were encouraged to establish joint ventures with agribusinesses or to conclude leaseback agreements granting the former landowners use of their lands in conditions sometimes deemed unfair, and in Malaysia, after the Government, under the "Konsep Baru" (New Concept) scheme, encouraged production of palm oil on land under native customary rights in Sabah and Sarawak, in the form of a three-way joint venture among a private plantation company (60 per cent of the shares), a local community (30 per cent) and a parastatal agency (10 per cent) in which the local communities in effect relinquished all day-to-day decision-making power within the joint venture.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- Some countries, such as Australia, the Republic of Korea and the United States, require restaurant chains to include information on energy and nutrient content or warning labels on sodium content. Clear standards are also needed on the use of nutrition and health claims to prevent consumers from being misled. In the United States, public demand for increased transparency has led to several attempts to implement mandatory-labelling schemes for genetically engineered foods.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- While regulators are mostly concerned about health risks through pesticide residues, their effects on non-target organisms are hugely underestimated. For example, neonicotinoids, a commonly used class of systemic insecticides, are causing soil degradation and water pollution and endangering vital ecosystem services such as biological pest control. Designed to damage the central nervous system of target pests, they can also cause harm to beneficial invertebrates as well as to birds, butterflies and other wildlife.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The transformative potential of the right to food 2014, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Improving support to smallholders is therefore essential in achieving local food security. The Special Rapporteur explored different tools to achieve this. At the heart of his proposals lies the question of how to ensure that the freedom of choice of small-scale food producers is truly respected. This requires pursuing two reform programmes in parallel.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Many fish are also rich in micronutrients, especially the smaller fish that are accessible to people living in poverty. The consumption of fish therefore not only helps to combat hunger, but also can address hidden hunger, or micronutrient deficiency. In addition, the seasonal availability of fish in rural communities is often different from crops, meaning that fish can help to reduce seasonal vulnerability.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 88
- Paragraph text
- Industry has also sought to dissuade Governments from restricting pesticide use to save pollinators. In Europe, a campaign was mounted preceding the decision by the European Union in 2013 to ban neonicotinoids. The chemical industry, allegedly with support from the Government of the United Kingdom, publicly contested findings of the European Food Safety Authority about the unacceptable risk of neonicotinoids to bees. Syngenta reportedly even threatened to sue individual European Union officials involved in publishing the Authority’s report. Bayer and Syngenta are still refusing to disclose their own studies that demonstrated the harmful effects of their pesticides on honeybees at high doses.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Neonicotinoids are accused of being responsible for “colony collapse disorder” of bees worldwide. For example, heavy use of these insecticides has been blamed for the 50 per cent decline over 25 years in honeybee populations in both the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This decline threatens the very basis of agriculture, given that wild bees and managed honeybees play the greatest role in pollinating crops. According to estimates from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), of some 100 crop species (which provide 90 per cent of global food), 71 per cent are pollinated by bees. The European Union, unlike the United States, restricted the use of certain neonicotinoids in 2013.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Pesticides also present a serious threat to drinking water, particularly in agricultural areas, which often depend on groundwater. While it can take several decades before pesticides applied in fields appear in water wells, high levels of herbicides in agricultural areas have already caused health problems for some communities. For example, in the United States of America, where over 70 million pounds of atrazine are used annually, runoff into water supplies has been linked to increased risk of birth defects. While atrazine was banned in the European Union in 2004, some European countries still detect it in groundwater today.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- During the 1970s, the pesticide DCBP was used extensively on banana and pineapple plantations around the world. In Davao, the Philippines, where the pesticide was used in the 1980s, high levels of sterility were scientifically proven to have resulted from exposure. Other conditions, including cancer, asthma, tuberculosis and skin disease, were also detected, but a linkage was not scientifically proven. While local authorities banned aerial spraying following community protests, the Supreme Court of the Philippines reversed the ban, allegedly under pressure from banana corporations. Further, suits brought by plantation workers have been dismissed, leaving victims without compensation. Twenty years on, despite a global ban on DBCP, soils and water sources remain contaminated.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Of grave concern are the impacts of chronic exposure to hazardous pesticides. Pesticide exposure has been linked to cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, hormone disruption, developmental disorders and sterility. They can also cause numerous neurological health effects such as memory loss, loss of coordination, reduced visual ability and reduced motor skills. Other possible effects include asthma, allergies and hypersensitivity. These symptoms are often very subtle and may not be recognized by the medical community as a clinical effect caused by pesticides. Furthermore, chronic effects of pesticides may not manifest for months or years after exposure, presenting a significant challenge for accountability and access to an effective remedy, including preventive interventions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- Global sales of breast milk substitutes total $44.8 billion and are expected to rise to $70.6 billion by 2019. The International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes places restrictions on the sale of such substitutes, through prohibiting public advertising, provision of free samples or promotion in health-care facilities. It also requires all information on artificial feeding to explain the benefits of breastfeeding and the hazards associated with artificial feeding. Although some progress has been achieved, violations of the Code are widespread and only 39 countries have laws enacting all provisions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to justice and the right to food: the way forward 2015, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- Other examples include a lawsuit brought by the Oceana Gold mining company against El Salvador through ICSID for US$301 million for failure to grant a mining permit. It was alleged that the project posed a risk to the country's livelihood. Having failed to change the domestic law to relax regulation, the company initiated arbitration measures to pressure El Salvador into paying for lost exploration costs and future profits. These cases demonstrate how intervention is necessary to prevent democratic rights from being undermined by global norms.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to justice and the right to food: the way forward 2015, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- Developing countries are increasingly subject to dispute procedures brought by private companies. For example, high water prices and poor water quality following the privatization of the water supply in the Bolivian town of Cochabamba, culminated in protests against Aguas de Tunari, a subsidiary of the United States firm Bechtel. The Government succumbed to public pressure and reversed the decision to privatize, which prompted the company to bring the Government before ICSID. The case posed the fundamental question of whether the property rights of the company could trump the rights to food and to access water and sanitation. In the end, civil society pressure led to a settlement and, as a result, Bolivian water laws were amended with the 2009 Constitution guaranteeing the right to access to water.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to justice and the right to food: the way forward 2015, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- In a 2013 decision, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of El Salvador admitted a habeas corpus writ petition against the penitentiary administration in relation to a claimant in detention suffering from diabetes and hypertension. The applicant argued that the failure to provide him with adequate food and an appropriate diet violated his right to health and physical integrity. While the detainee's petition was rejected on the grounds that medical evidence did not support the claim, the case demonstrates the willingness of the court to consider the protection of economic, Social and cultural rights under habeas corpus procedures. The judgment handed down in this case is significant on two counts: firstly, it demonstrates that all human rights are interconnected and indivisible; and, secondly, even though medical evidence was insufficient, the court makes the connection between those suffering from diabetes and their need for adequate and healthy food, which creates an important precedent for future cases.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to justice and the right to food: the way forward 2015, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- The reluctance of a number of States to recognize that economic, social and cultural rights are justiciable has done much to propagate unfounded misconceptions thereon. Those countries opposed to the justiciability of those rights argue that such a notion may interfere with State sovereignty claiming that it is inappropriate for courts to adjudicate on social and economic policy. There is also a perception that social and economic rights set forth political objectives and are too vague to be enforceable. The suggestion that these rights are resource-dependent and cannot be satisfied where there is a lack of capital, and the idea that these rights only impose positive obligations on States and civil and political rights give rise to negative ones, has also led to resistance from some States.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- Locally developed crops have been shown to be extremely adaptable and robust because they have been bred over generations specifically to cope with difficult ecological and social conditions. For example, "farmer rice varieties" are often more productive than imported varieties of rice and can grow with less input than modern varieties and require less maintenance. Furthermore, research has shown that farms run on agroecological principles can be more resilient in response to natural disasters such as hurricanes. Farms in Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala that relied on sustainable agricultural methods suffered considerably less damage than conventional farms following Hurricane Mitch in 1998, with sustainable farms retaining up to 40 per cent more topsoil and suffering less economic loss than neighbouring conventional farms. Similar studies conducted in Mexico following Hurricane Stan and in Cuba following Hurricane Ike had similar findings. Agroecological farms were also able to recover faster after the hurricane.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The transformative potential of the right to food 2014, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Secondly, just as multiple food systems must be combined to improve resilience through enhanced diversity, different forms of farming can coexist, each fulfilling a different function. The example of Brazil suggests that family farms can be supported even in the vicinity of highly competitive, large-scale agricultural producers and that such coexistence can be viable, provided the government is aware of the different functions that different agricultural models serve to fulfil, and adopts a balanced approach towards them (A/HRC/13/33/Add.6, paras. 43 and 44). In many countries, however, this coexistence has failed, and the balance has shifted almost entirely in favour of the large-scale export-led agricultural sector. The lesson that emerges is that the transition to agrifood policies that support the realization of the right to food requires major political efforts to restructure support around agroecological, labour-intensive, poverty-reducing forms of agriculture.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- National human rights institutions established in conformity with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (Paris Principles; see General Assembly resolution 48/134, annex) can play a crucial role in monitoring compliance with the right to adequate food and, where they have such competence, to examine complaints filed by aggrieved individuals. In India, investigations by the National Human Rights Commission facilitated the work of the Supreme Court and that of the Commissioners of the Court by inquiring into the implementation of schemes securing livelihoods. In Colombia, the Office of the Public Defender presented a report on the implementation of the 2008 National Food and Nutrition Security Policy, recommending improvements to the legal framework and to mechanisms ensuring coordination. In Guatemala, the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman has a specific mandate to monitor the implementation of the national food and nutrition security policy. Its 2011 report regretted persistent coordination failures despite the establishment of the National Council on Food and Nutrition Security, and its 2012 report encouraged improved funding for food and nutrition security programmes, which remain highly dependent on foreign aid. In El Salvador, the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman has prepared three national reports since 2007 proposing the development of an appropriate legal and political food and nutrition security framework to guarantee the right to food. National human rights institutions in a range of other countries, including Cameroon, Honduras, Malawi, Slovenia, South Africa and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), monitor violations of the right to food. In Norway, an important function of the Parliamentary Ombudsman is to investigate complaints concerning social security benefits.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Courts are generally well-equipped to enforce this obligation. In the case of Kenneth George and Others v. Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, the High Court of South Africa ordered a revision of the Marine Living Resources Act, requiring the development of a new framework taking into account "international and national legal obligations and policy directives to accommodate the socioeconomic rights of [small-scale] fishers and to ensure equitable access to marine resources for those fishers". This resulted in the adoption of a new Small-Scale Fisheries Policy in May 2012, which recognizes the importance of small-scale fisheries in contributing to food security and as serving as a critical safety net against poverty. In Honduras, the Sectional Court of Appeal in San Pedro Sula granted a constitutional remedy in the Brisas del Bejuco case in order to prevent the eviction of a group of small-scale farmers, referring to the obligation of the State to protect the right to food under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights has protected the resources on which the Ogoni people depend for their livelihoods against the damage caused by oil companies operating on their territories, a position reaffirmed in 2012 by the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States. In all these cases, courts or quasi-judicial bodies have protected the right to food by prohibiting actions that would undermine the ability of individuals and communities to produce their own food.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- States should discharge their duties to respect, protect and fulfil the right to food in the fisheries sector by moving towards sustainable resource use while ensuring that the rights and livelihoods of small-scale fishers and coastal communities are respected and that the food security of all groups depending on fish is improved. This is a difficult balance to strike, but, without swift and bold action by States, the contribution made by fisheries to securing the right to food will diminish, with considerable consequences, in particular for poorer rural communities that depend on fisheries for both their nutritional needs and their income. Both coastal and flag States should accept their duties in this regard and should actively involve the fishing communities themselves, both in fisheries management and in the design and implementation of policies in adjacent sectors that could affect fishing.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- Individual transferable quotas systems may lead to rent capture by some actors in a privileged position, which is difficult to reconcile with poverty-reduction objectives. An alternative might be to allow operators to rent quotas from the Government so that quotas are periodically redistributed on equity grounds. Transferability of quotas (conceived as property rights) will inevitably lead to monopolization, unless limited to transferability between the deceased holder and his/her descendants (if they also fish). Indeed, the Human Rights Committee noted that a system in which the quotas originally held could be sold or leased at market prices instead of reverting to the State for allocation to new quota holders in accordance with fair and equitable criteria might result in discrimination in violation of article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (see CCPR/C/91/D/1306/2004). Other systems can be explored that combine sustainability requirements (limiting overfishing) and redistributive aims based on human rights norms and standards.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- The quality of working conditions in the fish-processing industry also raises concerns, although conditions have improved since developed countries imposed higher sanitation and hygiene standards. In a 2004 study, FAO showed that, for 9 of the 11 countries surveyed, fish workers were paid close to the minimum wage and often received much lower than the average per capita income for the country. In Chile, for example, the area home to most fish processing factories was also the area with the lowest per capita income levels. Moreover, high levels of seasonal and informal work exist in the processing sector, meaning that many workers are not employed on full-time contracts with basic labour benefits, such as sick pay, pension or maternity leave. In part owing to the many fish-processing firms in the sector, workers often fail to unionize and to enter into collective bargaining.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Agroecology improves resilience to climate change. Climate change means more extreme weather-related events. The use of agroecological techniques can significantly cushion the negative impacts of such events, for resilience is strengthened by the use and promotion of agricultural biodiversity at ecosystem, farm system and farmer field levels, which is materialized by many agroecological approaches. Following Hurricane Mitch in 1998, a large-scale study on 180 communities of smallholders from southern to northern Nicaragua demonstrated that farming plots cropped with simple agroecological methods (including rock bunds or dikes, green manure, crop rotation and the incorporation of stubble, ditches, terraces, barriers, mulch, legumes, trees, plowing parallel to the slope, no-burn, live fences, and zero-tillage) had on average 40 per cent more topsoil, higher field moisture, less erosion and lower economic losses than control plots on conventional farms. On average, agroecological plots lost 18 per cent less arable land to landslides than conventional plots and had 69 per cent less gully erosion compared to conventional farms.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph