The recent surge in deforestation-free pledges is an exciting development, but needs definition, focus and accountability to turn the objective into reality says a new paper by Rainforest Alliance, an international NGO. The past few months have seen a selection of individual business pledges on deforestation from Unilever, Yum Brands and Dunkin’ Donuts; as well as collective deforestation commitments such as the New York Declaration on Forests. But the paper points out that tackling deforestation is a complex problem that entails many interlinked sustainability issues such as non-forest ecosystems, water resources, and community and worker rights. The alliance has identified five steps to convert deforestation-free declarations into long-term gains: clarifying definitions of deforestation-free; addressing other critical risks and impacts of commodity production; increasing productivity and efficiency of existing croplands; effectively governing forests and other natural resources; and restoring degraded lands to productivity and health. (Edie)
Community Investment
Action for Children and Barclays launch Skills for Success project
Young people in the UK are worried about a tough future, with more than half feeling nervous about their employment prospects, according to research by UK children’s charity, Action for Children. The survey of 2,000 15 to 26-year-olds across the UK has revealed their fears of being ‘unemployable’ and ‘worthless’. Following this research, Action for Children and British bank Barclays have launched ‘Skills for Success’, a nationwide project that aims to equip young people with the basic skills and knowledge to help them into employment or training. Following a successful pilot, the programme of workshops and drop-in advice services aims to help 22,000 young people already supported by the charity’s projects over a 13-month period. According to Chief Executive Sir Tony Hawkhead, the children “that Action for Children supports have the additional burden of coping with turbulent, often traumatic lives. For them, the risk of unemployment and the financial, social and emotional problems that often come with it are even greater.” (Action for Children)
International Development
Coca-Cola Africa Foundation pledges water and sanitation programmes for 4 million people
Today at the 7th World Water Forum, Ahmet Bozer, Executive Vice President and President of Coca-Cola International, has announced the expansion of The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation (TCCAF)’s Replenish Africa Initiative (RAIN). The original RAIN commitment, made at the World Water Forum in 2009, was a pledge of US$30 million to bring safe water access to 2 million people across the African continent by the end of 2015. TCCAF has now pledged an additional US$35 million to support Pan-African sustainable safe water access and sanitation programs for 4 million more people by 2020. The Foundation and its partners will work to improve sustainable safe water access for 6 million Africans; economically empower up to 250,000 women and youth; promote health and hygiene in thousands of communities, schools, and health centres; and return up to 18.5 billion litres of water to nature and communities. Programmes will run in Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique Zambia and Rwanda. (3BL)
Supply Chain
UNIQLO accused of labour violations
Chinese factories that supply Japanese fashion brand UNIQLO have been accused of endangering their workers’ lives in a new report from Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM), a Hong-Kong based labour rights group that has previously launched campaigns against brands including Disney, Apple, Abercrombie & Fitch and H&M. SACOM conducted research on two UNIQLO suppliers in 2014 with rights group Labor Action China and Japanese NGO Human Rights Now. The report revealed that excessive working hours, low basic wages, unsafe working environments and harsh punishments for workers were common in both factories. The report is an indicator of an increasingly assertive labour movement in China. Over 1,000 strikes and protests were reported between June 2011 and the end of 2013 in China, of which 40 percent were conducted by factory workers. (Corp Watch)
Contaminated food from Fukushima could enter Britain through legal safety loophole
Food produced around the Fukushima nuclear disaster site could be making its way on to British shelves because of loopholes in safety rules, says a report by The Independent newspaper. Products contaminated by radiation, including tea, noodles and chocolate bars, have already been exported elsewhere from Japan under the cover of false labelling by fraudsters. Experts have warned that Britain’s food regulations are not strong enough to prevent contaminated products that are fraudulently marked as coming from radiation-free regions of Japan from entering the UK. The alarm is being sounded after Taiwanese investigators uncovered more than 100 radioactive food products which had been produced in Fukushima but falsely packaged to give their origin as Tokyo. There is no firm evidence that any radioactive food has entered the UK, but experts say there is a risk, and products could already have arrived. (The Independent)
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