Some 5.84 million people are paid less than the UK Living Wage, according to new research published by KPMG. Ahead of the UK’s Living Wage week, KPMG has announced that 23 percent of all employees now earn less than the Living Wage – up from 22 percent last year. Although the rise sounds modest, in real terms it equates to 497,000 people. The data also shows a worrying trend which sees part-time, female and young workers as the most likely to earn a wage that fails to provide a basic but decent standard of living. Part-time jobs are three times as likely to pay below the Living Wage; 29 percent of females earn less than the Living Wage, compared with 18 percent of males; and 72 percent of 18-21 year olds are currently earning less than the Living Wage. Commenting on the research at the same time as the Living Wage Foundation unveiled an increase in the national and London living wages, Mike Kelly, head of Living Wage at KPMG UK, said: “This is the perfect opportunity for employers to consider whether they can join the growing list of businesses paying a Living Wage.” (KPMG: 1, 2)
Supply Chain
Entrepreneurs seize opportunity in seafood traceability
The rising demand for traceable seafood among Western retail buyers and consumers is inspiring entrepreneurs and investors to develop solutions for the shrimp market and the entire seafood sector. Their innovations pave the road to change by providing ways to collect reliable data and to keep that data attached to products from the farm or ship to the table. As an added benefit, the data collected can build scientific knowledge about fishery stocks and guide sustainable fisheries management. The business opportunity is significant: the market for food traceability products and technologies is expected to grow to $14.1 billion by 2019, according to Allied Market Research. Traceability-focused companies are well-represented in this year’s Fish 2.0 Market Report on competition for sustainable seafood businesses. One such company is Pelagic Data Systems, a California-based company that provides remote data capture for boats at sea. Others include Shellcatch, TRUfish, LoveWild Fish Co, FairAgoraAsia and New Mexico Shrimp Co. (Triple Pundit)
Greenpeace organises seed response to help typhoon-hit farmers
Greenpeace, together with its partners, has organised a seed transfer to help farming communities in the Philippines recover from the impacts of Typhoon Lando (international name Koppu). More than 200 farmers received the response package, which was organized together with the Cordillera Organic Producers Association and students from Benguet State University and Saint Louis University. Farmers were supplied with seeds, vermicast, fertiliser, and organic concoctions to help them replant crops hit by the typhoon. “Our nation’s farmers face many problems, from poverty issues, non-existent health benefits, to a lack of government support. Climate change has also taken a toll, rendering farmers even more vulnerable as we have seen with Lando and other previous typhoons,” said Virginia Llorin of Greenpeace Philippines. Lando is the worst typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, causing a total of P9.8 billion ($209 million) in damage to central, northern and southern Luzon, with P8.6 billion damage attributed to agriculture. (Eco-Business)
Health
French wine industry’s love affair with pesticides blamed for worker health problems
The French wine industry’s use of pesticides is coming under scrutiny over concerns about its health and social impacts. Earlier this year, a landmark legal action was launched by lawyers acting for the daughter of a vine grower, James-Bernard Murat, who died from cancer linked to his use of pesticides over a 40 year period. Numerous studies have suggested links between pesticide use and a range of health impacts, including cancers, Parkinson’s disease and other chronic conditions. Murat’s illness was officially recognised as being linked to his profession in 2011 – one of around 40 cases where agricultural workers have had medical problems directly attributed to their work. Although the Murat case is the only one currently in the criminal courts, his office alone has now begun 45 legal proceedings relating to farmers, agribusiness workers and researchers, with around 10 directly concerned with vineyard workers. (Guardian)
Technology & Innovation
Company creates map showing scale of Europe’s refugee crisis
Lucify, a data visualisation company based in Helsinki, has used UN data on the origin and destination of all the refugees in its database over three years to create an interactive graphic of the mass movement of people into Europe. “We aimed to convey the magnitude of the crisis in a way that is intuitive, memorable, and engaging,” said the company. To that end, Lucify accessed the UNHCR’s monthly counts of new asylum seekers from the start of 2012 to the end of September 2015. Although the refugee crisis is global, the visualisation focuses on people heading to Europe because the company wasn’t able to find reliable data on migration to countries outside the continent. This means that many refugees are not represented on the map: the UN has registered four million Syrian refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and North Africa, compared to the half million who have sought asylum in Europe between April 2011 and September 2015. (Take Part)
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