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All Outputs (13)

Forced labour risk is pervasive in the US land-based food supply (2023)
Journal Article
Blackstone, N. T., Rodríguez-Huerta, E., Battaglia, K., Jackson, B., Jackson, E., Benoit Norris, C., & Decker Sparks, J. L. (2023). Forced labour risk is pervasive in the US land-based food supply. Nature Food, 4(7), 596–606. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00794-x

Social risk assessments and case studies of labour conditions in food production primarily focus on specific subpopulations, regions and commodities. To date, research has not systematically assessed labour conditions against international standards... Read More about Forced labour risk is pervasive in the US land-based food supply.

Fishery improvement projects: A voluntary, corporate “tool” not fit for the purpose of mitigating labour abuses and guaranteeing labour rights for workers (2022)
Journal Article
Williams, C., & Decker Sparks, J. L. (2023). Fishery improvement projects: A voluntary, corporate “tool” not fit for the purpose of mitigating labour abuses and guaranteeing labour rights for workers. Marine Policy, 147, Article 105340. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2022.105340

The recent development of a Human Rights and Social Responsibility Policy for fishery improvement projects (FIPs) has accelerated industry and NGO-led initiatives to address human and labour rights violations in seafood supply chains through FIPs. Ho... Read More about Fishery improvement projects: A voluntary, corporate “tool” not fit for the purpose of mitigating labour abuses and guaranteeing labour rights for workers.

Towards a model of port-based resilience against fisher labour exploitation (2022)
Journal Article
Phelan, K., Gardner, A., Selig, E. R., & Sparks, J. L. D. (2022). Towards a model of port-based resilience against fisher labour exploitation. Marine Policy, 142, Article 105108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2022.105108

Fishers have pronounced vulnerabilities to labour exploitation and modern slavery. Regulatory efforts to mitigate fisher labour exploitation through domestic modern slavery legislation, and through the ratification and implementation of The Internati... Read More about Towards a model of port-based resilience against fisher labour exploitation.

Revealing global risks of labor abuse and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (2022)
Journal Article
Selig, E. R., Nakayama, S., Wabnitz, C. C. C., Österblom, H., Spijkers, J., Miller, N. A., …Decker Sparks, J. L. (2022). Revealing global risks of labor abuse and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. Nature Communications, 13(1), Article 1612. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28916-2

Labor abuse on fishing vessels and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing violate human rights, jeopardize food security, and deprive governments of revenues. We applied a multi-method approach, combining new empirical data with satellite... Read More about Revealing global risks of labor abuse and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.

Worker-less social responsibility: How the proliferation of voluntary labour governance tools in seafood marginalise the workers they claim to protect (2022)
Journal Article
Decker Sparks, J. L., Matthews, L., Cárdenas, D., & Williams, C. (2022). Worker-less social responsibility: How the proliferation of voluntary labour governance tools in seafood marginalise the workers they claim to protect. Marine Policy, 139, Article 105044. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2022.105044

In response to labour and human rights violations onboard fishing vessels, the private sector is increasingly relying on market-based solutions in the form of voluntary, non-governmental social governance tools to improve working conditions for fishe... Read More about Worker-less social responsibility: How the proliferation of voluntary labour governance tools in seafood marginalise the workers they claim to protect.

Decent work in fisheries: Current trends and key considerations for future research and policy (2021)
Journal Article
Garcia Lozano, A. J., Decker Sparks, J. L., Durgana, D. P., Farthing, C. M., Fitzpatrick, J., Krough-Poulsen, B., …Kittinger, J. N. (2022). Decent work in fisheries: Current trends and key considerations for future research and policy. Marine Policy, 136, Article 104922. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2021.104922

Labor issues and human rights violations have become the subject of rising concern in fisheries and seafood production. This paper reviews recent research on labor issues in the fishing industry, especially by environmental researchers and nongovernm... Read More about Decent work in fisheries: Current trends and key considerations for future research and policy.

Modern slavery, environmental degradation and climate change: present and future pathways for addressing the nexus (2021)
Report
Jackson, B., Brotherton, V., Tichenor Blackstone, N., & Decker Sparks, J. L. (2021). Modern slavery, environmental degradation and climate change: present and future pathways for addressing the nexus. https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/beacons-of-excellence/rights-lab/resources/reports-and-briefings/index.aspx: World Wildlife Fund for Nature U.S

Roundtable Report based on the findings of an event hosted by the Rights Lab, Delta 8.7 and funded by WWF U.S. to support the development of a collaborative action plan to support efforts for the antislavery and environmental communities to work toge... Read More about Modern slavery, environmental degradation and climate change: present and future pathways for addressing the nexus.

Risk of forced labour embedded in the US fruit and vegetable supply (2021)
Journal Article
Blackstone, N. T., Norris, C. B., Robbins, T., Jackson, B., & Decker Sparks, J. L. (2021). Risk of forced labour embedded in the US fruit and vegetable supply. Nature Food, 2(9), 692-699. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00339-0

Sustainable food consumption studies have largely focused on promoting human health within ecological limits. Less attention has been paid to social sustainability, in part because of limited data and models. Globally, agriculture has one of the high... Read More about Risk of forced labour embedded in the US fruit and vegetable supply.

Growing evidence of the interconnections between modern slavery, environmental degradation, and climate change (2021)
Journal Article
Decker Sparks, J. L., Boyd, D. S., Jackson, B., Ives, C. D., & Bales, K. (2021). Growing evidence of the interconnections between modern slavery, environmental degradation, and climate change. One Earth, 4(2), 181-191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.01.015

The modern slavery–environmental degradation–climate change nexus may threaten the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Globally, approximately 12.2 million workers are entrapped in modern slavery in environmentally degrading acti... Read More about Growing evidence of the interconnections between modern slavery, environmental degradation, and climate change.

Assessing the forced labor risk of US fruit and vegetable commodities (2020)
Conference Proceeding
Tichenor Blackstone, N., Benoit Norris, C., Robbins, T., Jackson, B., & Sparks, J. L. D. (2020). Assessing the forced labor risk of US fruit and vegetable commodities. In U. Eberle, S. Smetana, & U. Bos (Eds.), Proceedings 12th International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment of Food LCAFood2020: 13-16 October 2020, Berlin Virtually, German (315-320)

Studies on sustainable food consumption to date have largely focused on promoting human health within ecological limits. Much less attention has been paid to social sustainability, in part because of limited data and models. The aim of this research... Read More about Assessing the forced labor risk of US fruit and vegetable commodities.

Ending slavery by decarbonisation? Exploring the nexus of modern slavery, deforestation, and climate change action via REDD+ (2020)
Journal Article
Jackson, B., & Decker Sparks, J. L. (2020). Ending slavery by decarbonisation? Exploring the nexus of modern slavery, deforestation, and climate change action via REDD+. Energy Research and Social Science, 69, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101610

Activities involving the deforestation are high-risk for modern slavery, and is an issue which has global consequences for forest environments and communities. Despite this, little work is being done to eradicate modern slavery from these sectors. An... Read More about Ending slavery by decarbonisation? Exploring the nexus of modern slavery, deforestation, and climate change action via REDD+.