Decent work and climate change risks in the UK food supply 

Rights Lab project lead: Dr Dr Bethany Jackson 
Funder: Nottingham Research Fellowship
Duration: 2024 - 2027
Programme: Measurement and Geographies/School of Geography

Workers in the global food system are vulnerable to significant deficits in working standards. The exposure of workers to climate change threatens decent work, and workers face the compounding threat of climate change that can push them towards extreme exploitation, such as forced labour. To ensure decent work, sustainable livelihoods and climate change mitigation must be met. My NRF focuses on two interlinked issues: firstly, worker rights and protections in the UK food supply, the elimination of forced labour and a transition to decent working practices; and secondly, the likely effects on exposure to exploitative work and appropriate adaptation of working practices to climate change. Some of this research builds directly on forced labour risks work undertaken with partners in the US by expanding into a new geographical context. It applies and expands upon these methods to address climate change challenges and their risk to achieving decent work due to the unique social and ecological challenges faced by workers in the UK food system.