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	50 million people are living in modern slavery by Walk Fee, Anti Slavery International   July 2025   Global efforts to end modern slavery by 2030 under United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Target 8.7 are falling short. Rising risks from conflict, climate change, and weak government enforcement threaten progress.   All UN member states have committed to ending modern slavery, human trafficking, forced labour, and child labour by 2030 under Sustainable Development Goal Target 8.7.   With just 5 years remaining, and a decade since the goal was first adopted, efforts are falling far short of what is needed.   An estimated 50 million people are living in modern slavery, which is 10 million more than in 2016, according to the latest Global Slavery Index (GSI).   The high prevalence, alongside weak legal protections and limited enforcement in many countries, shows that current efforts are not enough to meet the 2030 goal.   What is Target 8.7 and how does it address modern slavery?   Target 8.7 is part of the UN’s 2030 Agenda and aims to end modern slavery in all its forms including forced labour, human trafficking, and the worst forms of child labour.   The number refers to its position in the UN framework. It’s the 7th target under Sustainable Development Goal 8, which promotes decent work and economic growth. This sets out a shared international commitment to end these forms of exploitation through legal, policy, and practical action.   Modern slavery has also been included in the Pact for the Future, adopted at the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly last year, reinforcing the need for urgent action on Target 8.7.   However, global risks linked to modern slavery are increasing. These include escalating armed conflict, climate change, and economic inequality.   Despite the global commitment, many governments have not taken sufficient legislative or policy action to meet Target 8.7. Few countries have criminalised all forms of modern slavery in line with international standards. Where laws do exist, enforcement is often weak or under-resourced.   Mandatory human rights due diligence laws remain the exception, not the norm. In the EU, member states must support the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) to protect human rights and give businesses the legal clarity to operate responsibly in global markets.   State-imposed forced labour continues in countries like the United States, and exploitative migration systems remain largely unregulated, exposing migrant workers to abuse.   Child marriage is still legally permitted under the age of 18 in many jurisdictions, with some countries backtracking on previous progress, including Iraq lowering the legal age of marriage to 9 for girls and 15 for boys.   Despite calls for reform, federal governments, including the United States under President Donald Trump’s administration, have failed to take meaningful action on this issue.   Global supply chains continue to drive forced labour and exploitation   Modern slavery is still embedded in global supply chains. Everyday products such as clothing, electronics, seafood, and agricultural goods are often linked to exploitative labour practices.   G20 countries alone import over US$468 billion worth of goods that are at risk of being produced with forced labour each year, according to the GSI.   Despite this, most governments continue to rely on voluntary frameworks rather than enforce laws that hold businesses accountable. Few companies conduct meaningful due diligence to identify and address exploitation in their supply chains, and in most places, they are not legally required to do so.   Meeting the 2030 deadline will require immediate, coordinated, and sustained action. Governments must:   Criminalise all forms of modern slavery in line with international legal standards. Enforce existing laws and resource labour inspectorates and justice systems. Implement and enforce mandatory human rights due diligence legislation. Address the root causes of exploitation, including conflict, climate change, displacement, and inequality.   With 5 years to go, the global community must act urgently to deliver on its commitment to end modern slavery and protect those at risk of exploitation worldwide.   http://www.walkfree.org/news/2025/un-2030-goal-to-end-modern-slavery-at-risk-of-being-missed-as-exploitation-risks-rise/ http://www.walkfree.org/global-slavery-index/ http://www.walkfree.org/news/2025/why-eu-leaders-must-defend-the-csddd-amid-president-trumps-trade-threats-and-internal-rollbacks/ http://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/csddd-transposition/ http://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/business/mhrdd/ohchr-commentary-omnibus.pdf http://www.fidh.org/en/issues/business-human-rights-environment/business-and-human-rights/csddd-ombibus-eu-council-changes-limit-protection-rights http://www.hrw.org/news/2025/07/09/us-lobbying-groups-target-eu-corporate-accountability-law http://www.antislavery.org/latest/eu-omnibus-global-south-statement/ http://www.walkfree.org/news/2025/governments-are-cutting-human-rights-funding-and-putting-millions-at-risk-of-modern-slavery/ http://www.freedomunited.org/news/clean-energy-child-labor-africa/ http://www.equaltimes.org/trump-s-cuts-to-global-labour Visit the related web page
	Climate extremes, food price spikes, and their wider societal risks by Environmental Research Letters, agencies   July 2025   Extreme weather has stoked food price rises around the world in recent years, with low income earners bearing most of the economic pain and health impacts, according to new research.   The research links last year’s surges in the price of potatoes in the UK, cabbages in South Korea, onions in India, and cocoa in Ghana to weather extremes that “exceeded all historical precedent prior to 2020”.   Such price jumps not only affect local food security and health, particularly for the poorest in society, but have knock-on effects around the world.   The report 'Climate extremes, food price spikes, and their wider societal risks', published in the journal Environmental Research Letters includes contributions from the UK’s Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), the European Central Bank (ECB), the Food Foundation, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.   The study investigated examples across 18 countries between 2022 and 2024 where price spikes were associated with heat, drought and heavy precipitation.   “We can see that there’s a broad global context for this happening in recent years that extends all the way from East Asia through Europe and also to North America,” said Maximillian Kotz, a post-doctoral fellow at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and the lead author of the study. “Our paper is a call to action for us to consider these wider effects of food price increases in response to climate change for our societies.”   Climate extremes, food price spikes, and their wider societal risks   2024 was the hottest year on record, with global temperatures exceeding 1.5 °C above preindustrial climate conditions for the first time and records broken across large parts of Earth’s surface. Among the widespread impacts of exceptional heat, rising food prices are beginning to play a prominent role in public perception, now the second most frequently cited impact of climate change experienced globally, following only extreme heat itself.   Recent econometric analysis confirms that abnormally high temperatures directly cause higher food prices, as impacts on agricultural production translate into supply shortages and food price inflation.   Amongst the examples we identify, recent spikes in the price of food were often associated with heat, drought and heavy precipitation conditions that were so extreme as to completely exceed all historical precedent prior to 2020.   For example, heatwaves across East Asia during 2024 led to unprecedented monthly temperatures across virtually all of South Korea and Japan, as well as large parts of China and India. Government statistics indicate that these events lead to substantial increases in the price of Korean cabbage (70% higher in September 2024 compared to September 2023), Japanese rice (48% higher in September 2024 compared to September 2023), and overall vegetable prices in China (30% increase between June and August).   Far from being confined to Asia, prominent impacts were also seen across advanced Western economies. With California accounting for over 40% of US vegetable production, unprecedented drought across California and Arizona in 2022 contributed to an 80% year-on-year increase in US vegetable producer prices by November 2022. With Spain producing over 40% of global olive oil, unprecedented droughts in Southern Europe across 2022/23 drove year-on-year price increases of 50% across the EU by January 2024, on top of price increases in the previous year.   As well as effects in domestic markets, recent climate extremes also raised global market prices of important food commodities. For example, Ghana and the Ivory Coast produce nearly 60% of global cocoa. Unprecedented monthly temperatures across the majority of both countries in February 2024, on top of a prolonged drought in the prior year, led to increases in global market prices of cocoa of around 300% by April 2024 compared to the previous year. Similar effects were observed for coffee following heatwaves and drought in Vietnam and Brazil in 2024.   Such effects in international markets bring challenges for suppliers and potential price rises for consumers in countries far from the region directly affected by weather extremes.   These climate-driven food price spikes can aggravate risks across a range of sectors of society. First, rising food prices have direct implications for food security, particularly for low-income households.   This can result in (a) households spending the same but buying less (either going hungry or depending on sources of charity); (b) spending the same but buying cheaper options (typically cutting out nutritious foods like fruits and vegetables which are more expensive sources of calories) (c) spending an even higher proportion of their income on food (with knock on effects on other areas of essential expenditure). These effects can be strongly regressive given the substantial disparities in the share of income spent on food by low- and high-income households.   For example, in the USA the lowest income quintile spends approximately 33% of income on food compared to 8% in the highest income quintile. The fact that larger price increases occur in hotter and typically poorer countries will further amplify these effects.   Second, food price increases exacerbate risks for public health. When price increases shift consumer spending towards cheaper, often less nutritious options, or when climate extremes directly affect the prices of nutritious foods such as fresh fruit and vegetables, this can have knock-on consequences for the quality of diets.   With diet-related diseases responsible for more deaths than any other risks,climate-induced price increases could thereby exacerbate a range of health outcomes from malnutrition and associated co-morbidities (particularly among children whose nutritional needs are higher), to a range of chronic diet-related conditions including coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and many cancers.   Combined with the growing body of evidence connecting food insecurity and poor diets with mental health outcomes, this implies strong risks for the health sector and necessary public spending from climate-induced food price increases.   Third, recent evidence indicates that heat impacts on food prices also raise headline inflation. Central bank mandates for price stability may become increasingly challenging to deliver if more frequent extreme weather events make food prices less stable domestically and in global markets.   This is particularly a risk for developing economies, where the weight of food prices in headline inflation is much greater. These challenges may be magnified if persistent temperature increases cause a sustained upward pressure on inflation, or inflation volatility results in lower credibility and a de-anchoring of inflation expectations.   Moreover, raising interest rates to dampen inflationary effects risks exacerbating any reduction in economic growth that may also be caused by the extreme event.   Fourth, food price inflation associated with climate-extremes may come to bear increasing political relevance. Anecdotal evidence from across history often cites food price increases as a precursor to political unrest and social upheaval (from the French and Russian revolutions of the 18th and 20th centuries, to the 2008/09 food crisis and 2011 Arab Spring).   Such links are substantiated further by evidence showing a robust relationship between food prices and social unrest at monthly time-scales. Moreover, high rates of inflation can directly alter election outcomes in modern democracies.   For example, high inflation reduced support for incumbent Democrats in the 2024 US election, and boosted support for extremist, anti-system and populist parties in elections held in advanced economies since 1948. These effects can be particularly strong when inflation affects real wages, as is the case with food prices.   Maximilian Kotz: “What we found is very strong evidence that abnormally high temperatures drive increases in the price of food and overall inflation,” he said, “and that therefore, under future climate change with heat intensifying, we’re going to be expecting to see more and more of these kinds of increases in consumer price indexes, broadly.”   “These effects are going to continue to become worse in the future. Until we get to net zero emissions extreme weather will only get worse, but it’s already damaging crops and pushing up the price of food all over the world.   http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ade45f http://eciu.net/media/press-releases/2025/uk-us-ethiopia-see-food-price-shocks-from-climate-extremes-raising-concerns-for-child-health http://insideclimatenews.org/news/21072025/weather-extremes-driving-up-food-prices/ http://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jul/21/rising-food-prices-driven-by-climate-crisis-threaten-worlds-poorest-report-finds Visit the related web page
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