Modern Slavery, Forests and the mHREDD

Scott Wylie from UK, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Modern slavery is increasingly being investigated in terms of its ecological and social implications. Modern slavery refers to the subjection of an individual(s) to exploitative labour practices via the threat of and/or actual violence. An increasing body of work exists, which assesses the impact of modern slavery on the environment, and in particular, the policy implications for the protection of forests. The connection between modern slavery and the environment is referred to as the modern slavery-environment nexus and the implications can include forced displacement, soil degradation, reduced biodiversity, and reduced carbon sequestration in forests.

The nexus is often disparately addressed. For example, within the EU legislation, laws have been enacted to tackle the deforestation and illegal logging (e.g. EU Timber Regulation and FLEGT Action Plan). Whereas, in the UK the Modern Slavery Act (2015) has provisions in place that are specific to business supply chains across a range of sectors (Section 54). From which modern slavery within the Brazil-UK timber supply have been noted. Whilst both forms of legislation provide some form of due diligence there is little tackling co-occurring abuses. A comprehensive inclusion of these social and ecological issues (e.g. modern slavery and deforestation) is required in future policy.

Proposed by the EU directive, the mandatory Human Rights and Environment Due Diligence (mHREDD) could be one such way of actively tackling deforestation and human rights abuses; and has been making its was through the European Parliament throughout 2022. The antislavery and human rights community has been advocating for the inclusion of labour rights as a key risk within the supply chain. Thus, companies based within the EU or supplying the EU should take measures to minimise, and ideally, limit modern slavery and environmental degradation across multiple sectors which may be associated with the nexus (for forests this extends to agri-business).

In order to shape and support the implementation of legislation moving forward, data are required. My research aims to support a data gap: how to quantify the nexus in forest ecosystems to protect people and the planet. This can be achieved via the application of novel data sources (e.g., satellite data) to identify areas where interventions may be applied along the supply chain. Researchers aiming to address the nexus and support mHREDD should also collaborate with partner organizations and communities on the ground to collect data specific to localities and supply chains. This should enable tailoring of legislative support for a variety of supply chains and human rights issues. 

Engaging with businesses and highlighting risks in their supply chains is vital to achieving development policy and social-ecological protections more broadly. Human rights abuses (including modern slavery) should be given equal weighting to environmental issues in the mHREDD. Moving forward other countries should look to strengthen their provisions, and the UK should follow the EU and draw together comprehensive due diligence rules to continue improving its protections around modern slavery and the environment. Overall, it is vital these policies work to protect those who are reliant on forests (in this case), those who may be subjected to modern slavery, and the environment itself.   

First written in May 2021 (with edits added December 2022) for a Workshop on the "UK in a Changing Europe" for ECR policy development.