Page 62 - Ecuador's Banana Sector under Climate Change

ecuador’s banana sector under climate change: an economic and biophysical assessment to promote a sustainable and climate-compatible strategy
the Human Rights Watch study. Previously, when Ecuador ignored the theory and literature relating to labour laws, employers were able to maintain a permanent temporary workforce on the plantations. Workers were engaged through extendable short-term contracts so that employers could bypass the labour laws that related only to those workers under formal contracts. Employers were within the law to enable them to block organized unions simply by dismissing workers and paying a small fee. Furthermore, banana plantation owners preferred to rotate the workforce that handled dangerous chemicals by issuing short-term contracts rather than improve working conditions or provide protection against pesticides. It is not a revelation, therefore, that union activity could not take place under these conditions. In fact, the Human Rights Watch study was able to detect that only a very small fraction of workers did form labour unions.15 It is essential, therefore, that these employment practices be reformed as a prerequisite for social sustainability.
5.4 Improved governance for a sustainable banana industry
To enhance the sustainability of the banana industry - especially with regard to the use of pesticides and minimizing the risks involved - requires innovation with regard to governance. Innovation can be in the form of regulatory institutions and policies, incentives, or information and technology, such that they can directly influence producers or achieve impacts indirectly through the decision-making
of consumers, retailers and processors. It is important that there is consensus on the governance mechanisms and institutional arrangements that can best support such interventions.
Governance, in its complexity, must be based on a multidimensional approach that considers political processes (politics), institutional structures (polity) and policy content (policy) (Lange et al., 2013). In analysing governance along the commodity value chain, it is important to recognize the degree of influence certain actors hold along the chain to understand their roles in influencing agricultural production. In addition, complementary institutions, incentives and information are often combined, while multistakeholder collaboration between different groups of stakeholders is desirable.
In the case of the banana, multiple forms of governance operating at different levels (local, national and international) are required to ensure the transition to more environmentally sustainable systems from the social dimension in terms
of equitable distribution of benefits; protection of workers’ rights; and affected communities’ health and economic wellbeing. From the environmental dimension, it is essential to minimize the risks of pesticides; confront the rising challenges of climate change and the consequent water resource issues; and manage extreme weather events.
At the national level, the banana policy serves as the framework to improve social equity and workers’ rights. An essential element is a mechanism to monitor
15 The study found only five successfully organized groups out of more than 5 000 registered banana plantations in Ecuador and only approximately 1 650 of the more or less 120 000-148 000 banana workers are affiliated with workers’ organizations - approximately 1 percent of the workforce.
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