A/HRC/43/44 21. Movements led by civil society have had moderate success in opposing landgrabbing. In 2018, for example, farmers in Mozambique successfully fended off an attempted large-scale land grab by a Chinese company.16 Even so, against the backdrop of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, green-grabbing or land-grabbing, with the alleged purpose of mitigating climate change or promoting environmental conservation, has emerged as a major threat to local communities. In Ghana, efforts to attain energy efficiency and develop large-scale biofuel development have led to land-grabbing by both local and foreign entities. D. Worker exploitation and exposure to dangerous pesticides 22. Food workers continue to rank among the world’s most food insecure. The agricultural sector alone employs an estimated 1.3 billion workers worldwide and the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that at least 170,000 of those workers are killed each year.17 Informality in the sector, which accounts for 60 to 90 per cent of all workers, especially women, children and migrants, means fewer protections and higher risks of poverty (see A/73/164 and A/HRC/40/56). Exposure to toxic pesticides through spray, drift and direct contact has contributed to shocking rates of acute pesticide poisoning among agricultural workers (A/HRC/34/48, para. 16). 23. Workers also experience debt bondage, exploitative “pay-by-piece” schemes, limited collective bargaining and a lack of social protections (nearly 80 per cent are without access to social security, health care and workers’ compensation, see A/73/164). These violations have persisted as speculative finance has driven down the price of global commodities and farm owners have cut corners by eliminating adequate wages, safety protections and decent workplace conditions, such as access to clean water, food and basic sanitation. 24. Existing legal protections for such workers have proven insufficient, especially as supply chains continue to expand and cross jurisdictional boundaries. The Plantations Convention, 1958 (No. 110) and its Protocol of 1982 are only operative in 10 countries and ratification of other ILO conventions remains low. For fishery and agricultural workers who are formally employed, protections are set forth in a patchwork of fragmented legal frameworks that lack mechanisms for monitoring, enforcement and accountability (see A/73/164 and A/HRC/40/56). 25. Children remain insufficiently protected, as 71 per cent of child labourers work in the greater agricultural sector, an increase of 10 million since 2012. Various human rights and labour instruments, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138), and the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention 1999 (No. 182), have not translated into meaningful improvements on the ground (see A/73/164). Addressing child labour requires an intersectional approach, focused on rural development and poverty reduction as the main drivers of food insecurity. 26. In addition, businesses are merely encouraged to adhere to the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, with no binding rules underpinning due diligence mechanisms. Nor are there avenues that allow affected individuals and communities to hold supply chain enterprises that benefit from human rights abuses responsible. 16 17 See Timothy A. Wise, “Seeds of resistance, harvests of hope: farmers halt a land grab in Mozambique”, GRAIN (30 Oct. 2018). See ILO, “Agriculture: a hazardous work” (March 2015). 7