Ismail Einashe

KIAMBU - Across Europe - the world's largest coffee market - millions of people start their day with an espresso or cappuccino. But behind Europeans' ever-growing love affair with coffee lies a bitter truth about environmental degradation and human exploitation.

MURANGO - Kenya, the largest exporter of avocados in Africa and the sixth largest in the world, has seen extensive deforestation as vast tracts of land are converted to avocado farms, and this is just one of the environmental and social costs of Europe's avocado obsession.

CATANIA — Almost 1000 alien marine species, many dangerous and extremely invasive, are spreading quickly across the world’s fastest-warming sea, the Mediterranean.

NAIVASHA - Many of the beautiful bouquets sold across European markets have a devastating environmental and human cost. In Kenya, a supplier of 40% of the European cut flower market, the floriculture industry faces accusations of having a calamitous effect on water sources, of chemical use leading to disease, and of widespread abuses of farm workers, 70% of whom are women. 

MONDELLO - Every year millions of European tourists crowd Italy's diverse beaches, visiting ancient seaside towns and bathing in the Mediterranean Sea’s warm, azure waters. But while some enjoy themselves among the colourful parasols and picture-perfect scenery, others are fighting for survival.

PALERMO – The Italian market for sushi has surged over the last decade and is now one of its most popular foreign cuisines. Sicily – which like many regions of Italy is fiercely proud of its regional food culture – has nevertheless seen a recent food revolution with sushi restaurants and poke bowl joints appearing across its cities, helped along by the lockdown surge in delivery culture, and the popularity of apps such as Glovo, UberEats and Deliveroo.

CAMPOBELLO DI MAZARA –  Bearing the brunt of deadly heat waves and extreme weather, migrant farm workers in Italy and Spain are on the frontline of Europe’s climate emergency. While the media has focused on the impact of rising temperatures on European citizens, hundreds of thousands of migrant labourers in Italy and Spain toil away in 45°C temperatures picking olives, harvesting tomatoes, planting seeds, and irrigating crops. 

DHAKA - Faced with poverty and lack of opportunities, young Bangladeshis often dream of a better life in Europe that will allow them to provide for their families. Dalaals or ‘travel agents’ encourage and capitalise upon these hopes. Among those that take the risky journey to Italy known as 'the game' are hundreds of unaccompanied minors. The reality that greets them is often one of misery, exploitation, and slavery.

KOSOVO - In Kosovo a well organized trafficking network has started a big wave of minors who leave for Italy. Thanks to the Zampa law, which was introduced in 2017, they can get licenses to study or to work, if they report themselves at the Italian immigration services. The law was meant to decrease the number of missing unaccompanied migrant children, but it helps human smuggling in hand. "It's a company of 100.000 euros a month, but no one seems to care", says the prosecutor in Triëste.