The Just Transition, Finally: What We Owe the People Who Grow the Crop

A just transition for tobacco farmers requires: economically viable alternative crops (with market access and technical support), land restoration (to repair the soil degradation caused by tobacco), healthcare (to address the occupational consequences of tobacco farming), education (to build the skills for alternative livelihoods), and voice (to participate in the decisions that affect their futures). **The global community has acknowledged these obligations—in FCTC Articles 17 and 18, in sustainable development goals, in countless declarations. It has not met them. The just transition is a promise that has been made and broken for decades.**