Climate Change and Environmental Protection

Challenging Heights collaborated with Anti-Slavery International and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) to conduct a study on the relationship between climate change, migration, and modern slavery. The research findings were published in a report titled "Climate-Induced Migration and Modern Slavery – A Toolkit for Policymakers". The research highlighted the nexus between climate-induced mitigation and modern slavery, drawing anecdotal evidence from Northern and Southern Ghana. In Northern Ghana, the research focused on the effects of climate change on vulnerable people, especially young girls who are forced to migrate to work as head potters (kayayei) and eventually become entrapped in a vicious cycle of modern slavery.  In Southern Ghana, the research drew evidence from coastal fishing communities where vulnerabilities of fisherfolks were found to have increased resulting in increased migration to the in-land fishing area of the Volta Lake. This further implied the trafficking, engagement and eventual exploitation and enslavement of more children and vulnerable people in the fishing industry. Read the report on our research section….