At first glance, environmental justice and human trafficking may seem like separate issues. One concerns the health of our planet and the equitable distribution of environmental resources; the other involves the exploitation and abuse of vulnerable people. But dig deeper, and a powerful connection becomes clear: environmental injustice creates the conditions in which trafficking thrives.
At Pink Cross, we advocate for holistic solutions to exploitation — and that includes recognising the role environmental harm plays in driving vulnerability and displacement.
Climate Change, Displacement, and Exploitation
As the climate crisis worsens, extreme weather events, rising sea levels, droughts, and food insecurity are forcing millions from their homes. According to the UN, climate-related disasters displace more people each year than conflict. This displacement often leads to poverty, loss of livelihood, and desperation — conditions that traffickers exploit.
People fleeing environmental disasters are more likely to:
- Lack legal protections or refugee status
- Experience housing and job insecurity
- Be cut off from social support networks
- Fall into unsafe or exploitative labour, including sex trafficking
Traffickers target those with limited options, and environmental collapse is increasingly creating those vulnerabilities at scale.
Environmental Destruction and Exploitative Industries
Human trafficking also occurs within environmentally harmful industries such as:
- Illegal logging and mining
- Unregulated fishing and agriculture
- Waste picking and recycling in toxic conditions
In these sectors, labour trafficking is rampant — with workers, including children, often forced to endure dangerous, polluting environments with no pay and no rights. These industries destroy local ecosystems and the human lives entangled in them.
Who’s Most at Risk?
Marginalised communities already bearing the brunt of environmental injustice — including Indigenous peoples, communities of colour, and the rural poor — are often those most at risk of human trafficking. When land is stolen, water is poisoned, and homes are destroyed, people are pushed to the margins. And at the margins, exploitation is more likely to take root.
A Call for Intersectional Justice
To fight human trafficking, we must also fight for climate justice, environmental protection, and economic equity. Solutions to trafficking must go beyond policing and criminalisation — they must address the root causes that force people into vulnerable positions in the first place.
This means:
- Supporting climate-resilient communities
- Protecting land and water rights, especially for Indigenous peoples
- Providing safe, fair employment opportunities in affected regions
- Recognising climate refugees and giving them legal protections
- Holding exploitative industries accountable
At Pink Cross, We See the Whole Picture
Our work at Pink Cross includes supporting survivors of trafficking, advocating for systemic change, and offering trauma-informed mental health services. But we also understand that human dignity is tied to environmental wellbeing. A just world is one where neither people nor the planet are treated as disposable.
If you or someone you know has been affected by trafficking or exploitation — whether through environmental displacement or otherwise — support is available. No one should suffer in silence.
🌏 Environmental justice is human justice.
🕊 A healthy planet helps protect people.
💚 Let’s fight exploitation at its roots — together.
