My creative piece consists of a series of two infographics titled ‘The links between Climate Change and Migration’ and ‘The links between Climate Change and Trafficking in Persons’. I chose to design and create infographics for my creative component because I believe they are an effective and visual method of conveying information.
The infographics contain primarily short facts that illustrate to viewers the significance that climate change plays in the topic of migration and in the topic of trafficking in persons. The facts were chosen specifically due to their startling reality and their ability to make viewers think.
Many of the facts present in the infographic ‘The links between Climate Change and Migration’ were retrieved from the World Bank’s Groundswell report. This 2018 report focuses primarily on slow-onset impacts of climate change. Slow-onset impacts of climate change include factors such as crop failure, sea-level rise, extreme heat and water stress (World Bank, 2018). Although the World Bank is generally looked down upon in human-rights based initiatives, this report is currently the only one of its kind. Therefore, it cannot be dismissed regardless of the World Banks negative history with development work.
The infographic ‘The links between Climate Change and Trafficking in Persons’ contain less direct facts about the link between the two. There is currently limited research on the subject, however, large organizations such as the ILO (International Labour Organization) and the IOM (International Organization for Migration) are starting to conduct studies examining the interaction. Based on my own research, I concluded that although it is hard to establish a direct link due to the numerous factors that influence both climate change and trafficking in persons, evidence has illustrated that climate change will exacerbate conditions that are conducive to trafficking. Conditions that are conducive to trafficking include: poverty, landlessness, and conflict.
Keywords: climate change, trafficking, migration
Author: A1
The use of infographics in this creative piece is a provocative way to engage students while simultaneously destabilizing rhetoric surrounding human trafficking and its motivations. Although it is not directly linked, it appears as though the underlying theme of the infographic is informed by Indigenous epistemology and the understanding that “mother earth” is synonymous to the body, particularly women`s bodies, who bear the burden of extractivist and exploitative neoliberalist and colonial endeavours. To make the infographics more inclusive of varying cultures and feminist positionalities and make this project long lasting, the Indigenous feminist worldview that I mentioned above could be incorporated as a contributor to an infographic “series”.
-Sage Lacerte