Climate Change and Human Trafficking in West Bengal

• Climate change, triggered by five tropical cyclones since May 2020, is a major factor in human trafficking in West Bengal.

• Experts suggest that climate change is pushing people into poverty and driving human trafficking.

• Back-to-back cyclones like Amphan and Yaas have destroyed livelihoods, increased migration, and exposed vulnerable populations to greater risks.

• Traffickers exploit socio-environmental vulnerabilities and limited access to essential services.

• In 2022, 58,871 people were reported missing from West Bengal, 53,655 women, and 12,455 children.

• A conviction rate of 55% in human trafficking cases in the State in the same year.

• ILFAT (Integrated Leaders Forum Against Trafficking) advocates for the integration of climate change in the fight against trafficking.

• Climate change triggers disasters, forcing vulnerable communities to migrate and lose their livelihoods.

• Climate change also pushes poverty into human trafficking, as evidenced by 28 female trafficking survivors from Hasnabad and Hingalganj areas of the Sundarbans.