Respect lies at the heart of everything we do in the GDWG community. By our visits and our work, we treat those struggling in the immigration detention system with a respect that they have been denied. We wish to extend that respect towards our local environment and the natural world around us.  

Climate and environmental factors have always played a major role in the migration of people, and this will only increase as the large-scale use of fossil fuels and plastics continues to cause catastrophic changes in vulnerable communities without the means to cope. It is often the case that regions with the worst humanitarian conditions that face the largest threats from climate change. Therefore, sustainability and decarbonisation are directly linked to the missions of GDWG and Refugee Tales. 

Even as a small charity with a limited environmental footprint, the changes we make have an impact, both directly and by inspiring others in the community to rethink their own attitudes towards the environment. For example, on our Refugee Tales walks, we make a simple commitment to ensure that the places we visit during Refugee Tales are left cleaner than when we arrive.  

The Commitments in our Environmental Action Plan 

We have an environmental working group developing our environmental sustainability work. If you are a member of the GDWG community and would like to join this group, please let Jonny know: jonny@gdwg.org.uk 

We are working to: 

• Understand how we are interconnected and the environmental impacts on us all  

• Recycle wherever possible and reduce our office paper usage 

• Encourage car sharing, cycling and use of public transport 

• Connect with food banks and waste reduction projects 

• Create environmental community actions such as litter picking with local groups 

• Use sustainable resources and be energy efficient  

• Use local providers 

• Increase awareness and knowledge about environmental issues and climate change within our community

• Highlight migration and detention in our educational work 

Climate Migration 

Under the Refugee Convention, climate change is not a ground for claiming refugee status, hence the use of the term ‘climate migrant’ instead of ‘climate refugee’. However, although it is rare for climate change alone to be the reason for someone to be forced to leave their home, it often acts as an underlying contributor to local environmental and social factors. Recent years have seen harsher droughts and more powerful flooding in many parts of the world, causing the destruction of traditional livelihoods and increased competition for more limited resources. This is turn leads to increased tensions which can spill out into violence and discrimination.  

In 2023, 26.4 million people were displaced internally due to natural disasters. On average, there has been a 41% increase in the number of displaced people due to disasters compared to the previous decade, and this climate-induced trend looks set to continue, with studies suggesting that 216 million people could be displaced within their own countries by 2050. Most migration due to climate change or disasters is internal to a country, but as pressures increase inside countries, it is likely that external climate migration will also increase.  

At GDWG, we make the case that immigration detention is not a sustainable way to deal with people on the move. We are now recording when people we meet in detention have been impacted by climate change, whether that is because of a natural disaster or due to longer term changes. 

Photo by Oliver Marshall

 Reading list  

Why should small charities commit to climate? 

Why Even Small Charities Have an Obligation to Commit to Climate - Click here to read

Climate migration data: 

Climate and Environmental Migration - Click here to read

Climate migration facts and information: 

Climate Migration 101: An Explainer - Click here to read

Climate Change and Displacement: The Myths and Facts - Click here to read

The Concept Of Climate Refugee - Click here to read 

Interviews and case studies: 

At 11,500 Feet, a ‘Climate Fast’ to Save the Melting Himalaya - Click here to read

Climate change and conflict pursue displaced Burkinabes - Click here to read