The project
We live in an increasingly globalised world, in which trade connects distant environments thousands of miles apart. Yet they way we think about carbon emissions and environmental destruction is stuck in a different era: one where the domestic economy was the dominant driver of ecological change.
Supply chains look simple in theory, but the reality is far more complex, involving a whole range of actors beyond the key companies involved and the impacts of trade extend far more widely than is often appreciated. These secondary impacts of trade often aren’t fully understood in supply chain analysis, but as we have seen they can be extremely substantial. Every object we import, there is a three-dimensional embodied cost: carbon, local environmental and human.
So the point then, is this: natural disasters are not natural. Far from it. Rather, when you see footage of floods, droughts, landslides, and houses destroyed by storms, remember that not only does trade contribute to the carbon emissions that make these events more likely, but also the local environmental and human conditions that make them more damaging and deadly. In many cases, therefore, as we import goods, we are effectively exporting disasters to the global South.
The team
Dr Laurie Parsons
Laurie Parsons is Principal Investigator of The Disaster Trade. Previously Co-Investigator of the globally reported project Blood Bricks, Laurie’s work explores the contested politics of climate change on socio-economic inequalities, patterns of work and mobilities. It has been published in leading academic journals and respected international media sources, as well as informing the environment and trade policy of companies, governments and international NGOs.
Professor Tasneem Siddiqui
Tasneem Siddiqui is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Dhaka and the founding Chair of Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) the premier migration think tank of Bangladesh. Her works on climate change adaptation and migration, drivers and impact of internal and international male and female labour migration, migration governance, diaspora, remittances, safe and sustainable cities inclusive to migrants, have been published in the journals of Population and Environment, Development Policy Review, Urban Studies and in different volumes of Palgrave Macmillan, Edward Edgar, Routledge, Springer etc. She led the drafting of the National Strategy on the Management of Disaster and Climate Induced Internal Displacement in Bangladesh, the national Overseas Employment Policy, 2006 and was a committee member that prepared the first draft of the Overseas Employment and Migration Act of 2013. Her research and advocacy work on female labour migration has contributed to lifting of ban on international migration of low skilled women from Bangladesh in 2003.
She is in the Global Editorial Board of Oxford Journal of Migration Studies. Since June, 2019 she has joined the state led international initiative, the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD), as a member of the Advisory Committee. Recently she became member, Board of trustees, Transparency International, Bangladesh Chapter. In the past she has served as member of board of directors of Migrant Welfare Bank of Bangladesh.
Dr Ricardo Safra De Campos
Ricardo Safra de Campos is a Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Exeter with interdisciplinary research interest at the nexus between climate science and society. His research focuses on the intersection between demographic studies, wellbeing, sustainability and human security. He has investigated the migration-sustainability nexus based on the changing composition of populations driven by different forms of spatial mobility in low-lying areas exposed to environmental stressors and change.
Dr Alice Moncaster
Alice Moncaster is a Senior Lecturer at the Open University and a Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on improving environmental and social sustainability in the design and construction of the built environment. Having worked as a civil and structural engineer for the first ten years of her career, she iscommitted to changing industry practices towards a more environmentally and socially sustainable construction sector, through teaching, research and advocacy. She was the academic PI for the ground-breaking RICS Professional Statement on Whole Life Carbon (2017), leading the funded development of one of the first embodied carbon tools, and has presented her research on embodied carbon to the UK Chief Scientific Advisor.
Professor Ian Cook
Ian Cook is professor of cultural geography at the University of Exeter. He's interested in ways that academics, filmmakers, artists, activists, musicians and journalists try to make tangible the lives of those who make and grow everyday commodities. He runs the spoof shopping website followthethings.com which curates, and researches the making, discussion and impacts of over 80 examples of this work.
Mr Luis Scungio
Luis Scungio is a Research Consultant and Advisor with expertise in supporting people to defend their rights in the face of harmful investment projects and trade policies. Luis is currently conducting freelance jobs for organizations engaged in strategic climate change advocacy work as well as human rights and environmental protection. Prior to this, Luis was based in Cambodia where he conducted investment chain investigations and stakeholder analysis of harmful large-scale projects, cooperating with local communities and network organizations to hold corporations and public institutions accountable to their international responsibilities. Luis holds a LL.M. in International Human Rights Law from the National University of Galway, and a M.A. in Political Philosophy from the University of Rome La Sapienza.
Mr Tamim Billah
Tamim Billah is a Research Associate at the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU). He researches climate and disaster induced migration and adaptation practices in Bangladesh. With proven expertise of policy analysis, he also contributes to policy advocacy to inform and influence policy makers, including government officials and, politicians, etc through building collaborative partnership with stakeholders such as media, NGOs and civil society organizations. He has also played a key role in planning and delivering of a series of advocacy programs on the adoption of the National Strategy on the Management of Disaster and Climate Induced Internal Displacement (NSMDCIID) for the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief.
Mr Mahmudol Hasan Rocky
Mr. Mahmudol Hasan Rocky is a Research Coordinator and team leader of the field Research group at RMMRU. He has worked on a number of international research projects, including “Climate Change Related Migration” ,“Impact of Labour Migration to the Construction Sector on Poverty” and is currently involved in ongoing research on “Migration, Transformation and Sustainability” and “Impacts of Migration on Poverty and Local Development”. He is a co-author of recently published books titled “Accommodating Migration in Climate Change Adaptation: A GBM Delta Bangladesh Perspective” and “Impact of Migration on Poverty and Growth in Bangladesh” and “Deltas in the Anthropocene”.
