Overview
About the project
TRACE – Tracing Colonial Legacies in Climate Vulnerabilities is a European remembrance and civic engagement project that explores how colonial history continues to shape present-day climate vulnerabilities, environmental inequalities, and migration patterns. The project connects Europe’s colonial past with current global challenges by examining how colonial exploitation disrupted ecosystems, weakened societies, and created long-term environmental and social fragilities that contribute to climate-induced migration today. Through participatory education, research, storytelling, policy dialogue, and youth-led advocacy, TRACE empowers young people to critically reflect on the links between colonisation, climate justice, and migration while contributing to more inclusive and informed public debate.
Our aim
Objectives
◉ To strengthen young people’s understanding of colonialism and decolonisation history.
◉ To raise awareness of the environmental consequences and ecological legacy of colonialism.
◉ To highlight the relationship between colonial exploitation, climate vulnerability, and climate-induced migration.
◉ To bring climate migration into public debate and connect it to its historical and colonial roots.
◉ To promote intergenerational dialogue and justice regarding historical and environmental issues.
◉ To equip youth to critically engage with migration policies and legal gaps affecting climate migrants.
◉ To combat polarised narratives, hate speech, and disinformation related to migration.
◉ To encourage inclusive remembrance and historically informed democratic participation.
◉ To empower young people to co-create policy recommendations and contribute to European civic discourse.
Audience
TARGET GROUPS
Primary Target Group
Young people aged 15–30 across the European Union, including:
◉ Secondary school students
◉ University students
◉ Young adults in vocational training or early career stages
◉ Youth from migrant/postcolonial backgrounds
Secondary Target Groups
◉ Educators and schools, benefiting from innovative teaching tools and remembrance methodologies
◉ Civil society organisations and local communities, especially those active in migration, youth, and environmental justice
◉ Policy makers and public authorities, receiving youth-led recommendations and policy input
◉ Researchers, activists, and stakeholders involved in climate justice, migration, and democratic participation.
Our partners
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.