24 September 2025

WASHINGTON, September 24, 2025 – A new report from GoodWeave International and New ERA details how climate change is contributing to child and forced labor in Nepal’s carpet and brick sectors. The study combines 30 years of climate trend analysis with interviews and group discussions with over 1,000 participants. 

Migrant laborers from rural Nepal, including children, work in carpet factories and brick kilns in the Kathmandu Valley. Many come from farming communities where climate shocks, including droughts, floods, landslides, heat waves and other severe events have devastated agriculture. The extent to which these climate impacts shape decisions by adults and children to enter carpet and brick production — sectors where risks of child and forced labor are high — had not been formally studied before now. 

The report, “From Risk to Resilience: How Climate Change is Deepening Child and Forced Labor in Nepal, and what to do about it,” funded by Minderoo Foundation’s Walk Free initiative, is the first to document these links and to show how vulnerable groups are coping and adapting to the combined pressures of climate change and hazardous work. 

The research focused on eight rural districts containing origin communities for child laborers and adult workers in Nepal’s carpet and brick sectors, that are highly exposed to climate change. Key findings from the report include: 

- 35% of adult brick and carpet workers, and parents of child laborers said that climate events had a role in their decision to work in these sectors at high risk of forced labor, or have their children work
- 17% cited climate events as playing an “extreme” role. 73% of brick workers cited changing climate patterns as a factor, with 48% describing it as an extreme factor. Children and adults described climate-driven stresses on their households’ food production and supply, forcing their families to cope via borrowing, resorting to carpet or brick work, or other long-term coping mechanisms. 
- Debt, food security, and land ownership emerged as differentiators between respondents who believe that climate change influenced their decisions to work or have their children work, and respondents who do not believe this claim. 

The report outlines recommendations for public and private sector leaders, including: designing and implementing targeted protections for climate-vulnerable children and adult workers in high-risk sectors by strengthening education, safeguarding, and climate awareness; strengthening agricultural resilience and land access while enhancing income-generating opportunities and livelihood diversification; enhancing climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction; and expanding existing labor and social protection frameworks in Nepali law to ensure adequate safety of children. 

Hem Moktan, Senior Program Manager at Nepal GoodWeave Foundation, said: “I continue to see in today’s rural communities the same cycle I experienced as a child. When families face hardship from failed harvests or loss of income, they often feel they have no choice but to send their children to work. This report makes those connections clear and provides a roadmap. If we act on its recommendations, we can protect children and give families a way forward.” 

Sadikshya Nepal, Director of Advocacy and Communications at GoodWeave International, said: “Nepal is at a political crossroads; the success of its transition will be defined by how it protects its most vulnerable population. Families are under immense pressure to sustain economic stability in the face of growing disastrous climate events. When floods, drought, or crop failures occur, and public systems are strained, children and workers are left more exposed to exploitation. This study underscores the urgency of reinforcing education, safe work, and livelihood support so climate change and uncertainty do not push more children into hazardous labor.” 

As part of the launch, the report’s findings and recommendations will be shared through GoodWeave’s participation in Climate Week in New York, meetings and engagements in Kathmandu, and a presentation at ISEAL Members’ Week in October, with more opportunities ahead to advance dialogue. 

About New ERA 

New ERA was established in 1971 as Nepal’s first non-government not-for-profit research organization. Run entirely by a team of Nepali professionals, it engages in theoretical, policy and action-oriented research in collaboration with international research institutes and universities, and specializes in development research, technical assistance, technology transfer and training for Nepal’s development. The organization is active in many development sectors, including, but not limited to health and nutrition, population and family planning, education, agriculture, drinking water and sanitation, gender, conflict management, environment, forestry, human resources, livestock, migration and resettlement, rural development and tourism. Learn more at newera.com.np. 

About GoodWeave International 

GoodWeave — a nonprofit organization founded in 1994 by Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi — is the leading global institution working to stop child and forced labor in supply chains through a market-based system and human rights-based approach. In partnership with international companies and producer communities, we bring visibility to hidden, outsourced tiers of textile supply chains; protect marginalized workers; provide assurance that certified products are free of child, forced, and bonded labor; prevent exploitation; and restore childhoods to child labor and trafficking survivors. Look for the GoodWeave® certification label on rug and home textile products. 

Learn more at goodweave.org. 

Media Contact: 

Jamir Munayco GoodWeave International Jamir@goodweave.org