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Climate Change and
Impact on the children
Shashanka Saadi
Team Leader, Humanitarian Response Team, UNDP
12 Feb 2009
Think Tank Workshop on CCA and CBDRR
Organized by IFRC in Dhaka

• The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) was making
plans based on conservative estimates that global
warming would force between 200 million and 250
million people from their homes by mid-
century, said L. Craig Johnstone, the U.N. Deputy
High Commissioner for Refugees.
• "That means a displacement of something like six
million people a year -- that's a staggering
number," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the
Dec. 1-12 U.N. climate talks in Poland.
• Half of them are children.

• UNHCR statistics show 67 million
people were uprooted around the
world at the end of 2007, 25 million
of them because of natural disasters.
• One third of them were children.

The resulting impact on children is
likely to be
dramatic.

• Malaria, currently responsible for the death of
around 800,000 children under five years old in
Africa each year, is set to increase.
• The number of children dying each year due to
the effects of malnutrition – currently 3.5 million
– is likely to increase.
• As a result of slow-onset or recurrent natural
disasters, parents may feel compelled to withdraw
their children from school or send them out to
work.

• Save the Children’s 2007 report, Legacy of
Disaster, showed that in the next decade up to
175 million children every year are likely to be
affected by the kinds of natural disasters
brought about by climate change.
• Already 3.5 million children worldwide die each
year from the effects of malnutrition. Estimates
suggest that by 2080 there could be a further
600 million people facing acute malnutrition due
to the effects of climate change

• Emergencies usually result in children facing
heightened risks, including family
separation, psychological distress, physical harm
and gender-based violence. Save the Children
research in 2007 found that children face serious
risks of exploitation during an emergency, as they
and their families turn to ever-more desperate
means of survival. The uncertainty created by
natural disasters interplays with other factors
such as unemployment, lack of protection, poverty
and unequal distribution of power

The impact on children’s hunger
and nutrition

• As per a study ‘living with Disaster, only
55% of the children in disaster prone
areas in Bangladesh can afford to have
three meals per day.
• More children will be homeless, displaced
and will ply in the urban areas, cities and
will be involved in more informal sector
where exploitation is a key concern.

What Children says
• We have had • When it rains
problem in findings heavilydurig the
food & water. The school time, it is
soil and rocks were very hard to
swept by the concentrate on
landslides. The study because we
animal didn’t get worry about our
enough food. And families an fear
the plants not been there will be land
able to grow. – slide – keshang
Sarita tamang, 14 Tamang, 13 yrs
yrs old, Nepal old, Nepal

• Last year, it rained
a lot and there
were many land
slides and crops • Flood and
were destroyed. increased rainfall
THi year, we didn’t stop me going to
have much rain, the the schools
plants could not
grow properly, so
we have little to
feed ourselves – a
13 year old girl.

Existing adaptation strategies
said by Children
• Crop diversificaiton
• Irrigation technology
• Improved drainage system
• Food reserves
• Microloan
• Farming cooperatives
• Alternative livelihoods
• Alternative livelihoods
• Relocating their homes

• In our • The cattle and
villages, some of belongings have to
the newly built be transferred to
houses have plinth safer places where
level raised there is a
structure. possibility of
• Plinth raising is a flood, cyclone and
new practice in landslides
many places.

• Children should not be seen only as
victims of natural disasters and
climate change – they can be
communicators of good practice and
active agents ofchange

recommendations for upholding children’s
rights in the context of climate change

• Children’s right to be heard
• Children’s right to adaptation
• Children’s right to education
• Adaptation plans should include the
needs of children

• "Children and young people can be the best ambassadors for
action on climate change. Many understand the scale of the
challenge and know the importance of protecting the planet
for the next generation.
• "And they show that each of us can play a role today. We
can each make a difference in our own lives and by bringing
others with us, sharing our sense of urgency, we can all add
to the pressure for change.
• "Children in a Changing Climate is an important part of that
movement. I believe we must do all we can for all children to
get a chance to learn about climate change and have their
voices heard.“
Reference - Ed Milliband, UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, December 2008

Missing: Children’s Perspectives in the Climate
Change Debate
Published: 8 Dec 2008

• New research by Children in a
Changing Climate, led by IDS, shows
that children living in poor areas of
Nepal understand the need to change
their lives and the livelihoods of
their families in response to climate
change.

• It is important to secure children
and young people’s voice in preventing
and adapting to climate change –
from their communities to the UN.

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