By Shruti Agarwal, Senior Climate Adviser, Save the Children
To date, progress to tackle the rapidly escalating climate crisis has been slow and woefully inadequate. Children are bearing the brunt of what is now a climate emergency. They are looking to world leaders to take decisive action at the forthcoming COP28 in Dubai. Their lives and rights depend on it.
The climate crisis is eroding children’s rights
Children born in 2020 are predicted to experience 2.6 times as many drought events, 2.8 times as many river floods, and 6.8 times more heatwaves across their lifetimes, compared to those born in 1960. But these are not only impacts in the future. For children in many parts of the world, especially lower-income countries, these impacts are already here.
The prolonged drought in East Africa is a case in point. It led to the worst hunger crisis the region had seen in decades. Scientists agree that the drought would not have happened without human-induced climate change. The resulting loss of crops and livestock forced families to resort to harmful coping strategies such as child labour and child marriage, which expose children to risks of abuse, gender-based violence and exploitation. A girl from Somalia told us, “I hope we get a solution to this [drought] so that children whose parents have no other choice other than sending them to work would be able to cultivate their farms and herd their cattle.”
Children are also more susceptible to heatwaves and diseases like diarrhoea and malaria, outbreaks of which will increase as climate change impacts deepen. Their access to services like health and education, essential for their wellbeing and development, face disruption during climate disasters. Exposure to these effects can have a lifelong impact.
Children everywhere are seeing their rights eroded by the climate crisis. But the impacts are not equally distributed. Those already affected by inequality and discrimination – such as girls, indigenous children, displaced children and those with disabilities – are disproportionately impacted. Globally 774 million children, approximately one-third of the world’s children, face the double burden of climate change and poverty. Without urgent and bold action to tackle the climate crisis, we will see a massive rise in these numbers in the years to come.
Action to tackle the climate crisis is failing children
In 2015, global leaders agreed they would try to limit the rise of the planet’s overall temperature to 1.5°C. We are not on track. Limiting warming to 1.5°C will reduce the additional lifetime exposure of children born in 2020 to climate disasters significantly. But we’re yet to secure a commitment to phase out fossil fuels, the biggest driver of temperature increase.
Climate funders have also failed to channel adequate finance to protect children on the frontlines of the climate crisis. The first ever child-focused review of international climate funding found that just 2.4% of the finance from four climate funds supported activities that address the distinct and heightened risks to children from the climate crisis and empower them to be agents of change. Some funders, such as the Green Climate Fund, are acknowledging this gap and taking measures to bridge it.
However, international funding for climate adaptation, critical for building the capacity of children and their families to cope with the impacts of the crisis, declined in 2021. The adaptation funding gap has only grown year after year, with severe consequences for children whose daily lives and realisation of rights are affected by the climate emergency.
The failure to deliver on these fronts is resulting in children experiencing significant losses and damages from climate disasters. The catastrophic floods in Pakistan in 2022, for instance, killed more than 500 children and destroyed at least 18 590 schools. But children’s rights continue to be absent from discussions on the loss and damage fund that was historically agreed at the last COP.
Championing child rights at COP28
Children are looking to world leaders to demonstrate brave leadership. As one child from India told us, “It’s not children’s job to clean the mess spread by their elders.” But they are not just passive victims. Children have distinct capacities to contribute to climate action within their communities, countries and globally. Yet their rights, specific needs and perspectives have been overlooked in climate discussion. This must change.
Children must be at the front and centre of the climate action agenda at COP28. Firstly, world leaders must recognise that children face unique risks. Secondly, they must agree to meaningfully integrate children’s rights, needs and voices into all climate policies, action and funding. Thirdly, they must commit to phase out fossil fuels rapidly, fully and equitably. Fourthly, they must increase funding commitments to protect children experiencing the catastrophic impacts of climate change. Finally, they must make the climate summit an inclusive and safe space for children to participate and raise their concerns.
COP28 must not fail children.