Since 2022, 400 million children have been affected by school closures due to extreme weather events.
According to children’s rights organization Save the ChildrenNearly one in eight children in the world has been significantly affected by the ten biggest extreme weather events so far this year. Hundreds of millions of children were forced to leave their homes, become dependent on aid, or stop going to school. With climate change, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and severe, and children are most affected by these disasters.
400 million children affected by school closures due to extreme weather events
A new analysis from Save the Children finds that from January 1 to October 29, nearly 300 million children in Asia, Africa and Brazil (about 12.5 percent of the total child population of 2.4 billion) were affected by the worst extreme weather events. showed that he was impressed.
A recent study World Bank It was concluded that an average of 400 million students have had to close their schools due to extreme weather conditions since 2022.
Tropical Storm hits Trami Filipinos Weeks ago, classes for 19.5 million children were suspended.
Flooding in West and Central Africa 10 million children will drop out of schoolAn unprecedented heat wave in South Asia has caused 256 million children to miss school.
“The flood destroyed everything in the house”
In September, floods in northeastern Nigeria forced 12-year-old Kyariyam and his family to flee their home. They now live in a camp for displaced people.
“The flood destroyed everything in our house. It took away our clothes, school uniforms, books. It is something I will never forget in my life. This is the first time I have seen such a flood. I never imagined that the whole house could be submerged in just a few minutes,” says Kyariyam.
“Our school is half destroyed. I feel so bad that I can’t go to school anymore. I worry about how I’ll be able to catch up.”
Millions of children need humanitarian aid
Human-caused climate change has also worsened an El Niño-induced drought in southern Africa that has devastated land and destroyed crops for much of this year, according to the UN. 70 percent of the population in this region makes their living from agriculture. The UN described this drought as the worst in the last 100 years.
Zinhle, 14, comes from Zimbabwe, where planting has been delayed by two months or more, significantly affecting maize production and affecting 7.6 million people (47 percent of the population). at risk of acute hunger. Her mother, a single mother, sold goats, which allowed her to pay school fees, but she could afford almost everything else. Their animals died from lack of food and water.
“We plowed our fields, but the sun burned all the crops and we couldn’t get anything from the fields. We used to eat three meals a day at home, but now we only have two,” says Zinhle: they saw some of their friends so affected that they leaving school to look for a job in the mines.
Children were also affected by other floods, cyclones and monsoon events in Bangladesh, the Horn of Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan and Brazil. Typhoon Yagi, which hit Southeast Asia in September, left approximately 1.5 million children in need of humanitarian assistance.
Urgent intervention is needed to climate change
With climate change, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and severe, and Children are usually the ones most affected for these disasters. The World Meteorological Organization estimates that the number of global extreme weather events has increased fivefold in the last 50 years.
Save the Children This analysis, which shows the extent to which children are affected, emphasizes the urgency of putting children at the center of the fight against climate change at every stage. Climate change COP29 in Baku.
Given that the majority of affected children live in low- and middle-income countries, world leaders need to prioritize the voices and experiences of children living in these countries more than ever. poverty, inequality and discrimination.
ADVERTAt COP29 in Baku, Save the Children calls for rights, voice and freedom children’s sensitivity It is also taken into account in national and global adaptation plans, as well as in the New Collective Quantitative Target on Climate Finance (NCQG).
The organization also calls for improved opportunities. children’s participation in the COP so they can participate in making decisions that affect them.
“This is a climate justice issue. “At this year’s COP, children’s rights, voices and unique vulnerabilities must be a top priority in critical debates on climate finance, adaptation and broader negotiations.” Inger Ashing, chief executive of Save the Children Internationall.
“This is not just a climate crisis, it’s a child rights crisisand urgent action by world leaders is non-negotiable.”
ADVERTWorld leaders stand out at COP29 supporting the most vulnerable communities. They demand the creation of adequate water channels in the most affected areas. prevent future floods.
