Children are extremely vulnerable to many of the adverse effects of climate change, and those in urban poverty face particular risks. With proper support and protection, however, they can be extraordinarily resilient to stresses and shocks.  Preparations and adaptations made with children in mind can also help reduce communities’ risks from conditions triggered by climate change.

A paper from the International Institute for Environment and Development, in the UK, discusses the probable impacts of climate change for children of different ages. The author describes the likely impact of the increasing storms, flooding, landslides, heat waves, drought and water supply constraints that climate change is likely to bring to many urban centres in Africa, Asia and Latin America. She then explores the implications for adaptation, focusing on preparedness as well as responses to extreme events and changes in weather patterns.

Children make up between a third and a half of the population in the areas expected to be most affected by climate change. Young children especially are disproportionately at risk, given their more rapid metabolisms, immature organs and nervous systems, developing cognition, limited experience and behavioural characteristics. Their exposure to various risks is also more likely to have long-term repercussions than with adults. Almost all these implications for children are intensified by poverty. Poor urban children in low-income countries are at particular risk.

While there is little specific research on the implications of climate change for children, it is possible to use existing knowledge in related areas to build a picture of the likely impacts:

• Mortality in extreme events is disproportionately high among children in low-income countries.
• Children are more vulnerable to injury, more often with long-term effects.
• Droughts, flooding and conditions after disasters all intensify the risk of water and sanitation-related illnesses, and young children are most heavily affected.
• Warmer temperatures are expanding the areas where malaria occurs, with children most often the victims.
• Young children are at high risk from heat stress, a particular problem in congested urban areas.
• Malnutrition (from food shortages related to changes affecting agriculture, or from unsanitary conditions) increases children’s vulnerability to illness, and can result in long-term physical and mental stunting.
• Children’s learning and competence in the long term can be seriously affected by factors as diverse as malnutrition and the interruption of schooling following natural disasters.
• With the breakdown of supportive environments, children face conditions that may encourage neglect, abuse and exploitation.

Adaptations to climate change (protection, preparation, relief and rebuilding) must be based on an adequate knowledge of children’s lives and the challenges their caregivers face. They must be integrated into planning, decision-making and action from the beginning. Key recommendations include:

• ensuring children’s optimal health and nutrition through preventive care and environmental health measures
• strengthening families’ capacity to cope with periods of shock without compromising the wellbeing of children
• maintaining and restoring children’s routines, networks and activities to provide a context for stability and optimal development
• respecting children’s capacities and supporting their active involvement in solving problems.

Source(s):
‘Climate Change and Urban Children: Impacts and Implications for Adaptation in Low and Middle Income Countries’, IIED Human Settlements Discussion Paper – Climate Change 2, IIED: London, by Sheridan Bartlett, 2008 (PDF) Full document.

id21 Research Highlight: 13 August 2008

Further Information:
Sheridan Bartlett
Human Settlements Group
International Institute for Environment and Development
3 Endsleigh Street
London WC1H 0DD
UK

Tel: +44 20 73882117
Fax: +44 20 73882826
Contact the contributor: sheridan.bartlett@gmail.com

Human Settlements Group, International Institute for Environment and Development, UK

Other related links:
'Adapting to flood risks in urban Africa'

'Health impacts of climate change in urban Africa'

'Severe urban health disparities to increase with climate change'

'Climate change in Tanzania – addressing vulnerable groups in adaptation planning'

'Focusing on gender differences can help countries respond to climate change'