Children pay the highest price when the climate changes.
“Children and climate change” was the theme of a seminar in the Danish Child Protection Network in mid-September.
The challenge was initially framed in statements like these:
- 99% of all deaths that can be linked to climate change happen in developing countries. 80% of them are children.
- In Africa, school enrollment drops by 20% in drought-affected areas.
- 38 million children’s schooling is disrupted every year by climate change-related events.
The numbers are frightening and can only be significantly improved with massive efforts from a united global community that commits to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and implements the recommendations from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
In the meantime, we can all make our small but – literally – vital contributions.
CICED is a member of The Child Protection Network and CICED’s partner JUST Nepal Foundation had a strong online presence at the seminar.
“This year’s monsoon is over. We did much better than last year. We have successfully placed children who were living on their own with temporary foster families. We are happy and proud that this year there have been no reports of trafficking or increased domestic violence. At the same time, we can be pleased that malnutrition among children, especially children with disabilities, has decreased significantly.
Pasang Diki Tamang. Pasang used to live alone, but is now in a foster home.
We have succeeded in moving marginalized families from risk zones. They now have more secure ground under their feet”. Gopal Lama, Head of JUST Nepal Foundation is online from Kathmandu.
“We can see that the youth in Helambu are blessed with plenty of capacity to deal with the massive challenges. Many of them lost their livelihoods during the severe floods last year, but they are not giving up. Together with young people, authorities, teachers and school facilitators, we are working to strengthen the resilience of local communities to climate change. Which is here and now”.
Chhiring Sherpa is one of the youth in Helambu who have participated in JUST Nepal-CICED’s youth community engagement projects.
The JUST Nepal Foundation has produced a short video that beautifully conveys the efforts and challenges. The video is 6 ½ minutes long – enjoy:
You can read more about The Child Protection Network here.
