Victor Ezeja
Barely 48 hours after Pope Francis released his Laudate Deum which tackled skeptics who failed to see the link between global warming and the continued use of fossil fuels, a new UNICEF report released on Friday disclosed that 43 million children were displaced within six years due to the impacts of storms, floods, fires and other extreme weather made worse by climate change.
It also disclosed that 20,000 children were displaced every day between 2016 and 2021, stating that children had to leave their homes at least 1.3 million times because of drought in the years under review. Floods and storms are said to account for 40.9 million – or 95 per cent – of the children displaced.
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“It is terrifying for any child when a ferocious wildfire, storm or flood barrels into their community,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “For those who are forced to flee, the fear and impact can be especially devastating, with worry of whether they will return home, resume school, or be forced to move again. Moving may have saved their lives, but it’s also very disruptive.
The United Nations children’s agency warned that even the most moderate estimates that only take into risks from flooding rivers, cyclonic winds and floods amount to an expected 113 million displacements of children over the next 30 years.
UNICEF worked with the International Displacement Monitoring Center, a Geneva-based nonprofit, to map where children were most impacted. It however pointed out that policymakers and the private sector now need to ensure that climate and energy planning takes into account risks to children from extreme weather.
The report says vital services like education and health care need to become “shock-responsive, portable and inclusive” to help children and their families better cope with disasters. Children can easily become separated from their parents or caregivers when fleeing their homes, putting them at far greater risk of being exploited, trafficked or abused. Displacement also disrupts access to education and healthcare. For girls, the threats are even greater, with adolescent girls at heightened risk of early pregnancy and violence.
Prime Business Africa had reported Pope Francis as saying that the world’s responses to climate change have not been adequate, even as the world is on the verge of collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point. “Some effects of the climate crisis are already irreversible, at least for several hundred years, such as the increase in the global temperature of the oceans, their acidification and the decrease of oxygen,” he said.
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