Report says African children bear risk of climate change
By Milliam.Murigi, September 4, 2023As the African Climate Summit begins today in Nairobi, a new report has revealed African children are among the most at risk of the impact of climate change.
The report dubbed Time to Act: African Children in the Climate Change Spotlight, by UNICEF, reveals that despite this vulnerability, children are also the most neglected by the key climate financing flows.
“These youngest members of African society are bearing the brunt of the harsh effects of climate change yet key global climate funding that are required to help them adapt, survive, and respond to the climate crisis are not supporting child-responsive activities,” says Lieke van de Wiel, Deputy Director, UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa region
According to the report children in 48 out of 49 African countries assessed are at high or extremely high risk of the impacts of climate change. Children living in the Central African Republic, Chad, Nigeria, Guinea, Somalia, and Guinea-Bissau are the most at risk.
The analysis assessed countries based on children’s exposure to climate and environmental shocks, such as cyclones and heatwaves, as well as their vulnerability to those shocks, based on their access to essential services.
According to the report, only 2.4 percent of Multilateral Climate Funds (MCF) are supporting child-responsive activities, with an average value of just $71 million per year. If the target group is increased to include youth, the figure rises to just 6.6 per cent of total MCF spending.