…New Report Reveals Disturbing Link Between Climate Crisis and Child Marriage
In a grim revelation on the eve of International Day of the Girl, Save the Children has issued a startling report that predicts a 33 per cent surge in the number of girls vulnerable to the harrowing combination of climate change and child marriage, projecting a staggering figure of nearly 40 million by the year 2050.
The report titled “Girls at the centre of the storm: Her planet, her future, her solutions” also underscores that approximately two-thirds of child marriages occur in regions characterized by heightened climate risks.
You can read the report, Girls at the centre of the storm: Her planet, her future, her solutions, here
Presently, an estimated 29.9 million adolescent girls find themselves residing in the top ten countries identified as child-marriage-climate hotspots, which carry the highest probabilities of girls being married off prematurely and enduring life-altering climate disasters.
According to the report’s projections, this alarming figure is expected to balloon to 39.9 million by 2050. These hotspot countries, largely situated in sub-Saharan Africa and Bangladesh, are home to some of the youngest and fastest-growing populations globally.
The intertwined crises of climate change and child marriage have precipitated emergency hotspots for girls’ rights, with Central African Republic, Chad, and Guinea bearing the brunt of these hardships. These nations not only grapple with increasingly severe and frequent extreme weather events but are also mired in conflict, poverty, gender inequality, and food insecurity.
The report detailed that early marriage inflicts profound and lasting damage on girls’ lives, severely impedes their education, leading to lifelong economic repercussions.
According to the report, Child brides often suffer isolation and face elevated risks of physical and sexual violence. Moreover, they are at a heightened risk of experiencing perilous complications during pregnancy and childbirth.
Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children International, underscored the urgency of recognizing the climate crisis as a girls’ rights emergency.
Se stated, “The global climate crisis is already changing girls’ lives and futures…Girls are demonstrating extraordinary resilience in the face of these challenges, yet their demands and solutions are rarely included in discussions about the planet they will inherit. This is unacceptable.”
Adding to the distressing findings, the report also highlights the unprecedented levels of hunger that girls in many of these countries are currently grappling with. Globally, over 49 million people, including girls and their families, teeter on the brink of starvation due to prolonged droughts and the war in Ukraine, creating a hunger crisis of unparalleled proportions.
Save the Children emphasized the dire need for urgent and effective investment in adapting to climate change, particularly given the vulnerability of children, especially girls, to its short- and long-term impacts.
The organisation further called for a shift in current spending priorities to ensure that children are not overlooked in the face of these escalating crises.
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