Children living on climate change frontline denied a voice

Bangladeshi girl Shapla and a friend in a scene from their film Flood Children of Holdibari

• Children most affected by climate change shut out of conversations about the future

• Plan International sends youth reporters to COP15 to have their say

• Young people around the world learning to deal with increased disasters

CHILDREN already struggling to adapt to severe, unpredictable weather and environmental disasters are being denied a say in the climate change debate, says children’s organisation Plan International.

Young people in developing countries are taking on more responsibility and initiatives to protect their homes and communities but are not being allowed to hold governments to account, Plan has found.

With two in five of the world’s population under the age of 18, climate change is set to have a disproportionate impact upon children.

Plan says the impact can already be seen in some countries where it operates with shorter and unpredictable rainy seasons, severe typhoons, hurricanes and floods, long-lasting droughts, and repeatedly failed harvests.

Plan International Australia's Director of Programs Dave Husy said: "Extreme weather caused by global warming has the ability to undermine all the gains achieved in the areas of food security, water and sanitation, and the survival of young children.

"We have seen how a catalogue of disasters this year has damaged homes and livelihoods in many countries where we work, with children being the greatest victims."

Increasingly, young people are now being trained in how to practically deal with the results of such natural disasters - and how to protect their homes and build the resilience of their communities.  

But Mr Husy said that not enough is being done to support these children in their efforts or to allow them to have their say in climate change discussions.

"Children all over the world are now showing their interest, capacity and valuable role in strengthening resilience to climate risks. But adults are negotiating away the viability of the world they will live in without giving the next generation a place at the table.

"As one of the groups so drastically affected, their voice must be heard now – both on how their communities are being affected today and will be increasingly under threat in the future."

Plan is now calling for a number of actions at COP15 including:

• Children to be given access to dialogue and formal decision making mechanisms on climate change.
• Governments to invest more in education so the next generation knows more about managing the environment.  
• Ensuring that National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) and other international, regional and national strategic plans on climate change protect and involve children.
• Emphasising the significance of children – in terms of impact and ‘agency’ – within the fifth IPCC Assessment Report

As part of efforts to give young people a voice on climate change, eight young reporters trained in media skills by Plan International (including representatives from Kenya and Indonesia) will be attending and taking part in COP15 between December 12 and 19. They will interview national delegates and representatives from The Elders, IASC agencies, UN bodies and other organisations.

Beatrice, 13, from Kithyoko, Kenya, is one the young reporters.

"Climate change is affecting my community directly," she says, "I am looking forward to the day when all the people will understand better use of resources and change the climate for better. We are the future leaders and if we understand the effects of climate change now, later in life we can save our countries."

Plan International is attending COP15 as a member of the Children in a Changing Climate coalition, which was co-founded by Plan in 2007. Other coalition members include UNICEF, Save the Children, the Institute of Development Studies and World Vision. The coalition will be holding a side event on Tuesday, December 15, about the importance of children’s participation in the climate change debate.

Ends

Further Information

David Cook (Media Officer)
Plan International in Australia
Mobile:  0408 816 900
Work: 03 9672 3652
Email: david.cook@plan.org.au

Notes to Editors

1. To arrange interviews with the youth reporters or Plan spokespeople in Copenhagen, contact Stuart Coles on +44 7500 066 891 or stuart.coles@plan-international.org, or Alastair Clay on +44 7919 574 180 or alastair.clay@plan-international.org

2. For more information or to arrange an interview with Dave Husy, contact David Cook on the contact details listed above.

3. Find out more about the Plan Supported youth reporters at COP15. 

4. Find out more about the Children in a Changing Climate coalition.

5. Case studies of children responding to climate change and its impact on their communities are available from Plan International, including video stories. A selection is listed below, with links to the videos on YouTube:

• Floods - El Salvador: Brigades of young people trained in disaster risk reduction (DRR) sound the alarm a full two hours before the national government – saving all but one person in their community (the previous year 11 people died). Watch the video story.
  
• Landslide – Philippines: Teenage boy in the Philippines trained in DRR spots cracks in his school and convinces authorities to move the whole building, saving it from imminent landslide threat.
• Droughts & floods – Cambodia: Children help create plan for a new canal to improve irrigation and steady water supply to their communities and surrounding rice fields. Watch a compilation video from Cambodia, the Philippines and Indonesia.
  
• Forest fires – Sierra Leone: Women and children work to mobilize communities and farms ravaged by dry season wildfires – establishing nurseries of fast-growing trees; creating fire belts and warning of the risks of logging for charcoal burning.
• You can also watch an award-winning film about flooding in Bangladesh called The Flood Children of Holdibari.