Startling estimates from Save the Children, released on the eve of International Day of the Girl, predict that the number of girls exposed to the devastating convergence of climate change and child marriage will surge by 33 percent, reaching nearly 40 million by the year 2050.
In its latest report, titled ‘Girls at the Centre of the Storm: Her Planet, Her Future, Her Solutions’, Save the Children noted that approximately two-thirds of child marriages are concentrated in regions bearing higher-than-average climate risks.
Currently, an estimated 29.9 million adolescent girls reside in the top 10 countries identified as child-marriage-climate hotspots. These nations face the highest likelihood that girls will be married as children and subjected to life-altering climate-related disasters. By 2050, this ominous figure is projected to escalate to 39.9 million, with these hotspots boasting some of the world’s youngest and fastest-growing populations.
The report noted that the distressing combination of climate crisis and child marriage has ignited emergency concerns for girls’ rights in Bangladesh and across sub-Saharan Africa, the epicenter of the top 10 affected nations.
Central African Republic, Chad, and Guinea bear the heaviest burden, grappling with not only increasingly severe and frequent extreme weather events but also conflicts, rampant poverty, gender inequality, and hunger.
The report recounts the story of Kpemeh, a 12-year-old girl from Sierra Leone who narrowly avoided child marriage. Driven by the financial pressure stemming from climate-induced challenges faced by subsistence farmers like her family, Kpemeh defied societal norms and prioritized her education.
Today, she is a resolute advocate for girls’ rights within her community.
According to SCI, child marriage inflicts devastating consequences upon girls’ lives as those married young are less likely to pursue education, suffer long-term economic repercussions, endure isolation, and face elevated risks of physical and sexual violence. Additionally, child brides confront heightened dangers during pregnancy and childbirth.
Save the Children International’s CEO, Inger Ashing, emphasised the urgency of recognizing the climate crisis and its connection to girls’ rights. She underscores the dire risks girls face, from sexual harassment in disaster aftermaths to forced early marriages due to hunger induced by prolonged droughts.
Ashing called for immediate and effective investment in climate change adaptation, particularly prioritizing children and highly vulnerable girls.
She lamented the glaring omission of girls from national climate plans, highlighting the need for transformative change.
Furthermore, the report noted that many girls in these impacted countries grapple with unprecedented levels of hunger.
It observed that globally, 49 million people, including girls and their families, teeter on the brink of starvation.
Prolonged droughts and the Ukraine conflict have converged to create a hunger crisis of unprecedented magnitude, hindering learning and growth.
