Floods, Storms Accounted For 95% Of Recorded 43 Million Child Displacement, UNICEF Says

Extreme weather events resulted in almost 43 million child displacements between 2016 and 2021, according to a United Nations report.

According to the first-of-its-kind investigation by UNICEF and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), floods and storms accounted for 95% of observed child relocation between 2016 and 2021.

More than two million youngsters were displaced by wildfires and drought.

Negative Effects of Displacement

Due to their susceptibility to extreme weather, huge kid populations, and progress achieved on early warning and evacuation capacities, China and the Philippines are among the countries with the highest absolute numbers of child displacements.

Children in small island republics such as Dominica and Vanuatu were most affected by hurricanes, while children in Somalia and South Sudan were most affected by floods.

Wildfires displaced 810,000 children, with Canada, Israel, and the United States having the highest numbers.

Displacement is painful and terrifying at any age, but the consequences can be especially disruptive and destructive for children, who may lose out on education, life-saving immunizations, and social networks.

"It is terrifying for any child when a ferocious wildfire, storm or flood barrels into their community. For those 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," said UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell.

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More Displaced Children in the Future

Children accounted for one-third of the 135 million global internal displacements associated with more than 8,000 weather-related disasters between 2016 and 2021, according to the analysis, and the toll is expected to rise significantly.

According to the IDMC catastrophe displacement model, riverine floods provide the greatest future danger, displacing about 96 million children over the next 30 years.

Winds and storm surges may displace 10.3 million and 7.2 million children, respectively, during the same period, according to current climate statistics, though this could be much worse if fossil fuels are not phased out quickly.

Given their vast populations, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, the Philippines, and China are anticipated to have the greatest number of child displacements.

Children in the British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, and Antigua and Barbuda are expected to face the greatest number of weather-related displacements in the future.

UNICEF has urged governments to protect their children and young people from the effects of disasters and displacement as soon as possible by ensuring that child-critical services, such as education and health, are shock-responsive.

They also criticized that the action in this report is not part of the COP28 in Dubai, where world leaders are expected to meet to tackle the climate crisis.

Adeline Neau, an Amnesty International researcher for Central America and Mexico, said that the figures are extremely worrying and demonstrating the urgent need for states to recognize and plan for the link between climate change and displacement.

This will aim to minimize long term health, education and other developmental impacts on displaced children, Neau said.

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