HNPW 2026 | Climate Crisis Fuels Rising Violence Against Children: Evidence across Child Protection Research

Climate shocks are not only environmental crises; they are child protection crises. Droughts, floods, cyclones, and landslides can result in cascading vulnerabilities that heighten violence against children. Evidence across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia shows emerging patterns of economic stress, displacement, disrupted education, unsafe migration, child labour, child marriage, gendered risks, and breakdown of community and household protection systems.

This session navigates emerging trends of how the climate crisis can multiply threats to children and their protection by drawing insights from the following three studies: 

• “A cross-sectional study examining the nexus between recurrent disasters across 10 blocks of the Sundarbans region, India, and the heightened risks and harms faced by children” from Aangan Trust
• “Climate Change and Child Exploitation Risks in the Kenya-Ethiopia Borderlands” from Terre des Hommes Netherlands
  “Sexual, physical and intimate partner violence in heat and drought, and potential protective pathways: evidence from over 20,000 girls in Mozambique, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe ” from the University of Cape Town and the University of Oxford

Research comparisons demonstrate that the climate crisis creates consistent risk pathways for children and their protection in different contexts, such as increased exposure to violence, early marriage, child labour and sexual abuse.

The session places children at the centre of climate action. It aims to shape a shared understanding of risk pathways and identify cross-context strategies that strengthen children’s protection systems before, during, and after climate shocks. It opens a dialogue about building climate resilience through cross-sectoral efforts in humanitarian action.

Expected Outcomes:

• Increased understanding of the intersectionality of child protection and climate crises.
• Identification of potential pathways for protecting children in climate disasters.
• Practical insights to inform programmes, policies, and research addressing climate-induced risks to children.