Impacts of Climate Change on Children Role of Youth in Averting the Climate Crisis

In this article, Sarah Berry says awareness has played an important role in serving the cause of climate change, especially media and social media in today's time and age. However, engagement at the grassroots level and involvement of children and youth has been extremely crucial in accelerating the cause. India boasts of a rich demographic dividend, especially since approximately 65 per cent of its population is below 35 years of age.

- Sarah Berry

Chikku plays happily in the service lane hopping from one puddle of water to the other. He delightfully remarks to his mother: “This year has been fantastic; good rain and less heat.” His mother, who has been taking a well-deserved break from carrying bricks on her head, right from the ground up to the third floor of a building under construction, manages a weak smile. “It’s rather unusual; normally, May is slithering hot in Delhi,” says she. Her husband adds that though this is a welcome break, work is slow due to spells of rain. “We came from our village in Odisha to Delhi many years back, because natural disasters had played havoc with our lives, leaving us with no choice but to migrate. It has been a tough journey, with hard work, and income not being enough to secure even two meals a day.” Chikku, age 6, has never been to school, and, perhaps, may not any time soon.

According to UNICEF, approximately 1 billion children are at an ‘extremely high risk’ of the impacts of the climate crisis. These children experience multiple climate shocks combined with poor essential services such as water, sanitation, and healthcare. As climate change disrupts the environment, children are being forced to grow up in an increasingly dangerous world. This is a crisis that threatens their health, nutrition, education, development, survival, and future.