Plan International sees tackling climate change as prerequisite for standing up for children’s rights
Climate change has numerous impacts around the world on which there is already much literature available. Similarly, it is clear that the impact of the changes is already having far-reaching effects on young people, and girls in particular. Years of efforts and previously encouraging results to get girls back in school longer, protect them from child marriage and provide them with a safe environment are in danger of being completely wiped out. Food scarcity, lack of income from agriculture, mass migration are a huge threat to children’s rights and have therefore become a very important issue for Plan International.
How and why Plan International is fighting climate change, Bruno Güemes Delgado, Climate Change Specialist, explains. Below we give a brief summary, you can read the full blog on Plan International’s site.
The impact of climate change on youth and children’s rights
There is indeed a connection between human rights and climate change. Both issues affect each other. Our human activities have an impact on the environment and conversely, climate change is increasingly affecting our planet. All this has a major impact on our daily lives. And this is most noticeable in developing countries, where the consequences of climate change are very pronounced and where the population is less well armed to bear these consequences.
An example makes this clear. In many developing countries, even today, a large part of the population lives off agriculture. Well, more and more countries are affected by prolonged droughts, resulting in disappointing harvests. This in turn affects farmers’ incomes, but also the food security of the population in general. And sometimes this leads to the situation where parents are forced to marry off a daughter, hoping that this way she can lead a better life. Overall, Plan International sees that climate change not only results in forced marriages but also increases the risk of sexual and physical abuse, causes teenage pregnancies and increases maternal deaths.
“The climate challenges are enormous so we all need to act on this quickly, as broadly as possible and massively. NGOs, governments, academia, individuals and businesses alike need to join forces.”
We at CEOs 4 Climate also want to encourage entrepreneurs to engage in sustainable business practices and spread this message as widely as possible, including to the young generation and across all borders. This resulted in a strategic collaboration and the hiring of a Climate Expert who will use his research and expertise to identify the impact of climate change on young people (and more specifically girls) and subject each action to criteria that benefit sustainability and children’s rights….
Read the full blog post on Plan International’s website.
