Extreme weather led to the displacement of millions of children between 2016 and 2021, the United Nations said this week, and climate change is likely to displace millions more in the coming decades.
A first-of-its-kind UNICEF report released Friday found that floods, storms, droughts and wildfires were responsible for 43.1 million child displacements in 44 countries—a rate of about 20,000 per day—and that rate is set to increase to 113 million displacements over the next thirty years.
“This is absolutely a conservative estimate, and possibly just the tip of the iceberg for some climate impacts,” Verena Knaus, the Unicef lead on global migration and displacement, told the Guardian. “Climate is the fastest-growing driver of child displacement yet most policies and discussions about climate finance fail to consider or prioritize children.” (The Guardian, AP, AFP)