Human Lives Human Rights: Save the Children revealed a troubling analysis on Wednesday, indicating that in 2022, over 27 million children in countries heavily impacted by the climate crisis experienced hunger and malnutrition due to extreme weather events.
The majority of nations affected by weather extremes last year were concentrated in the Horn of Africa, with Ethiopia and Somalia contributing to half of the 27 million affected children, according to the report.
The twelve countries where weather extremes were the primary cause of hunger in 2022 included Angola, Burundi, Ethiopia, Iraq, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Pakistan, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. This information is based on data from the Integrated Food Security Classification (IPC) scale, a monitoring system assessing hunger emergencies in 58 countries.
The report highlighted Somalia’s precarious situation at the forefront of the climate crisis, dealing with the aftermath of five consecutive failed rainy seasons. The nation faces an imminent threat as extreme weather events, especially widespread flooding, could worsen the hunger crisis this year.
In recent weeks, heavy rains and floods have displaced 650,000 people, with half of them being children, the report stated.
Save the Children called on world leaders attending the UN climate change conference, COP28, in Dubai, with a specific emphasis on those from high-income countries and historical emitters, to address the climate crisis. The organization stressed the importance of recognizing children as key agents of change and urged an increase in climate finance to fund losses and damages, along with climate adaptation. The report emphasized the urgent need for governments to take action to limit warming temperatures to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
