Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has warned that this year brought overwhelming flooding to at least 27.7 million children in 27 countries worldwide, including Nigeria.
A large majority of the 27.7 million children affected by flooding in 2022 are among the most vulnerable and are at high risk of a multitude of threats, including death by drowning, disease outbreaks, lack of safe drinking water, malnutrition, disruption in learning, and violence.
The Head of the UNICEF delegation for COP27, Ms Paloma Escudero, said —“We are seeing unprecedented levels of flooding all around the world this year, and with it, an explosion in threats to children. The climate crisis is here. In many places, the flooding is the worst it has been in a generation or several. Our children are already suffering at a scale their parents never did.”
The aftermath of floods is often more deadly for children than the extreme weather events that caused the flooding.
In 2022, floods have contributed to the increased spread of major killers of children, such as malnutrition, malaria, cholera and diarrhoea, and this has led to more than 1 in 9 children under the age of five in Pakistan being admitted to health facilities in flood-affected areas of Sindh and Balochistan found to be suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
In Chad, 465,030 hectares of farmland were destroyed, worsening the already dire food insecurity situation.
In Malawi, torrential rains and flooding by tropical storm Ana in January 2022 caused extensive damage to water and sanitation systems, which created the perfect conditions for a cholera outbreak. The outbreak has claimed the lives of 203 people, out of which 28 are children. To date, 1,631 children have been infected with cholera.
Together with other climate shocks and conflict, floods have caused the projected number of children in South Sudan to face high levels of food insecurity to surpass the rates seen during the conflict in 2013 and 2016.
Additionally, the United Nations recently warned that some communities are likely to face starvation if humanitarian assistance is not sustained and climate adaptation measures are not scaled-up.
An estimated 840,000 children were displaced by floods in Nigeria in recent months, while countries like Pakistan and South Sudan have faced their share of disasters.
The agency noted that 126 schools in Cameroon were affected by floods, depriving 38,813 children of access to education, while heavy rains and flooding in Yemen triggered floods causing extensive damage to shelters in displacement sites while up to 73,854 households were affected, and 24,000 households were displaced.
“COP27 provides an opportunity to chart a credible roadmap with clear milestones for finance for climate adaptation and solutions for loss and damage,” said Ms Escudero noted. “Young people from the most affected places on Earth are drowning in climate inaction. Enough is enough. Lives are on the line – children need action now.”
UNICEF urged leaders to take immediate action to protect children from climate devastation by adapting the critical social services they rely on. Adaptation measures, like creating water, health and education systems that stand up to flooding and drought, will save lives.
UNICEF also urged parties to find solutions to support those who will face climate losses and damages beyond the limits of what communities can adapt to. UNICEF called on governments to close the finance gap to address these irreversible changes for children.
