SHARM EL SHEIKH (Egypt)/GENEVA/NEW YORK 8 November 2022 – Coinciding with the start of COP27 in Egypt, UNICEF is warning that the devastating floods recorded this year have affected at least 27.7 million children in 27 countries around the world.
The vast majority of the 27.7 million children* affected by the 2022 floods are among the most vulnerable, facing multiple threats including death from drowning, disease outbreaks, lack of clean water, malnutrition, educational disruption and violence .
“This year we are witnessing unprecedented floods around the world and with it an explosion of threats to children,” said Paloma Escudero, head of UNICEF’s delegation to COP27. “The climate crisis is already here. In many places, this is the worst flooding in a generation if not several, and children are already experiencing it on a scale their parents never knew.”
For children, the consequences of flooding are often more deadly than the extreme weather events that caused them. In 2022, flooding has contributed to an increase in the spread of the major causes of child mortality, including malnutrition, malaria, cholera and diarrhea:
- In Pakistan, more than 1 in 9 children under the age of five admitted to health facilities in flood-hit areas of Sindh and Balochistan suffered from severe acute malnutrition.
- In Chad, floods have destroyed 465,030 hectares of farmland and worsened the country’s already dire food insecurity situation.
- In Malawi, torrential rain and flooding from Tropical Storm Ana in January 2022 caused severe damage to water and sanitation systems, creating the perfect conditions for a cholera outbreak. This outbreak has claimed the lives of 203 people, including 28 children. To date, 1,631 girls and boys have contracted cholera.
- In combination with other climate shocks and conflicts, the floods have caused the projected number of children with high levels of food insecurity in South Sudan to exceed the number observed during the conflict in 2013 and 2016. In addition, the United Nations recently warned that some communities are at risk of starvation if humanitarian aid is not sustainable and climate change adaptation measures are not stepped up.
The floods not only endangered the lives of millions of children, but also changed the functioning of basic services and led to the displacement of countless families:
- Recent floods in Pakistan damaged or destroyed nearly 27,000 schools; As a result, 2 million boys and girls missed school.
- In South Sudan, 95 UNICEF-supported feeding centers have been hit by flooding, making it difficult to provide 92,000 children with malnutrition prevention and emergency supplies.
- In Nigeria, flooding in recent months has displaced an estimated 840,000 children.
- Heavy rains and floods in Yemen caused serious damage to camps for displaced people in the country. Up to 73,854 households were affected and around 24,000 families were displaced.
“COP27 provides an opportunity to create a credible roadmap with clear targets for climate adaptation finance and solutions to loss and damage,” said Paloma Escudero. “Young people living in the worst-hit places on earth are drowning in inaction on climate change. That’s enough. Lives are at stake – boys and girls must act now.”
As well as pressuring governments and businesses to quickly reduce their emissions, UNICEF is calling on world leaders to take immediate action to protect children from climate ravage by providing the basic social services they depend on are, adjust. Adaptation measures such as building water, health and education systems that are resilient to floods and droughts will save many lives.
Last year, developed countries agreed to double adjustment assistance to $40 billion a year by 2025. At COP27 they must present a credible roadmap with clear objectives for how this aid will be delivered as a first step towards injecting at least $300 billion a year to meet adaptation needs by 2030. At least half of all climate finance should flow into adaptation.
UNICEF also urges the parties to find solutions to support those suffering loss and damage beyond the limits their populations can adapt to. UNICEF calls on governments to close the funding gap and address the consequences of these irreversible changes for children.
AT COP27, UNICEF URGES ALL PARTIES TO TAKE THE FOLLOWING ACTIONS:
UNICEF’s direct humanitarian response to flood-affected countries is broad and covers all areas: health, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, child protection and education. However, a lack of funding has hampered the response in many countries. For example, the humanitarian funding gap in Pakistan is currently 85%.
UNICEF works to build community and health infrastructure resilience to withstand the hazards of natural disasters, and to increasingly link its humanitarian response work to long-term climate adaptation.
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Notes for editors:
*For this analysis, the first of its kind, UNICEF used official figures collected by public emergency agencies or the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Disaggregated data on children affected by flooding was available in some countries. In countries where disaggregated data were not available, UNICEF estimated the number of girls and boys affected by the floods by extrapolating the proportions of boys and girls in the country’s population.