Why Extreme Weather Is Causing A Rise In Child Marriages Around The World

Climate disasters particularly affect children in the most vulnerable societies

Photo: Getty Images / BBC News Brasil

Climate change has a variety of consequences for the planet: devastating storms, droughts, record temperatures, melting glaciers, loss of ecosystems.

All of this impacts various communities that are struggling with the devastating effects of global warming, resulting in deaths and injuries.

But as this global phenomenon progresses, side effects in society are also being observed.

For example, research is sounding the alarm that climate change is having a serious impact on the increase in child marriages around the world.

The researchers’ work found that extreme weather conditions are exacerbating the problems that are causing an increase in forced child marriages in at least 20 countries.

For example, in Bangladesh, which has experienced extreme heat waves lasting more than 30 days for several years, there has been a 50% increase in forced marriages of girls between the ages of 11 and 14.

Droughts and floods were the most common disasters listed in the study, but other studies analyzed the effects of hurricanes and high temperatures, among other meteorological phenomena.

“These are not isolated phenomena due to a heatwave or certain floods: they are a side effect of extreme weather conditions,” Smitha Rao, a professor of sociology at the University of Ohio in the United States, told BBC News Mundo, the BBC’s Spanishlanguage service.

In Bangladesh, which has been experiencing extreme heatwaves for several years, there has been a 50% increase in forced marriages of girls.

Photo: Getty Images / BBC News Brasil

Rao, who led the research by analyzing nearly 20 independent studies on climate change and its social impacts, emphasizes that the main reasons for this increase have to do with family support.

“Child marriage is often viewed as a strategy to reduce a family’s economic vulnerability and food insecurity due to a disaster,” the researcher notes.

She emphasizes that the problem of forced marriage does not only occur in vulnerable areas, but occurs at all levels of society and in all parts of the world.

In Latin America, for example, one in four girls gets married before the age of 18 or enters into an early marriage, according to a United Nations report.

According to Unicef (United Nations Children’s Fund), Brazil ranks sixth in the world in terms of the absolute number of child marriages (behind India, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia and Nigeria) 21.6 million.

In the region, child marriage is currently banned in Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico and the Republic.

In Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, marriage is permitted from the age of 16 with the permission of parents, legal guardians or a judge.

The study

Rao and other environmental experts have begun to see a connection between forced child marriages and the extreme conditions caused by climate change.

One of the researchers who followed the research was Fiona Doherty, a sociologist at Ohio University.

She says the investigation began when it became clear that natural disasters were leading to an increase in cases of genderbased violence.

Floods in Vietnam have affected the incomes of many families, some of whom are taking extreme measures to survive

Photo: Getty Images / BBC News Brasil

“There is ample evidence explaining the link between disasters and genderbased violence. From then on, we saw cases of forced child marriages linked to cases of environmental displacement,” he points out.

Doherty points out that the majority of the literature on this phenomenon, about 20 studies, focuses on Asia and Africa, where the practice of child marriage is widespread.

“According to researchers, these marriages are largely an economic problem. Families are sometimes stressed because they cannot support their daughters and are trying to marry them off,” Doherty wrote.

Both Rao and Doherty emphasize that the phenomena also depend on the customs of the respective country.

“In Vietnam, for example, we have seen a connection between child marriages and floods, which are getting worse. There, it is customary for the groom’s family to pay a dowry to the bride’s family,” observes Rao.

“In India, where the custom is the opposite, we don’t see this trend. There is no desire for women to marry because it is their family that has to pay for it,” the researcher adds.

Doherty, in turn, emphasizes that this is an indirect effect of climate change.

“These disasters exacerbate existing problems of gender inequality and poverty that drive families to child marriage as a survival mechanism,” he reflects.

Some experts point out that marriages of girls under 14 are becoming more common

Photo: Getty Images / BBC News Brasil

Problems that need to be mitigated

But the report also clearly indicates that these are not just economic problems.

Another phenomenon found in the documents examined from 1999 to 2021, according to Rao, is that displacement caused by natural disasters leads families to refugee camps where underage girls are sexually abused.

“In such situations, families sometimes choose to marry off their young daughters to protect them from sexual abuse and violence,” says Rao.

For researchers, the best way to mitigate this situation is to improve the conditions that lead to inequality across societies.

“In our paper we emphasize the importance of addressing the root causes of poverty and gender inequality. This includes investing in children’s education and including the voices of women and girls in decisionmaking,” says Doherty.

But especially with regard to the side effects of climate change, experts recommend direct measures with communities on this topic.

“It is necessary to establish a set of community practices based on pre and postdisaster research to prioritize the needs of women and children when responding to an environmental emergency,” concludes the researcher.