Nearly half of Eastern Caribbean children exposed to multiple climate hazards
New UNICEF analysis highlights growing climate risks for children and calls for stronger child-sensitive resilience measures across the region.
Nearly half of children in the Eastern Caribbean are currently exposed to three or more climate hazards, and that proportion is expected to double by mid-century, according to a new UNICEF analysis.
The Child-Centred Climate Analysis for Building Resilience: Climate Trend and Socioeconomic Impact Analysis in the Eastern Caribbean examines climate trends, child-centred vulnerabilities, socioeconomic impacts and the regional cost of inaction across Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The findings highlight the growing risks climate change poses to children and the importance of strengthening resilience across the systems and services on which they depend.
Climate-related shocks can disrupt children's access to essential services, affect household livelihoods and deepen existing vulnerabilities. Children and families with fewer resources to prepare for and recover from shocks can face greater and longer-lasting impacts.
The analysis identifies four priority areas for strengthening child-sensitive climate resilience: anticipatory action, shock-responsive social protection, structural resilience and fiscal transformation.
These approaches can help countries better prepare for climate hazards, provide timely support to vulnerable children and families, strengthen infrastructure and essential services, and increase investment in measures that reduce climate-related risks.
The findings are intended to support policymakers across sectors, including education, social protection and finance, in strengthening opportunities to build resilience that responds to children's specific needs.
As climate risks increase, placing children at the centre of resilience planning will be critical to protecting their rights, well-being and future opportunities.
Read the full study: A Child-Centred Climate Analysis for Building Resilience: Climate Trend and Socioeconomic Impact Analysis in the Eastern Caribbean
