Child Centred Climate Vulnerability Assessment

Highlights

As a rule, climate risk assessments deal with the geological effects of climate change, such as increasing temperature, flooding, sea-level rise and variation in precipitation. Occasionally, studies look at the impact of climate risks on specific areas of human development and growth, such as agriculture, human health or biodiversity. Scientific studies that consider what impact these risks will have on specific groups of people, occupations or sources of income down to low levels, for example district level, are very rare.

In addition, climate change models do not recognize administrative boundaries. As the modelling is based on geophysical maps, administrators find it difficult to interpret them for their own use. Though children are highly exposed to climate variation and disaster risks, as interpretations of geo-physical data are often not converted for use by government structures, climate risk assessments do not quantify the exposure of children to specific climate-induced risks and vulnerabilities that arise from this. Understanding the risk and exposure level of children is important for governance and planning, in order to reduce children’s risks and take preventive and mitigative measures. This assessment report is therefore based on scientific information, converted into accessible language so that decision makers can adequately perceive risks and take appropriate actions.

The language used is kept simple throughout the document to ensure that the scientific information can be understood by all. As a principle, highly technical and scientific jargon is avoided and replaced with simpler and comprehensible sentences for lay readers. Where technical language is used, it is explained immediately in the text.