UNICEF: World leaders in Durban must make this the children’s climate change conference

Antony Spalton, specialist in Disaster Risk Reduction, has seen first-hand the devastating effects that climate-linked disasters can have on children’s lives. He tells us what leaders at the COP17 climate change summit in Durban can do about it.

I have been involved in humanitarian and development work since 1988. Most of this work has been dealing with the impact of so-called natural disasters; providing humanitarian assistance in places like Cambodia, Indonesia and Mozambique.

Children are the most vulnerable following disasters, which is why UNICEF does so much work to try and prevent these and to deal with their impact.

There are no truly natural disasters. In fact, while a hazard such as a storm or earthquake may be natural, the impact that it has is determined by the vulnerability of the area it hits. If a cyclone passes over an uninhabited desert island, there is no disaster. If it flies straight into Manila, there is a problem.

Disaster risk, as we call it, seems to be on the rise. This risk, especially in terms of shifting patterns and intensity of floods and drought is, from my experience, increasingly being driven by climate change.

More people are living in places where they are at increasing risk of floods, drought and earthquakes. Others, who live in places accustomed to floods and droughts, find themselves facing increasingly unpredictable weather.

Take the Horn of Africa, where until recently the intensity and frequency of the rainy seasons were predictable; now they are less so. Meanwhile population pressure, urban migration and poverty are forcing others to live on flood plains, in unplanned urban centres and in other areas exposed to weather and other risks.

Very soon world leaders will meet in Durban to talk about the future of our planet. Climate change and climate change conferences can seem like a lot of hot air about emissions from capitals in the developed world. This conference will be the first in Africa, where every day children are feeling the effects of climate change on their health, education and their parent’s livelihoods.

The Stern review in 2007 warned that if climate change goes unchecked it could cause between an additional 60,000 and 250,000 child deaths in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa alone.

Expectations are low and people doubt whether there is the political will to create a new agreement on cutting emissions. However, reducing emissions is only half of the debate: there should also be a clear focus on how to help vulnerable children adapt to climate change.

This has become a central part of my work and is vital to safeguarding the lives and futures of millions of children. Helping children adapt often involves very practical steps based on local need and, importantly, listening to children themselves.

Earlier in 2011, UNICEF worked in coalition to find out what children’s priorities around disasters were; the top three ‘asks’ were for safely constructed schools, to have systems in place to reduce violence and abuse - especially for girls - after a disaster, and to be able to participate in decisions that affect their own safety at school and at home. This is pretty basic stuff.

In Madagascar, which was recently listed as the country third most at risk from climate change, some of these top three asks are being put into practice through ‘child and eco-friendly schools’. Children not only practice emergency plans to avoid the worst effects of seasonal floods and storms, they learn about their environment and get to work in a safe school made from low-cost local materials. In this way children adapt to changing conditions and increase their safety and time and money saved. Partly due to this, since 2006 no children have died in a school setting as a result of floods and storms.

I was also recently in the Horn of Africa looking at how we can prevent future food crises. Drought in this region is not new and the pastoralists have well established systems to adapt, but in light of changing weather patterns we need to support these systems much more. Mobile schools, protecting livestock to help keep nutritional milk for children and strategically establishing water points along nomadic journeys all seem to work and should be part of the regional solution to preventing further disasters there.

At Durban the Green Climate Fund will be formally set up to administer the $100bn a year pledged by developed countries to help mitigate climate change and adapt to its effects. The problem is that the promised money is yet to materialise in the long-term.

We also need to make sure that the money is not only there, but available to help the most vulnerable, hardest to reach children adapt to climate change - that it isn’t all taken up with reducing emissions and investing in carbon markets. This all sounds like focussing on the fine print before the contract has even been drawn up, but it is what will make the difference for children.

The brutal effects of climate change are most clearly seen through the impact it has on the lives of children. Politicians at Durban should take notice and make this the children’s climate change conference, and say how they will provide the vital money they have promised.