Climate change and children in the Pacific islands: for mid-term review

This report focuses on three key objectives: (i) how does climate change affect children in the Pacific and how will it affect them in the future; (ii) which stakeholders are already actively dealing with climate change issues across the Pacific region, with a particular focus on Fiji, Kiribati and Tuvalu, and are there any that handle the impact on children in particular; and (iii) in what way should UNICEF Pacific engage in this field.

It highlights ways that climate change may set back the development objectives outlined in international agreements like the Millennium Development Goals. Based on four clusters of rights for children - survival, protection, development and participation - it sets out detailed examples where climate change is having, or will have, an impact on Pacific children, such as education, including climate-proofing schools, climate change and disaster awareness through schools, and child protection from the consequences of natural disasters. It also presents a case study looking at the adverse impacts of natural disasters in Niue and Fiji on children's education.

The report has been commissioned by UNICEF Pacific and prepared by the Nossal Institute for Global Health.