Children in a changing climate

overview

Research under this theme will examine how children’s voices are represented and heard in climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction (DRR) policy and decision-making spaces and how this process can best be facilitated and promoted.

key questions

Today's youth are likely to feel the effects of a changing climate more intensely and it is therefore imperative that their opinions, motivations, perceptions and knowledge be voiced. This research asks:

• What opportunities exist for the voices of youth and their groups to be heard within climate adaptation and disaster reduction policy spaces, internationally, nationally and locally?

• What experience and capacity do children and their groups have to express their voices in policy spaces?

• What is the relative impact of a child's gender and their religious and cultural setting for their voice in disaster/climate change policy spaces?

• What tools and methodologies can help document and amplify children's voices on climate change so that they are heard in policy spaces?

• How can these findings most effectively be integrated within the child and youth-centred advocacy work of international and local development NGOs?

programme linkages

This theme links closely with ‘risk communication' and ‘perceptions and knowledge' research. Assessing how children's understanding of climate change and disaster issues differs from other generations and the methods and efficacy of children as communicators of this knowledge within their households and communities are an important and interrelated step in order to explore how children's voices can influence policy making. Comparative research in the Philippines, Indonesia and El Salvador will highlight these linkages.

This research will support ccc-policy through understanding the policy spaces children do and could have for participating in climate change decision-making. Involving the youth of today in the policies for tomorrow will ensure a continuum in participation and empowerment through ownership of their goals, reducing future vulnerabilities.