The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
20,000 children displaced each day by weather-related disasters, UNICEF reports
Extreme weather events forcibly displaced 43.1 million children across 44 countries over the past six years, the UN Children’s Fund said on Friday.
That figure translates to an alarming average of 20,000 children uprooted every day.
UNICEF latest report, Children Displaced in a Changing Climate, is the first global analysis of child displacements caused by floods, storms, droughts and wildfires. “The report finds that on average 20,000 children have been displaced by weather-related events every single day for the past six years. Tropical storms, hurricanes, floods or wildfires caused more than 43 million displacements of children in 44 countries over just six years,” explained Verena Knaus, UNICEF’s Global Lead on Migration and Displacement to reporters in Geneva.
China and the Philippines are among the countries that recorded the highest absolute numbers of child displacements, owing to their exposure to extreme weather, large child populations and improved early warning and evacuation capacities, according to the report. “Floods and storms account for 95 per cent of those child displacements, due in part to better reporting and more pre-emptive evacuations,” Ms. Knaus said.
However, when considering the data relative to the size of the child population, children living in small island States such as Dominica and Vanuatu were most affected by storms, while in Somalia and South Sudan, floods were the biggest threat.
UNICEF predicts large-scale displacements of children will likely become more frequent as carbon emissions continue to rise and the impacts of climate change increase. “With every additional one degree of warming, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) believes the global risk of displacement by flooding could rise by 50 per cent,” warned Ms. Knaus. “We are not prepared for this climate-changed future. And the displacement of children is barely on the radar of leaders and will probably be discussed only on the margins at COP28 in Dubai,” she added.
The UN Children’s Fund called for urgent action to support children already uprooted and prepare those at risk of displacement, by improving their adaptive capacity and resilience and involving them in finding solutions. “We need to re-imagine climate finance,” stressed Ms. Knaus. “We need to unlock climate finance to go to the countries where the greatest risks meet the weakest coping capacities.”
Ends
TRT: 2’03
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 06 October 2023
UNCTAC Press Conference
LOCATION: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior wide shot, United Nations flag.
- Wide shot of panel and attendees at press briefing.
- SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) Verena Knaus, UNICEF’s Global Lead on Migration and Displacement: “The report finds that on average, every single day 20,000 children have been displaced by floods, storms, wildfires, or droughts. Or put differently: it is disasters like tropical storms, hurricanes, floods – like in Pakistan and wildfires like recently in Canada – that have displaced more than 43 million children over 44 countries in the past six years.”
- Attendee taking photo at briefing.
- SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) Verena Knaus, UNICEF’s Global Lead on Migration and Displacement: “The Children Displaced in Changing Climate report finds that floods and storms account for 95 per cent of those child displacements, especially in countries where there are large, good and robust displacement evacuation systems in place or early-warning, many of them are evacuated and their lives are saved, but the numbers keep growing.”
- Mid-shot of attendees.
- SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) Verena Knaus, UNICEF’s Global Lead on Migration and Displacement: “With every additional one degree of warming, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) believes the global risk of displacement by flooding – the largest driver – could rise by 50 per cent. We are not prepared for this climate-changed future. And the displacement of children is barely on the radar of leaders and will probably only on the margins be discussed at COP28 in Dubai.”
- Wide shot of panel at press briefing.
- SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) Verena Knaus, UNICEF’s Global Lead on Migration and Displacement: “We need to re-imagine climate finance. We need to use all the opportunities we have from risk insurance schemes to green bonds, blue bonds. But most importantly, we need to unlock climate finance to go to the countries where the greatest risks meet the weakest coping capacities.”
- Wide shot of panel and attendees at press briefing.
- Attendees filming and taking photo at briefing.
- Medium shot of panel and attendees at press briefing.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , HRC
Volker Türk, the UN Human Rights High Commissioner, made the following remarks during a briefing to a Special Session on Iran at the Human Rights Council.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , UNOPS , UNIS
Amid the launch of President Trump's Board of Peace and reconstruction talks on Gaza, UN aid agencies insisted on Friday that what Gazans need most is immediate relief from the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe there.
2
6
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences , Images | HRC
At UN, war crimes probe pledges to continue to work for all impacted by Hamas-Israel conflict
As President Trump launched the international Board of Peace plan for Gaza on Thursday, top independent rights experts tasked by the UN Human Rights Council with investigating grave abuses linked to the Hamas-Israel war pledged to continue their work seeking justice and accountability for all.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said Tuesday UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk was outraged by the repeated large-scale attacks by the Russian Federation on energy infrastructure in Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN warns against repeating abuses in South Kordofan that occurred in El Fasher.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Mozambique floods heighten disease, malnutrition risks – UN agencies
Catastrophic flooding in Mozambique is causing massive disruption to lives and livelihoods across the country, increasing the risk of disease and exposing urban areas to crocodiles, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OCHA
Yemen: Children are dying and it’s going to get worse, aid veteran warns
In Yemen, renewed political instability threatens and economic woes linked to the war to complicate the already difficult task of helping vulnerable people suffering from deepening hunger, illness and displacement, the UN's top aid official there said on Monday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , IFRC
Ukraine: Families in ‘survival mode’ amid Russian strikes and -18°C cold
Families across Ukraine are in “constant survival mode” amid ongoing waves of Russian missile and drone strikes that have left blocks without power for days at a time, while temperatures plunge to a deadly -18°C (-0.4°F), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press conference in Geneva, UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence urges Iranian authorities to end violent repression and calls for accountability.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF
Gaza: A ceasefire that ‘still buries children’ is not enough, says UNICEF
Airstrikes, drone strikes and hypothermia are among the lethal conditions prevailing in Gaza despite the ceasefire, with more than 100 children killed since early October, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
At the UN bi-weekly press conference in Geneva, UN Human Rights Spokesperson Marta Hurtado commented on the widespread repression and intimidation against political opposition ahead of the general elections in Uganda.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Aid agencies marked 1,000 days of war in Sudan on Friday with a grim reminder that the conflict has created the world’s biggest hunger crisis and largest displacement emergency. Every day, civilians have been “paying the price for a war they did not choose”, said the UN aid coordination office, OCHA.