As climate change heightens the risk of disasters worldwide, girls living in 10 climate hotspot countries are facing another threat from the changing environment: a rise in child marriage.
A new study by Save the Children International revealed a concerning outlook for girls in the top 10 child-marriage-climate hotspot countries, specifically when a nation’s risk of child marriage was compared to its impacts from climate change. Concerningly, the number of girls at risk for child marriage is growing quickly.
The study, called “Girls at the Centre of the Storm — Her planet, her future, her solutions,” found that by 2030, the number of girls growing up in the hotspot countries will have jumped from 29.9 million to 32.2 million. The number continues to grow to 39.9 million by 2050, an increase of one-third.
The 10 hotspots where the child marriage/climate crisis risk is the greatest are the Central African Republic, Chad, Guinea, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger and South Sudan. Girls living in these nations face a double threat as the climate crisis worsens and as child marriage remains an option for many families, with the former often leading to the latter.
As weather events grow in severity and frequency, the hotspot countries suffer from more poverty, worsened gender inequality and other threats. Many families agree to marry off their children to survive the harsh conditions. However, child marriage has a dim outlook. Child brides are exposed to a host of concerns: heightened vulnerability to sexual and domestic violence, an increased risk for medical and mental health problems, higher school drop-out rates and other impacts.
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Newsweek reached out to Save the Children via email for comment.
The study told the story of a 12-year-old girl from Sierra Leone. When a man expressed interest in marrying her, her parents were struggling financially after a climate crisis impacted their farm and felt pressured to agree to the marriage. Save the Children supported the girl, and she was able to avoid marriage and become an advocate in her community for girls rights.
Many stories have a darker ending. After severe drought resulted in food shortages in Ethiopia, child marriage rose by 119 percent in 2022 compared to 2021, according to the study. Girls between the ages of 11 and 14 living in Bangladesh were twice as likely to become victims of child marriage in years following extreme heat. In Zimbabwe, some girls pursued child marriage on their own to avoid starvation.
The study also revealed that it didn’t matter which type of climate crisis occurred. The risk of child marriage increased following periods of floods or drought.
“Analysis of historical data shows that a 10% increase or decrease in rainfall is associated with a 1% increase in child marriage, globally,” the study said.
Save the Children International CEO Inger Ashing urged government officials, the United Nations, businesses and others to not only recognize the climate crisis but also the current hunger crisis as an emergency for girls’ rights.
“This research shows yet again the extent to which the climate crisis is jeopardising children’s rights – particularly the rights of girls,” Ashing said in an analysis of the report. “The global climate crisis is already changing girls’ lives and futures.”