Weather disasters fueled by climate change — from floods to droughts, storms to wildfires — sparked 43.1 million child displacements from 2016 to 2021, the UN Children’s Fund warned Thursday, slamming the lack of attention paid to victims.
In a sweeping report on the issue, the United Nations agency detailed the heart-wrenching stories of some of the children affected, and co-author Laura Healy told AFP the data only revealed the “tip of the iceberg,” with many more likely affected.
“We moved our belongings to the highway, where we lived for weeks,” recounts Sudanese child Khalid Abdul Azim, whose flooded village was only accessible by boat.
In 2017, sisters Mia and Maia Bravo watched flames engulf their trailer in California from the back of the family minivan.
“I was afraid, in shock,” Maia says in the report. “I would stay up all night.”
Statistics on internal displacements caused by climate disasters generally do not account for the age of the victims.
But UNICEF worked with the non-governmental Internal Displacement Monitoring Center to unpick the data and reveal the hidden toll on children.বিস্তারিত