Small children are more exposed to climate risks, study shows

Brazilian children born in 2020 will experience 6.8 times more heat waves and 2.8 times more floods and crop losses throughout their lives than those born in 1960. The data can be found in a report published Thursday (Jun. 5) by the Science for Childhood Center (NI).

The study points to a continuous increase in extreme natural events in Brazil. Records surged from 1,779 in 2015 to 6,772 in 2023. The research reveals how the development of children up to the age of six is impacted in Brazil by this greater exposure to the risks stemming from climate change.

As a result, these kids are the most exposed to impacts on health, nutrition, learning opportunities, access to care, safety, and nutrition.

This age group, which corresponds to early childhood, currently s for 18.1 million people in Brazil—or 8.9 percent of the population.

“From the beginning of life they are exposed to heat waves, air pollution, etc., but the level of exposure will depend on how the world moves towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” warns the study’s coordinator, Márcia Castro, head of the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard University.

These impacts of the climate crisis at such a delicate stage of development can compromise physical, cognitive, and emotional capacities for a lifetime and have consequences such as increased exposure to disease, cognitive and academic deficits, economic instability, food insecurity, lack of housing, and forced displacement, she noted.

Vulnerability

The experts also argued that this exposure also aggravates vulnerability. In Brazil, more than a third (37.4%) of kids up to the age of four are food-insecure, with five percent of them suffering from chronic malnutrition, the report points out.

This population is also the hardest hit when extreme event leads to forced displacement, as was the case in Rio Grande do Sul state in 2024, when 580 thousand people were displaced and more than 3,930 children up to the age of five were moved to public shelters.

Over 4 million people in Brazil are said to have been displaced by extreme weather events from 2013 to 2023.

“Climate policies, therefore, need to integrate the protection of children’s rights and guarantee channels for listening and the participation of families and communities in decision-making,” the text reads.

Education

The scientists also noted that, in 2024, extreme natural events led to 1.18 million children and teenagers missing school. In Rio Grande do Sul alone, 55,749 school hours were lost due to floods and torrents.

“Protecting early childhood in the face of the climate emergency is not a choice, it’s a priority. We need urgent, evidence-based public policies that consider social inequalities and put babies and children at the center of adaptation and prevention strategies,” said Alicia Matijasevich, associate professor at the University of São Paulo (USP) School of Medicine, who also coordinated the study.

Recommendations

The report brings together recommendations for the development of child-centered climate policies—such as strengthening primary health care and improving basic sanitation systems and the supply of drinking water, as well as encouraging food and nutritional security.

Sustainable practices, protocols for climate disasters, and the creation of cooling zones with green areas and shade in nurseries and schools are also listed as avenues to be followed based on the comprehensive care model.

“We’re not saying that this whole generation will have their development compromised, but it will if nothing is done, if there are no mitigating measures, if we continue to build cities without trees, if schools aren’t adapted and resilient in the face of the climate crisis,” Márcia Castro stressed.

In her view, everyone—from governments at all levels to private sectors and society—must be committed to thinking about a whole generation, not just a few years ahead or the duration of a government.

“Everyone has a role to play, as long as you take a long-term view and contributing to a generation. That’s extremely important,” she concluded saying.