A staggering 1.85 million children in sub-Saharan Africa found themselves displaced within their own countries due to climate-induced disasters by the close of 2022, marking a nearly twofold increase over the past year, reports global charity Save the Children. Drawing from data sourced from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, the organization revealed that some of these children experienced multiple displacements, while others were uprooted just once. Regardless, all of them ended the year in displacement, residing in camps, with extended family members, or in temporary accommodations.
“When children lose their homes, they lose almost everything: their access to healthcare, education, food, and safety,” remarked Kijala Shako, head of Advocacy, Communications, Campaigns, and Media for Save the Children’s East and Southern Africa Regional Office, in a statement issued from Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.
Shako expressed hope that leaders participating in the ongoing Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi would acknowledge the dire consequences of the climate crisis on the lives of children and respond to their needs and rights.
The charity disclosed that a devastating series of five consecutive failed rainy seasons in Somalia led to the critical hunger of approximately 6.6 million people, equating to 39 percent of the population.
The report also underscored a disconcerting trend: the number of new internal displacements across sub-Saharan Africa in 2022 due to climate disasters surged to 7.4 million, tripling the figures from 2021, which stood at 2.6 million.
Save the Children emphasized that climate change is exerting an ever-increasing impact on the African continent, despite it having the smallest share of global greenhouse gas emissions among all regions.
With the El Niño weather pattern intensifying, resulting in more frequent and severe weather events and further global temperature rises, the organization predicts that the number of displaced children and families will continue to climb this year.
