Save the Children International (SCI), Nigeria in commemoration of the International Day of the Girl Child has called for better strategies to address the intersection of climate change and gender equality to ensure a brighter and more sustainable future that safeguard the rights of girls in the face of climate crisis.
SCI made the call in a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja by
Rhoda Ndahi, Acting Media and Communications Manager Nigeria.
It said this years programme is themed; “Invest in Girls’ Rights: Our Leadership & Wellbeing”.
The statement added that climate change is an all-encompassing crisis, impacting the livelihoods, environment, health, safety and education of communities.
“Vulnerable communities, particularly girls and young women, suffer its worst consequences. The climate change impacts can disproportionately affect girls and women who often bear the burden of caregiving and household responsibilities. Gender inequalities can perpetuate harmful practices like child marriage, limiting girls opportunities for education, development and empowerment.
“It is to be recalled that the new global report released on the eve of IDG 2023 by Save the Children – “Girls at the centre of the storm: Her planet, her future, her solutions” – also shows that around two-thirds of child marriages happen in regions with higher-than-average climate risks.[1] Currently an estimated 29.9 million adolescent girls live in the top 10 child-marriage-climate hotspot countries.
“Some states in Nigeria have witnessed severe effects of climate change in the recent past, including but not limited to erosions, floods, landslides, extreme weather conditions and drought etc that left many to be displaced, drop out of school, and exposed girls to different forms of abuse.”