At the COP28 Climate Talks held in Dubai, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) issues a compelling call to donors for urgent mobilization of additional resources. The primary objective is to scale up access to quality education for children who are disproportionately affected by crises and conflicts. In this critical moment, with the global community converging to address climate challenges, ECW emphasizes the pivotal role of education as a life-saving intervention for children grappling with the impacts of emergencies.
UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, and ECW Executive Director, Yasmine Sherif, join forces to underscore the profound impact of connecting climate action with education efforts. The intersectionality of these two vital sectors becomes evident as they highlight the synergies that can be achieved when addressing the dual challenges of climate change and educational disruptions caused by crises.
In the context of COP28, the call for increased resources is not just a matter of educational importance but is intricately tied to building resilience and adaptive capacities in the face of climate-induced disruptions. By providing crisis-impacted children with access to quality education, it becomes possible to equip them with the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate the environmental challenges associated with climate change. Additionally, education acts as a stabilizing force, offering psychological support and a sense of normalcy to children who have endured the trauma of crises.
Gordon Brown and Yasmine Sherif advocate for a holistic approach that recognizes the interconnectedness of climate and education actions. They emphasize the need for a coordinated effort to ensure that the most vulnerable children, often those affected by conflict and crisis, are not left behind in the pursuit of sustainable and climate-resilient development.
As the global community grapples with the imperative to address climate change, the call from COP28 becomes a poignant reminder that investments in education are not just an ethical responsibility but a strategic imperative. Connecting climate and education action emerges as a transformative pathway, fostering a generation that is not only environmentally aware but also equipped to contribute meaningfully to a sustainable and resilient future.
“The one international language the world understands” wrote Eglantyne Jebb, founder of Save the Children, “is the cry of a child,” and the evidence is accumulating that children are not only the innocent victims of conflict whose pleas need to be heard, but also the most vulnerable victims of climate change.
The climate crisis is an education crisis. Right here, right now, climate change is robbing millions of children and adolescents of their right to learn, their right to play and their right to feel safe and secure.
In Pakistan deadly floods destroyed or damaged over 26,000 schools last year. This exposed over 600,000 adolescent girls to higher risks of school dropout, gender-based violence, and child marriage. In Ethiopia, girls like Mellion are going hungry and risk dropping out of school forever as a result of the ongoing drought.
While the climate crisis threatens the rights of every person on the planet, those who are enduring the brunt of its impact are the most vulnerable girls and boys already living in protracted crises settings due to armed conflicts, forced displacement and other crises. For them and their communities, climate change is already a daunting reality that can mean the difference between life and death, between war and peace, between the chance to learn or not.
Today, there are more than 224 million crisis-impacted children worldwide who urgently need education support. New analysis by Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, hosted by UNICEF, has found that 62 million of these children have been impacted by climate hazards such as droughts, floods, cyclones and other extreme weather events since 2020. That’s close to the total populations of several G7 nations such as the United Kingdom, France or Italy.
While these children have contributed least to the issue of climate change, they have the most to lose. Furthermore, over the last ten years, 31 million school-aged children have been displaced by the climate crisis, with 13 million in the last three years alone.
The climate crisis poses a real and present threat to global security, economic prosperity and the very fabric of our societies. Climate impacts could cost the world economy US$7.9 trillion by 2050, according to the World Bank, and could force up to 216 million people to move within their own countries by 2050.
Cyclones, typhoons, floods and droughts are increasing in severity and intensity. The number of disasters driven, in part, by climate change has increased five-fold in the past 50 years. Climate hazards are driving displacement directly, but also driving competition over scarce resources and threatening fragile peace in many parts of the world. Over 70% of refugees and internally displaced people on the move due to conflict and violence originally came from climate change hotspots.
Taken together, these intersecting crises of climate change, displacement and conflict are having a profound effect on education opportunities for millions of children and adolescents around the world.
As we look at this year’s Climate Talks in Dubai (COP28) and the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva, we must connect the dots between climate action and education action. It’s our investment in our people, our planet and our future.
To rise to this challenge, ECW is calling on donors, the private sector and other key partners to urgently mobilize US$150 million in additional resources. This is an important contribution towards ECW’s overall resource mobilization target of US$1.5 billion toward the Fund’s 2023-2026 strategic plan.
We all know that education has a sound return on investment. Long-term investments in human capital – including education, skills training and overall health and well-being – offer 10 times more return on investment than investments in physical capital. By investing in education today, we are investing in economic and social prosperity tomorrow, we are investing in an end to displacement and hunger, we are investing in a better world and children’s futures.
The climate crisis threatens to end human civilization as we know it today. Now is our time to address this issue head on, and education plays a key role. By ensuring learning continuity for the most vulnerable children – and connecting quality education with climate action – we can equip an entire generation of climate stewards with the skills to adapt to the changing environment and pave the way to a better future.
In the eye of the storm, we are calling on new and existing donors to stand with us. We are appealing to you to act: right here, right now. Will you take up this challenge?
