Climate crisis having a profound impact on adolescent girls’ safety, education and health in Pacific – new research

[Baku, Azerbaijan ] A new report launched today at COP29 on children and youth day, by humanitarian and girls’ rights organisation Plan International Australia and the Kiribati Climate Action Network (KiriCAN) paints a stark picture of the immense hardship adolescent girls in the Pacific are facing due to more frequent and devastating climate disasters.

The Pacific Girls in a Changing Climate research documents the lived experiences of climate change for girls and young women aged 10 to 18 in the Pacific and their recommendations for action to protect and promote their human rights.

Developed in collaboration with Edith Cowan University and the Australian National University, it documents the experiences of more than 350 girls and young women from Tuvalu, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Fiji and the Federated States of Micronesia – nations on the frontlines of the climate crisis, that have contributed least to it. The report examines how climate change is completely and irrevocably reshaping girls’ lives as they enter adulthood.

Half of the girls surveyed (50%) said that climate disasters – both sudden and protracted, from floods, cyclones and storms to sea level rises and coastal erosion – had stopped them attending school, with schools destroyed, closed, or access roads to schools blocked. In Tuvalu, that number increased to three quarters (74%). More than a quarter (27%) reported having less food because of the climate crisis, and almost a fifth (19%) said they were food insecure.

Close to half (47%) of girls surveyed said they lacked clean water due to climate events, and one third said that climate events had damaged or destroyed their homes. The research found that the climate crisis is having an overwhelmingly negative impact on physical and mental health and wellbeing of teenage girls in the Pacific: just two of the 319 girls surveyed said climate change had not impacted their health or wellbeing.

Girls reported skin and stomach problems due to a lack of access to clean water for cooking and bathing, poor sanitation, overcrowding, dietary deficiencies, dusty air, and pollution. They also reported diarrhea and disease due to contaminated water, and their struggle to manage their hygiene and menstruation due to climate change impacts on freshwater supply.

“My village is situated along the coast. Whenever there’s high tide, water comes inland and most times it covers half the village. The high tide also brings in more rubbish that dumps it right to my doorstep which affects my health,” said Bulou, a 10-year-old Indigenous girl living in a rural village in Fiji.

Other girls spoke of heavy rains and flooding impacting their travel to school more often. 12-year-old Elenoa from rural Fiji wakes up at 3am each morning to arrive at school at 7am; when the river is flooded, her mother has to carry her across its bridge, which frequently becomes submerged in water.

The changing climate has an enormous impact on Pacific girls’ mental health: Mental disorders are now the leading health risk for girls aged 5-14 in every Pacific island. Survey respondents reinforced this, documenting feelings of worry, fear, being unsafe and insecure, stressed, sad and confused because of the climate crisis. Some girls detailed family separation after losing homes or moving villages, while others reported gender-based physical and sexual violence during or after disasters. In Tonga, almost one in five (17%) girls experienced violence when a climate disaster occurred, and one in ten (9%) experienced early or forced marriage.

With the world’s climate experts and leaders convening this week in Baku, Azerbaijan for the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference – more commonly referred to as COP – Plan International Australia has sent two of its youth advocates to present the Pacific Girls in a Changing Climate report on the global stage and is calling for Governments to meaningfully support Pasifika girls on the frontlines of the climate crisis by strengthening climate change education for girls and prioritising girl-responsive emergency response and disaster risk resilience.

Plan International is also demanding that wealthy countries such as Australia agree on a new goal for collective climate finance – including how much, and who pays. To be effective, the new finance goal must prioritise gender and intergenerational justice, placing girls at the heart of climate governance. Empowering these young leaders offers a path to innovative and sustainable solutions. Australia must end the use of fossil fuels and rapidly increase renewables.

“Pasifika girls are too often left behind and locked out of crucial decision-making processes designed to address the issues they face. This exclusion is a lost opportunity, as there is compelling and ever-growing evidence that girls are the lynchpin of the solution: each additional year of schooling for girls significantly enhances a country’s resilience to climate-related disasters. Yet, currently, less than 4% of climate finance projects focus on their unique needs,” said Plan International Australia CEO Susanne Legena.

Despite the challenges, the research also underscores an important and overlooked fact: Girls in the Pacific are not passive actors in a changing climate, they are eager leaders and determined activists influencing governments to take climate action. More than a third (34%) of those surveyed frequently participating in climate justice activism, almost three quarters (72%) wanting to be connected to larger climate groups and more than half (57%) wanting to be involved in climate policy and action. The report captures how Pacific girl-led change can be supported, resourced and strengthened by all actors, particularly in the lead up to COP31 in 2026, which Australia is bidding to co-host with the Pacific.

“The Pacific region is exposed to some of the highest risks of climate change, leading to significant loss and damage to the land, sea and waters of Pacific nations. Pacific girls have clear strategies and recommendations for changes in law, policy and development practice that will dismantle barriers and create pathways into a future in which they can thrive. As global leaders chart the future of climate finance this week, this report serves as a powerful reminder: Pacific girls are not just vulnerable to the effects of climate change; they’re integral to developing the solutions,” said Pelenise Alofa, founder of KiriCAN.

Reinforcing the Pacific Girls in a Changing Climate research, a KPMG and Plan International Australia analysis, also released this week, examines the ways that climate change is changing the course of girls lives in the Pacific, from increases in diseases, education disruptions, increased vulnerability to forced labour, and growing rates of mental illness and intergenerational trauma.

“The world is feeling less stable than it has in generations – there has never been a more critical time for us to come together to throw everything we have at fighting the climate crisis here at home, in our backyard the Pacific, and around the world,” said Ms Legena.