Child Rights and Climate Change Adaptation: Voices from Kenya and Cambodia

In 2009, research with children, adults, and policymakers took place in drought and flood prone regions of Kenya and Cambodia to see how children saw their rights being linked to changing climatic conditions. This report presents evidence of children’s capacities to analyse, articulate and claim their rights.The children who took part in this research are involved in a programme implemented by Plan International to reduce risk of disasters and had received nonformal education on child rights. At the time of the research, children in Kenya were experiencing their third consecutive year of failed rains. Cambodian children had seen their families’ crops devastated by unseasonal rains. They clearly articulated the links between worsening drought and erratic rainfall and violations of their rights as established under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Children who participated in the research for this report prioritised 1) Lack of access to water and irrigation infrastructure; 2) Insecure livelihoods; 3) Physical access to school; 4) Insecurity associated with risks of abuse; 5) Lack of voice or power to stop further environmental degradation.