You are here
Climate Change Adaptation (CCA)
There is no scientific ambiguity to the fact that the world’s climate is warming and that this warming over the past 50 years is attributable in part to man’s activities. There is a wide consensus that this warming will lead to changing rainfall patterns, rising sea levels, increased spread of tropical disease, loss of biodiversity and increased frequency and amplitude of weather related natural disasters. Children are particularly at risk in a disaster and vulnerable to the incremental impacts of climate change. It is essential that their immediate and longer-term survival, protection and developmental needs are considered in any activities to prepare for or mitigate a potential disaster, or adapt to the negative impacts of longer-term climatic trends. Communities and local authorities need to listen to children to find out what risks they might face and how they might respond to them.
CCA programs are activities which aim to make adjustments in natural and human systems in response to actual or expected climate change and their effects. For Save the Children, adaptation is principally about practical measures in programming, policy and advocacy which reduce vulnerabilities or increase resilience of children and their communities from the negative effects of climate change. Disaster Risk Reduction and CCA are not mutually exclusive but in fact interdependent; a CCA project may be just as vulnerable to natural hazards as any other project and therefore needs a DRR component to protect the CCA investment. To address the risks and uncertainty predicted by climate change, both DRR and CCA analysis and programming must attempt to take account of the unpredictability of what may happen in the future as the planet continues to get warmer.
Photo: Save the Children
-
RecommendedReducing Risks, Saving Lives. Save the Children's approach to Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation
Disasters have the biggest impact on the poorest and most vulnerable people, and it is children who bear the brunt. Over the past two decades, the number of natural disasters has doubled. Children’s lives are also threatened by epidemiological disasters,
-
Children's Climate Cards
The Children's Climate Cards provide a series of inspiring and interactive activities to engage children, aged 7-12) on the climate change agenda and call for climate action. The goal is to inspire a call for climate action from children in every country
-
Save the Children Documentary: Generation Greta- The world's young climate activists
“To me it's a must” All over the world young people are taking the lead against the climate crisis and environmental destruction. In Peru, 17-year-old Ada and her friends saw how the once beautiful river turned into a rubbish heap, and they decided to act
-
Young Voices- Vietnam 2020
Young Voices is a nation-wide survey on what children think about all issues that concern them under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Save the Children in Vietnam carried out the survey in cooperation with the Management and Sustainable Developm
-
Young Voices- Zambia 2020
Save the Children Zambia carried out the Young Voices Survey in 2019 and concluded it in 2020. The Survey was hindered by the outbreak of COVID-19, which limited activities such as focus group discussions. The survey was carried out in line with the Unite
-
Our World Our Say: National survey of children and young people on climate change and disaster risk
The release of this youth survey report on climate change and disaster risk takes place in the context of a global pandemic and in the wake of national and state inquiries into the devastating Australian ‘Black Summer’ bushfire season of 2019/2020. From F
-
Protect a Generation: Climate security for India's children
Climate change is one of the key areas of concern for India. Human activities worldwide have caused approximately 1° C of global warming above pre-industrial levels. This rise in global temperature is likely to reach 1.5° C between 2030 and 2052 if carbon
-
Young Voices- El Salvador 2020
Young Voices is a nation-wide survey on what children think about all issues that concern them under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This report presents the findings of Young Voices in El Salvador. Make sure to have a look at the added questio
-
Case Study: The response of community structures during the Kasese floods
In May 2020, severe flooding in western Uganda has displaced tens of thousands of people. In Kasese district, Save the Children—working closely with District Local Government and with support from the Government of Japan—has been running a Disaster Risk R
-
Why Focus on Children: A literature review of child-centred climate change adaptation approaches
Climate change effects have a marked, often acute, impact on children. Not only to their current wellbeing, but also their future. This literature review provides an overview of existing research and practice relating to climate change adaptation approach
-
Save the Children Documentary: Surviving a natural disaster – about the cyclones in Mozambique
The cyclones that hit Mozambique in 2019 devastated everything in their path. All that was left were razed villages and collapsed school buildings. In this edition of Save the Children Documentary, we hear the voices of children who survived, climate scie
-
Open Letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres re: Inclusion of children in the Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change
This joint letter calls on Secretary General Antonio Guterres to include children and adolescents younger than 18 in the Youth Advisory Group on climate change. At the time of writing, this group includes seven young climate leaders between the ages of 18