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A family prepares a banner to protest the effects of climate change on children outside their house in the village of Patzité, Quiché, Guatemala. Credit: UNICEF/Patricia Willocq
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 4 2025 (IPS) – 2025 has been marked by a significant escalation of the climate crisis and its effects on vulnerable populations, as the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warn that average global temperatures could exceed the 1.5°C threshold within the next five years. In Latin America and the Caribbean, rising temperatures and emissions continue to strain access to essential services and deepen poverty, particularly among children.
“Children and adolescents bear the greatest burden of climate change,” said Roberto Benes, the Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). “Not only because their developing bodies are more vulnerable to extreme phenomena such as cyclones or heatwaves, but also because these events disrupt their families’ livelihoods and their education. If children and young people don’t have the resources to meet their basic needs and develop their potential, and if adequate social protection systems are not in place, the region’s inequalities will only be perpetuated.”
On August 28, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and UNICEF published a joint report: The Impact of Climate Change on Child and Youth Poverty in Latin America, which details the impact of climate change on youth poverty in the region as well as current government and humanitarian initiatives aimed at climate adaptation and loss mitigation.
According to the report, poverty rates in Latin America have risen sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic, pushing an additional 22 million people into poverty. It is estimated that roughly 94 million children and adolescents are living in poverty, making up 52 percent of the region’s poor population. Despite youth making up only 39 percent of the total population, roughly 40 percent of all children under the age of 15 live in poverty.
The frequency of extreme weather events in Latin America has skyrocketed in recent years, reaching nearly 30 per year in the early 2020s. In the Caribbean, some countries are already experiencing monthly temperature increases that exceed the 1.5°C threshold. Meanwhile, Latin American countries such as Argentina and Chile do not exceed 1°C and face volatile precipitation patterns that increase flooding, particularly for low-lying coastal communities.
According to UNICEF’s Child Climate Risk Index, as a result of climate change, roughly 55 million children in Latin America and the Caribbean face water shortages, 60 million experience cyclones, and 45 million are exposed to extreme heat. Furthermore, there has been an increase in the frequency of floods and landslides from heavy torrential rains, which have damaged numerous critical infrastructures that children depend on, such as schools, healthcare centers, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities. Floods and rising temperatures have also given way to a rise in waterborne and vector-borne diseases, such as diarrhea, malaria, zika, and dengue.
Additionally, agriculture and food production has been hindered by persistent droughts, particularly in northeastern Brazil, areas in the Southern Cone, and the Central American dry corridor. Poor children and adolescents in these regions face extended periods of nutritional deprivation, which heightens the risk of malnutrition. It is estimated that anywhere between 570,000 and over 1 million children under 5 could suffer from stunted growth by 2030 due to climate change.
Estimated economic losses from natural disasters have increased nearly tenfold since the 1960s.“These increasing impacts divert resources towards damage repair and adaptation instead of investing in infrastructure, education, or innovation. This creates an opportunity cost by limiting potential growth and perpetuates development gaps, hindering the reduction of inequalities in Latin America,” the report said.
Current climate adaptation policies and funding fail to adequately prioritize the needs of children, with critical services such as health, nutrition, education, water, and sanitation being limited, jeopardizing cognitive and physical development. It is projected that by 2030, at least 5.9 million additional children, adolescents, and youth could be pushed into poverty—a figure that could triple to nearly 17.9 million if funding and humanitarian action remain insufficient.
Although children and adolescents are the most climate-vulnerable populations in Latin America and the Caribbean, climate financing directed toward youth accounts for just 3.4 percent of the region’s multilateral climate funding, totaling at roughly USD 743 million. However, these funds are primarily reserved for education projects and do not cover investment needs for other basic sectors such as healthcare, which is urgent in the face of rising child morbidity in the region. Additionally, child-sensitive climate funds only reach children in six countries in Latin America and the Caribbean: Brazil, Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay.
The report also highlights that climate change risks worsening existing wealth disparities and gender inequality in the region. Latin America and the Caribbean — described as the “most unequal region in the world” — are projected to see poorer families experience higher rates of poverty, hindered recovery, and greater challenges adapting to natural disasters. Women and girls are disproportionately affected, facing higher levels of unemployment, difficulty reentering the workforce, relative asset losses, and increased school dropout rates.
“Without investment in resilient services for children, and without sustained political will from countries and other sectors to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the children and youth of 2030 will continue to be deprived of their rights,” said UNICEF climate advisor Reis López. “This will only perpetuate inequality in one of the most unequal regions of the world.”
IPS UN Bureau
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