Children’s rights and climate change
- Tom Vermolen
- Sep 1
- 5 min read
Melina Evangelidi 15, August 24 2025
1. Climate crisis through a child’s eyes
In Bangladesh, rising sea levels are already forcing families to leave their homes. In Kenya, kids spend hours to access clean water while wells run dry due to drought. For millions, climate change isn’t tomorrow’s problem, it’s today’s disaster. And the youngest among us are suffering the most.
Climate change is not just an environmental issue, it is a human health and safety issue. As temperatures rise and storms become more intense, more and more people will experience threats to their water, food, shelter, and general well-being.
All children have the right to a safe and healthy environment, but climate change threatens this right. Climate impacts like food shortages, poor health, and disrupted education affect children the most. As the most vulnerable population, they deserve to live in a world where their basic needs and rights are protected.
2. What are children’s rights?
Children’s rights are the basic rights that every person in the world under the age of 18 is entitled to, as defined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). These rights ensure that all children can grow up safely, develop fully, and have their voices heard.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), adopted by the UN in 1989, is the most widely known human rights treaty in the world. It guarantees rights such as health, education, clean water and nutrition, ensuring that all children can grow up with security in a safe environment, fulfilling their basic needs.
3. How climate change violates these rights
Right to health
Climate change poses a growing threat to children’s health, and according to the World Health Organization (WHO) it’s a “threat multiplier.”
Children are the ones who are particularly more vulnerable to climate change dangers due to their developing immune system. This means that they are susceptible to cases of asthma and other respiratory problems, higher risks of dehydration and heatstroke during heatwaves, and greater exposure to diseases like malaria. These risks threaten their fundamental right to health, which opposes the Convention on the rights of the child, article 24.
Right to education
Climate change disturbs children's right to education and school. It leads to numerous disasters including floods, droughts and wildfires that are the reasons why schools usually close in some regions and even force families to move.
According to UNICEF, in 2024 there were at least 242 million schoolchildren worldwide affected by climate-related disruptions in schools, such as school closures due to floods, storms, droughts, and heatwaves.
It is a fundamental and a compulsory right of every child worldwide to have access to education. Education is a powerful tool to work toward climate solutions. It assists children and youth to address the root causes and impacts of the climate crisis, providing them with knowledge and skills to adapt and respond to climate change. But for over 230 million children and youth worldwide, this right to education is being denied due to climate-related risks.
Right to water and food
Access to water and nutrition is a fundamental right of children as mentioned in articles 24 and 27 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Children need food and water in order to develop properly and maintain a healthy life.
Climate catastrophes like droughts, leave families without enough drinking water while also destroying farmers' cultivation. Floods and storms not only destroy harvests but also contaminate rivers and wells, making water unsafe for people. At the same time, rising temperatures cause harvests to fail more often, leaving many children facing hunger and malnutrition. Nowadays, the climate is becoming increasingly unpredictable and as a result, farmers aren’t able to rely on traditional planting, which makes crops fail more often.
Surveys from the United Nations have indicated that an estimated two billion people around the world do not have regular access to safe, nutritious, and sufficient food, while around 25% of the global population does not have access to clean water sanitation.
One of the reasons causing food insecurity to increase year-on-year is climate change. The world is experiencing a global hunger crisis, with countries in East Africa on the verge of famine, leaving millions of kids at risk of malnutrition.
Right to safe environment
All children have the right to grow up in a safe and favourable environment for their development, as confirmed by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in its General Comment No. 26. It was the first ever official UN guidance that connects children’s rights to the environment and climate change.
Climate change threatens this right with numerous disasters. Air pollution makes kids more vulnerable when they breathe toxic air, especially the children living in big cities. Extreme weather like wildfires and storms creates unsafe areas, which magnifies living with permanent fear and uncertainty.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution is one of the greatest environmental risks to child health and approximately 2 billion children live in areas where pollution levels, exceed the minimum air quality standards set by the World Health Organization.
4. Youth voices for change
Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is concerned with making sure children and young people feel able to express their opinions. It guarantees their opinions and complaints are taken seriously by adults and the government.
Climate change is one of the most fundamental problems that concern the world and young people’s opinion is essential.
Youth shouldn’t feel that their opinions will be dismissed or regarded as invalid because of their age. It also specifies that children and young people need to know about this right so that they can exercise it, and that adults need to know about this right, so they don’t dismiss it out of hand.
Right now, people and activists worldwide are raising their voices through protests and movements like Fridays for Future about issues that concern humanity.
Greta Thunberg, who founded Fridays for Future (FFF), began with a school strike in 2018 when she was just 15 years old. Her protest inspired millions of students worldwide, showing that children’s voices can change the global climate debate. After that, she has spoken at the UN and other international forums, demanding urgent action and reminding leaders that they are disappointing the youth.
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