拉丁美洲经济委员会-气候变化对拉丁美洲儿童和青年贫困的影响（英）-2025_68页_13mb

Summary: The Impact of Climate Change on Child and Youth Poverty in Latin America

Core Content

This document explores the relationship between climate change and child and youth poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), emphasizing the disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations. It presents projections for 2030 based on three climate scenarios and highlights the need for integrated climate and social policies to address these challenges.

Main Viewpoints

• Climate change is exacerbating child and youth poverty: Children and young people are more vulnerable to climate impacts due to their physical and physiological characteristics, high economic dependence, and limited access to essential services like healthcare, education, and social protection.
• Economic growth and poverty are closely linked: The study uses a growth-poverty elasticity model to analyze how climate change affects GDP and, consequently, poverty levels.
• Three climate scenarios are analyzed:
  • Net Zero 2050: Ambitious and rapid emission reductions.
  • Current policies: A continuation of existing climate efforts.
  • Too little, too late: Inaction on climate change, leading to severe consequences.
• Poverty projections under climate change:
  • In the Net Zero 2050 scenario, an additional 5.9 million children and youth are expected to fall into poverty.
  • In the Too little, too late scenario, this number could triple to 17.9 million.
  • The Current policies scenario results in 9.97 to 19.34 million additional children and youth in poverty.
• Climate change intensifies inequality: The Gini coefficient is projected to increase, deepening economic disparities and further pushing children and youth into poverty.
• Child-sensitive climate financing is insufficient: Only 3.4% of total multilateral climate financing in LAC is directed towards child and youth needs, with limited geographic and sectoral coverage.
• Integrated policies are essential: Climate and social policies must be coordinated to address the root causes of poverty and ensure that children and youth are not left behind in the transition to a sustainable future.

Key Information

Climate Scenarios and Their Impacts

Poverty Statistics

• Children, adolescents, and youth in poverty in LAC (2022): Approximately 94 million.
• Poverty rate for under 25 years old in LAC (2022): 52% of the total poor population.
• Poverty rate for children under 5 in LAC (2022): 43%.
• Poverty rate for adults (25 and over) in LAC (2022): 23.1%.

Climate Impacts on Vulnerable Populations

• Extreme weather events: The frequency and intensity of events like heatwaves, droughts, floods, and tropical cyclones have increased significantly over the last 50 years.
• Economic losses: Meteorological events have caused economic losses that have multiplied nearly tenfold, reaching an average of US$3.913 billion annually during the 2010s.
• Health and education risks: Climate change threatens access to clean water, sanitation, and healthcare, increasing the incidence of diseases like diarrheal illnesses and vector-borne diseases (e.g., malaria, dengue, Zika).
• Agricultural impacts: Droughts and erratic weather patterns are affecting food production, leading to periods of nutritional deprivation for poor children.

Policy Recommendations

1. Strengthen climate resilience of social services: Improve access to healthcare, nutrition, education, and early childhood development, with a focus on the first 1,000 days of life.
2. Increase climate funding for child-sensitive programs: Allocate more resources to develop programs that protect children and youth from climate impacts.
3. Implement adaptive social protection systems: Design policies that respond to the specific needs of children and youth during disasters.
4. Promote climate education and awareness: Empower children and youth through education and participation in local, regional, and global climate movements.
5. Ensure gender-sensitive approaches: Address the disproportionate impact of climate change on women and girls, particularly in terms of employment, asset loss, and education.
6. Integrate climate and social policies: Coordinate climate action with social protection to avoid deepening inequalities and ensure equitable development.

Conclusion

Climate change is not only a threat to the environment but also a significant driver of child and youth poverty in Latin America. The study underscores the importance of proactive and inclusive policies that address both climate change and social inequality to protect the well-being and future opportunities of children and youth. The upcoming Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by 2025 represent a critical opportunity to include children and youth in climate commitments and ensure that their needs are prioritized in development strategies.