Climate Disasters Intensify Risks of Child Marriage and Violence for Girls

• New global research from Plan International reveals that climate disasters increase the vulnerability of girls to child marriage, unintended pregnancy, and violence.
• School disruption serves as a critical threat, with girls whose education is interrupted being twice as likely to face early marriage or unintended pregnancy.
• Slow-onset events like drought are consistently linked to rising child marriage rates as families resort to early unions as a survival strategy.

Key Research Data

• One in 10 girls reported personal experience with unintended pregnancy following a climate event.
• 36% of girls observed an increase in child marriages within their communities after disasters.
• 28% of participants noted a rise in violence against women and girls following climate-related incidents.
• Minority girls face significantly higher risks, being nearly three times as likely to report unintended pregnancy and twice as likely to face pressure to marry young.

Policy and Financing Gaps

• Only half of national climate plans address women's and girls' health, while just 0.5% of multilateral climate finance supports health services.
• Plan International advocates for keeping schools open and free during climate shocks as the single most protective factor.
• Governments are urged to allocate specific climate adaptation funding to adolescent sexual and reproductive health.
• Protection services, contraception, and hygiene products must be integrated into emergency response packages from the outset, rather than treated as secondary interventions.