This report provides an overview of the climate change trends and potential impacts on children in East Asia and the Pacific that appeared in studies covering five countries that were commissioned by the United Nations Children’s Fund. The country studies highlight children’s specific vulnerability to climate change that needs to be taken into account in policy development. The impacts they will encounter, however, will not be uniform. Children noted a range of experiences
already, ranging from livelihood insecurity in Mongolia to threats of sea level rising in the Pacific Islands to massive flooding of their neighbourhoods in the Philippines and crop failures in Indonesia. The scientific research indicates that existing vulnerabilities will likely be exacerbated by continued climate change. Because children have unique perspectives of their environment, they can be important actors in enhancing community capacity to address climate-related risks. Involving children in the design of policy and designing climate change policies with children’s rights in mind are essential to creating policies that do not have unintended negative consequences.