This paper describes research undertaken in five Indian cities (Shimla, Indore, Gorakhpur, Panjim and Guwahati), to improve the understanding of the vulnerability of urban poor children to climatic risks and the role of peri-urban ecosystems in resilience building. This study contributes to the discussion on urban children's vulnerability and ecosystem-based resilience in the context of the SDGs and wider policy efforts. Increasingly the role of ecosystems, particularly those in peri-urban areas, have gained wider recognition in discussions of resilience and urban sustainability. However, urban and rural planning systems still do not account for peri-urban potential, which allows for these ecosystems to degrade and pose as a greater threat to the urban poor and children.