Climate disasters are fueling a child exploitation crisis

Climate change is often seen through numbers: temperature charts, sea-level rise, or CO₂ levels. But behind these graphs are children – especially in places like Kenya – living the real consequences of a warming world.

While floods and droughts destroy crops and homes, a deeper, quieter harm spreads. Young adolescents, aged 10 to 14, are facing sexual exploitation, gender-based violence, school dropout, and early pregnancy. The crisis is not just environmental. It is deeply social, deeply human.

A recent study reveals the urgent need to address this issue. Conducted across six diverse and climate-affected regions in Kenya – Mathare, Kisumu, Isiolo, Naivasha, Kilifi, and the Kalobeyei Refugee Settlement – the study offers an intimate, multi-layered look into how resource insecurities are pushing youth, especially girls, into harm’s way.

“Climate change isn’t just an environmental issue, it’s an urgent public health emergency for young adolescents,” said lead author Dr. Carmen Logie of the University of Toronto. Her team collaborated with Kenyan organizations and worked directly with adolescents and community elders to gather these insights.

Poverty and climate harm children

The effects of climate change are not felt equally. In Kenya, droughts and heavy rains worsen existing poverty and create daily struggles for food, water, and safe sanitation. These insecurities shape how young people live, learn, and survive.

For adolescents already in a critical developmental stage, the stakes are higher. The study explains how missing food, water, or menstrual products isn’t just inconvenient – it can be life-altering.

Using focus groups, walk-along interviews, and participatory mapping, the researchers documented how adolescents navigate these challenges. The team discovered that resource shortages, fueled by climate extremes, lead to missed school days, risky sexual exchanges, or dropping out entirely.

“Girls told us about the shame of not having clean clothes or menstrual supplies, and how it led them to stay home from school or enter exploitative relationships just to meet basic needs,” said study co-author Aryssa Hasham.

The testimonies point to a disturbing climate trend: when basic dignity is denied, a child faces dangerous choices.

Hunger puts children in risky situations

Hunger is not just a physical pain – it drives choices. Many children in the study shared stories of skipping meals and being left to find food on their own.

For boys, this often meant running away from home and ending up on the streets. For girls, it often meant entering relationships with older men in exchange for a meal or money.

“There are the children who drop out of school and go loitering. They will tell you things like: ‘We have no money for school uniform, no money for school fees, no money for food, so what do you want me to do?’” said an elder woman in Isiolo.

The gendered patterns are stark. While boys escape, girls negotiate. Some accounts spoke of girls as young as 12 entering relationships just to get 20 shillings for food.

“The girls will skip school and go to a man’s house – a man old enough to be their father or grandfather,” explained an elder from Mathare. “Just 20 shillings ($0.15 USD) to buy chips and that’s enough to keep her going to satisfy her hunger.”

Climate change endangers child safety

Water insecurity was another major concern. During droughts, families had to travel long distances to collect water. During floods, dirty runoff contaminated every available source. Girls, in particular, faced unique challenges. Bathing, cleaning, or fetching water became dangerous acts.

“They can’t shower because they don’t have water, and so they sell themselves so they get water,” said one young girl in Mathare. These weren’t rare situations. Participants from every site described how girls were attacked at water points or lured into exploitation by vendors or older boys.

“When it comes to rape of the girl child, cases are much higher, especially in the rainy season,” said a male elder from Mathare. “She must find shelter and wait. When the rain stops, it can be late at night… she finds heinous guy groups who will abduct her, take her to some shack and rape her there.”

Water insecurity also had indirect effects. Without water to wash uniforms or bathe, girls would skip school.

Others, embarrassed or afraid, avoided public spaces altogether. Infrastructure damage during floods made schools physically unreachable. Together, these issues led to academic failure and social isolation.

The crisis of sanitation

If water was a source of risk, sanitation was no safer. The study documents broken, unsafe, or overcrowded toilet and shower facilities. Girls described being watched or filmed while bathing. Others feared being harassed near public toilets, especially at night.

“You’ll just be minding your business taking your shower, and then a boy passes by peeping in on you,” said one girl during a participatory workshop. “Later on, that boy will come telling you things like, ‘Hey! You know I saw you naked in the bathroom today.’”

Some girls avoided using toilets at all, which harmed their health. Others saved these visits for nighttime at school, when they felt slightly safer. The lack of clean, secure facilities also meant many missed school during menstruation. And the absence of menstrual products made things worse.

“A girl will feel she has crossed over into adulthood after the time of her first period,” said a Mathare elder. “She may not have the means to buy pads, so she will look for them. This may be through a boy she knows or through an older man.”

Climate pressure and child pregnancy

These intersecting risks are pushing young girls into early pregnancies and exposing them to sexually transmitted infections. Adolescents described how seemingly small acts – like accepting sweets or soda – led to pregnancy.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, these issues worsened. Children spent more time at home, out of school, and more exposed to exploitative environments.

“There’s been a lot of things that have surprised us. A child as young as eight, let alone 10 years, could get pregnant,” said a male elder from Isiolo. “The worst was during Covid.”

In some cases, families encouraged child marriage as a way out. One girl said, “Some girls choose to get married so as to deal with such situations as food shortage and hunger.” Others were lured with something as small as a mandazi or a soda. Poverty turned basic desires into major threats.

How all these problems connect

To clarify these connections, the researchers created a conceptual model. It shows how climate events like flooding or drought trigger resource insecurities, which then lead to specific SRH harms.

The pathways include missed school, transactional sex, sexual violence, and ultimately, early pregnancy or STIs.

The team grouped these threats by type: food, water, and sanitation. Each path shows how environmental stress can ripple through personal, social, and institutional systems. This model is both evidence-backed and rooted in real narratives from adolescents and elders.

Climate action can protect children

The authors make a clear case: young adolescents must not be ignored in climate response strategies. Their unique needs, especially those of girls, require urgent and tailored programs.

“We must act quickly to develop climate-informed, adolescent-centred, and gender-transformative programs,” said Dr. Julia Kagunda of Elim Trust. These solutions must go beyond short-term aid. They must rebuild systems – schools, clinics, toilets, support services – with resilience and equity in mind.

Programs must tackle root causes: poverty, gender inequality, and lack of safe infrastructure. Menstrual hygiene interventions, school feeding programs, and safe water access are just the start. The study’s findings also suggest involving boys in violence prevention and education.

A crisis that needs urgent attention

Kenya’s young adolescents are living through a silent emergency. Their needs are specific, urgent, and currently overlooked. The climate crisis is already here – and for these children, it is not abstract. It is hunger, it is shame, it is danger.

What they need is not pity. They need clean water, safe toilets, food security, and dignity. They need education and protection. The study makes clear that these needs won’t wait. Climate justice must include them.

The full report from BMJ Global Health offers a roadmap for how governments, NGOs, and communities can respond. It is not just about weather – it is about the future of Kenya’s children. And the time to act is now.

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