Education is under threat as multiple crises push children out of school and into harm's way. In this regard it has been pointed out that COP29 could have broken the historical barriers that hold back education from playing a unique, critical role to accelerate the ambition of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement, protecting people and the planet from life-threatening risks of climate change.
It has been observed by Dianah Nelson, Chief of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), that the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises within the United Nations have launched a pilot programme in Somalia and Afghanistan, to identify early action activities or anticipatory action to act against the impacts of climate and minimise its disruption on children's lives and education in those countries.
Towards embedding education into the climate finance debate, ECW held a series of COP29 side events on such issues as unlocking the potential of anticipatory action through multi-stakeholder collaboration to meet the challenge of conflict, climate and education; climate change-resilient education systems in the most vulnerable nations; and protecting children's futures. It was also underlined that loss and damage must prioritise education in emergencies.
Panel discussions brought together a wide range of public and private partners, policymakers, and data experts to highlight the benefits of acting ahead of predicted climate shocks to protect education. The gist of the discussions has been summed up in the following words: "Climate crisis is an education crisis, and education cannot wait. We, therefore, need to centre climate action on education and build climate-smart school technology. And most importantly, we need anticipatory action to reduce or eradicate the impact of climate shocks on children. Everyone has a contribution to make, and every child has a dream. Uninterrupted access to education makes their dream a reality.
It has also been observed in this context by Adenike Oladosu, ECW's Climate Champion and Nigerian climate justice advocate that "we need to safeguard or protect our schools from being vulnerable, or being attacked in conflict, or even being washed away by flood". We have seen the truth of this during our recent floods in different parts of Bangladesh. These climatic impacts have also been already felt in Pakistan. Zulekha, advisor/programme manager of the Gender and Child Cell NDMA Pakistan, spoke about how the country has suffered "severe impacts from extreme weather. More than 24,000 schools were damaged in the 2022 floods, and nearly 3.5 million children were displaced and their educations put at risk. We were still reeling from the effects of the floods in 2023 when we started to launch the refresher of the Pakistan School Safety Framework."
Oladosu also spoke about the multiple, complex challenges confronting Nigeria and pointed out that anticipatory action "means bringing in the tools, through climate financing, to reduce the loss and damage. Anticipatory action addresses complex humanitarian crises in a proactive rather than reactive way to reduce the impact of a shock before its most severe effects are felt." She stressed that anticipatory actions are critical to avoid "losses that are simply irreplaceable, such as the number of days children spend out of school due to climate events, those left behind the education system, or even those who fall out of the system and into child marriages and militia groups."
Lisa Doughten, Director, Financing and Partnership Division at OCHA, stated that in humanitarian crises, climate change "is significantly disrupting the overall access to education as schools temporarily shut down due to extreme climate events causing significant learning disruptions for millions of students. We have countries in conflict and fragile settings, and the climate crisis creates extremely difficult circumstances for, especially children and women."
Doughten also spoke about the need to leverage data to get ahead of predictable climate disasters and how OCHA works with various partners, including meteorological organisations, to monitor and use climate data.
At COP29, ECW reiterated the power of education to unite communities, build consensus, and transform entire societies. In the classroom of the future, children could then acquire the green skills they need to thrive in the new economy of the 21st century. Communities could also come together to share early warnings and act in advance of climate hazards such as droughts and floods.
Stressing that in this classroom of the future, "an entire generation of future leaders can build the will and commitment to break down the status quo and create true lasting solutions to this unprecedented and truly terrifying crisis. Unfortunately, multilateral climate finance has not prioritised the education sector to date, meaning a tiny proportion, at most 0.03 per cent, of all climate finance is spent on education. While children have the most to offer in building long-term solutions to the crisis, they also have the most to lose."
Analyst Joyce Chimbi has in this context drawn attention to the fact that the ECW says the connection between climate action and education is also noticeably underrepresented in NDCs, or national commitments to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Only half of all NDCs are child and youth sensitive, and this is an urgent situation for, in 2022 alone, over 400 million children experienced school closures as the result of extreme weather.
According to the Global Fund, "on the frontlines of the world's worst humanitarian crises, these disruptions will often push children out of the education system forever. In places like Chad, Nigeria, and Sudan, where millions of children are already out of school, it could impact the future of an entire generation. ECW's disaster-resilient classrooms, however, boosted enrolment rates in Chad."
Amid Chad's multidimensional challenges compounded by climate change, climate-resilient classrooms whose construction was funded by ECW and completed in March 2022 meant that classrooms were more durable and accessible for children and adolescents with disabilities. These classrooms withstood the heaviest rainy season in 30 years, triggering widespread flooding. Committing needed finances and acting with speed and urgency means bringing solutions within reach. We in Bangladesh, particularly in vulnerable areas, need to work together to be able to implement such propositions.
Accordingly, ECW has observed that a key step is increasing access to the main climate funds-including the Global Environment Facility and Green Climate Fund-and activating new innovative financing modalities to deliver with speed, depth, and impact, and that the funding needs to be faster, transparent, and fully coordinated across both humanitarian and development sectors.
Looking forward to COP30 in Brazil, ECW has also stressed that education must play an integral role in the new Loss and Damage Fund.
It needs to be understood by all of us, particularly by the relevant authorities, that education losses caused by climate change take unprecedented tolls on societies, especially in countries impacted by conflicts, displacement, and other pressing humanitarian emergencies.
It also needs to be understood that emphasising and quantifying the loss and damage connected with years of lost learning is far from possible.
Nevertheless, relevant international agencies associated with this matrix have pointed out that for every US Dollar 1 invested in a girl's education, they see US Dollar 2.80 in return.
It must be understood that education is not just a privilege. It's a human right.
In such a scenario, we need to ensure that the New Collective Quantified Goal, hopefully to be agreed upon in the future pertaining to climate finance, includes a firm commitment towards educating all the world's children, not just the easy-to-reach, but the ones that are the most vulnerable.
Muhammad Zamir, a former Ambassador, is an analyst specialised in foreign affairs, right to information and good governance. [email protected]
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