Climate change is one of the most important global issues of our lifetime. Nothing is untouched by climate change, including sexual and reproductive health and rights. Climate change is having the most substantial impact on those least responsible for global emissions. Extreme weather events are causing humanitarian crises, disrupting health services and increasing mortality and morbidity, while changing weather patterns can exacerbate vulnerability and increase inequality.
Women and girls are hit harder than men and boys and in some of the most stigmatized yet fundamental areas of life. Climate change is linked to worsening maternal and neonatal health and can increase rates of child marriage and gender-based violence.
Providing young people with knowledge about climate change and how it relates to health is part of empowering and equipping them to be active in the response that climate change requires.
This guide helps the workshop facilitator explain climate change and how it links to gender and sexual and reproductive health and rights. The workshop encourages young people to think about the natural world and how their health and well-being are connected to the environment around them. Young people will learn about some of the impacts of climate change on their rights and their health and on the health of women and girls more generally. The aim is to empower young people by making them more aware of the world around them and what is happening to the environment, and by generating ideas and the motivation to take action locally and beyond.
