NGO says climate change driving child marriages and teen pregnancies

The Plan International charity said Monday that global warming has increased the risk of child marriages, teenage pregnancies and violence against girls.

Climate disasters such as floods, droughts, cyclones, and extreme heat are destroying the health and education services girls depend on while also forcing families to marry off young daughters as a "survival strategy", Plan International said.

The charity's "Change Her Forecast, the State of the World's Girls 2026" report was based on interviews with 5,000 girls and young women aged between 15 and 24 in Bangladesh, Kenya, Peru, Senegal and Zimbabwe.

It said one in 10 girls reported an unintended pregnancy "following a climate-related event" and 33 percent reported an increase in unintended pregnancies in their community.

"Nine in 10 girls said climate-related events were placing serious pressure on their family's survival, health, and stability," according to the report.

Some 28 percent said they had witnessed an increase in violence against women following climate related events. The figure rose to 60 percent in Zimbabwe, which has been severely hit by rising temperatures blamed on human activity.

"Slow-onset drought destroys the household economies that keep girls out of marriage," said Plan International.

"Across 52 countries and three decades, prolonged drought emerged as the hazard most consistently associated with rising rates of child marriage and early unions, as families lose harvests, livestock, and income over months and years until marrying a daughter becomes a survival strategy."

The report was released ahead of the international day of the girl child on October 11 and a month before the COP31 UN climate conference opens in Turkey.

Plan International said countries had to allocate "a defined share of climate adaptation finance to adolescent girls' health, including sexual and reproductive health services."