{"id":575966,"date":"2026-01-27T17:11:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T20:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=575966"},"modified":"2026-01-27T17:11:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T20:11:20","slug":"climate-change-affects-childrens-lives-and-exacerbates-social-inequality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/climate-change-affects-childrens-lives-and-exacerbates-social-inequality\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate change affects children’s lives and exacerbates social inequality"},"content":{"rendered":"

On August 5, the COP30 presidency released the official Thematic Days calendar for the next United Nations Climate Change Conference, which will be held in Bel\u00e9m, in the state of Par\u00e1, from November 10 to 21. The topic of children and youth only appears on the schedule for the second half of the event, on November 17 and 18, on the same days as other equally important subjects: forests, oceans, Indigenous peoples, local and traditional communities, biodiversity, and small and medium entrepreneurs. According to the researchers consulted for this report, the topic deserves to be widely discussed at the event due to the magnitude of the problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is estimated that each of Brazil\u2019s more than 40 million children and adolescents faces at least one type of severe climate event,\u201d states pediatrician Alicia Matijasevich, from the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP). \u201cIn general, children are more vulnerable than adults, because they have fewer resources to cope with adversities.\u201d A severe climatic event is defined as the occurrence of phenomena such as heat waves, torrential rain, and prolonged droughts. The data mentioned by Matijasevich come from the report \u201cCrian\u00e7as, adolescentes e mudan\u00e7as clim\u00e1ticas no Brasil\u201d (Children, adolescents, and climate change in Brazil), published by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in 2022. According to the document, more than 8.6 million Brazilian boys and girls are exposed to the risk of water scarcity, and over 7.3 million to damage caused by flooding.<\/p>\n

\"\"The pediatrician, along with three other Brazilian female researchers, coauthored the report \u201cA primeira inf\u00e2ncia no centro do enfrentamento da crise clim\u00e1tica\u201d (Early childhood at the center of confronting the climate crisis), published in June. It is the fourteenth study in a series produced by the Science for Childhood Center (NCPI), a coalition of five organizations, including INSPER and the Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal Foundation (FMCSV), whose goal is to suggest proposals for improving the quality of life of children aged from 0 to 6.<\/p>\n

The report states, for example, that children born in 2020 will experience 6.8 times more heat waves and 2.6 times more droughts than those born in 1960. \u201cIt affects life from pregnancy. We are talking about premature births and low birth weights, and even severe and chronic complications in adulthood, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cognitive deficits,\u201d says demographer M\u00e1rcio Castro, head of the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard University, USA, and coauthor of the NCPI study. \u201cWhat happens in early childhood has consequences throughout life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not all Brazilians recognize the importance of this phase in human development. Published in August, a study by FMCSV in partnership with the Datafolha Institute found that, among the 2,206 respondents across Brazil, 42% did not know the meaning of the term \u201cearly childhood\u201d and 84% were unaware that the greatest physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development in humans occurs during this period. Of those surveyed, 822 were directly responsible for children up to age 6.<\/p>\n

In Brazil, four out of every 10 schools do not have green spaces<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One of the points discussed in the NCPI study is nutrition, which is directly and indirectly affected by the climate crisis in a multitude of ways. Extreme events, such as prolonged droughts and floods, reduce agricultural production, driving up the price of basic food staples and intensifying food insecurity, especially among the most socially vulnerable families. \u201cThis compromises both the quantity of available food and the quality of children\u2019s diets, increasing the risk of chronic malnutrition, which in turn impairs physical growth and cognitive development,\u201d warns Matijasevich.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the difficulty of accessing fresh and nutritious foods encourages the consumption of ultra-processed products, which are generally cheaper and more readily available in stores, contributing to children becoming overweight and obese. The suspension of school and daycare activities as a result of floods or extreme heat compromises the supply of school meals to the students. \u201cThe effects of the climate crisis are greater among children living in vulnerable conditions, as extreme events intensify structural inequalities,\u201d states Castro.<\/p>\n

The school environment suffers not only from the potential loss of school meals. A crucial point to consider in the face of climate catastrophes is the damage to, or even destruction of, the physical space of educational institutions. \u201cWhen buildings withstand adverse weather conditions, many end up serving as shelters for displaced people, which leads to classes being suspended and harms education,\u201d notes sociologist Victor Marchezini, of the Center for Natural Disasters Monitoring (CEMADEN). \u201cDuring the 2024 floods in Rio Grande do Sul, for example, in which entire cities were left under water, several public schools were damaged and some could not even be used as shelters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Let\u00edcia Graciano<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the NCPI study, around 1.18 million children and adolescents had classes suspended in Brazil in 2024, mainly due to floods. High daily temperatures also affect students. \u201cMany schools do not have air conditioning or adequate ventilation, much less uniforms designed for heat waves. This extreme heat affects concentration and academic performance,\u201d notes Marchezini, coordinator of the Organizational Capacities to Cope with Extreme Events (COPE) project, developed by CEMADEN with funding from FAPESP. \u201cThe buildings were not designed to have energy autonomy during blackouts or strong winds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another problem is the lack of vegetation. In Brazil, four in every 10 schools do not have green spaces (37.4%). The situation is more serious in spaces designed for early childhood education: 43.5% face such a shortage. The numbers are from the study \u201cO acesso ao verde e a resili\u00eancia clim\u00e1tica nas escolas das capitais brasileiras\u201d (Access to green spaces and climate resilience in schools in Brazil\u2019s state capitals), published last year and conducted by the Alana Institute in conjunction with the data agency Fiquem Sabendo and MapBiomas (an initiative of the nongovernmental organization Observat\u00f3rio do Clima). A total of 20,635 educational units were included in the sample.<\/p>\n

The study also shows that, in a comparison between public and private schools, the former are better placed: 31% of public schools have more than 30% of their grounds covered by green space, a percentage that falls to just 9% among private schools. Salvador is the state capital where schools, both public and private, have the least green space: 87% lack, for example, the shade and cooling provided by trees.<\/p>\n

Preliminary data from the COPE project, by CEMADEN, which surveyed over 2,000 Brazilian municipalities in the first half of 2025, reveal that less than 10% of these cities have contingency plans for heat waves. Furthermore, around 60% do not have their own Civil Defense budget and less than 25% regularly carry out educational campaigns on disaster prevention.<\/p>\n

To this end, CEMADEN has been conducting the CEMADEN Education project since 2014 (see<\/em> Pesquisa FAPESP issue n\u00b0 323<\/em><\/a>). One of the aims of the initiative is to provide research methods so that schools and other interested parties can study their surroundings and develop proposals to prevent socioenvironmental disasters. Over this period, the activity has involved 800 educational units and communities across 376 municipalities.<\/p>\n

\"\"Let\u00edcia Graciano<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Marchezini, the project enables schools to address a series of topics aimed at teaching children to understand climate data, including helping them identify fake news. \u201cDuring the 2011 catastrophe in the mountainous area of Nova Friburgo, in Rio de Janeiro, a rumor spread after the flooding that a dam had burst in the municipal reservoir, which caused people in the city center to panic,\u201d recalls the sociologist. This disaster in the Serra Fluminense region of the state of Rio de Janeiro registered 905 deaths and 345 missing persons. Around 35,000 people lost their homes or had to evacuate due to the risk of landslides.<\/p>\n

According to UNICEF, between 2016 and 2021, more than 43 million children worldwide were forced to leave their homes due to climate-related disasters. As highlighted by economist Naercio Menezes Filho, of INSPER and the School of Economics, Business Administration, Accounting, and Actuarial Science (FEA) at USP, the displacement of families in these situations tends to be especially traumatic for young children. \u201cA child, when they are developing, needs to have a healthy interaction with parents and caregivers, needs to be in an enriching environment with space and nature, a place to be stimulated but also to relax, play, and read,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

Menezes Filho organized the book Ci\u00eancia da primeira inf\u00e2ncia<\/em> (Science of early childhood; FEA-USP\/INSPER, 2025), which compiles the first results of the Brazilian Center for Early Child Development (CPAPI), funded by FAPESP and NCPI. \u201cWhen a family loses all its belongings in a climate disaster and needs to move, the child is no longer the priority, and this bond between parents and children gets disrupted,\u201d says the economist. \u201cAdditionally, the experience of suddenly losing your home and that situation of risk can further heighten anxiety, fear, and prolonged suffering,\u201d adds Matijasevich.<\/p>\n

The researcher stresses that forced displacement increases a child\u2019s exposure to toxic stress (resulting from adversities experienced over a long period), which can affect mental health. \u201cNot to mention that temporary placement in unhealthy and unsafe environments increases the risk of infectious diseases and intensifies food insecurity,\u201d observes Matijasevich. In the NCPI study, the authors defend the creation of public policies capable, for example, of planning cities with green and safe spaces for children\u2019s development. \u201cThese actions must be integrated and have guaranteed funding in the education, housing, sanitation, food security, and social protection plans,\u201d adds Castro, from Harvard.<\/p>\n

The story above was published with the title “Early impact<\/strong>” in issue 356 of October\/2025.<\/p>\n

Projects<\/strong>
\n1.<\/strong> Brazilian Center for Early Childhood Development (n\u00b0 19\/12553-0<\/a>); Grant Mechanism<\/strong> Research Grants \u2013 Engineering Research Centers Program; Principal Investigator<\/strong> Naercio Aquino Menezes Filho (INSPER Institute of Education and Research and Maria Cec\u00edlia Souto Vidigal Foundation); Investment<\/strong> R$3,310,135.14.
\n2.<\/strong> Organizational Capabilities for Preparedness for Extreme Events (COPE) (n\u00b0 22\/02891-9<\/a>); Grant Mechanism<\/strong> Research Grant \u2013 Initial Project; Principal Investigator<\/strong> Victor Marchezini (CEMADEN); Investment<\/strong> R$880,758.43.
\n3.<\/strong> Effects of the 2024 floods in Rio Grande do Sul on the mental health and eco-anxiety of young adults from a birth cohort (n\u00b0 24\/12948-3<\/a>); Grant Mechanism<\/strong> Regular Research Grant; Principal Investigator<\/strong> Alicia Matijasevich (USP); Investment<\/strong> R$246,215.00.<\/p>\n

Book<\/strong>
\nMENEZES FILHO, N. (ed.). Ci\u00eancia da primeira inf\u00e2ncia<\/strong><\/a>. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisa Aplicada \u00e0 Primeira Inf\u00e2ncia. S\u00e3o Paulo: Blucher, 2025.<\/p>\n

Reports<\/strong>
\nCrian\u00e7as, adolescentes e mudan\u00e7as clim\u00e1ticas no Brasil<\/strong><\/a>. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 2022.
\nA primeira inf\u00e2ncia no centro do enfrentamento da crise clim\u00e1tica<\/strong><\/a>. Comit\u00ea Cient\u00edfico do N\u00facleo Ci\u00eancia pela Inf\u00e2ncia. S\u00e3o Paulo: N\u00facleo Ci\u00eancia pela Inf\u00e2ncia, 2025.
\nPanorama da primeira inf\u00e2ncia: O que o Brasil sabe, vive e pensa sobre os primeiros seis anos de vida<\/strong><\/a>. Funda\u00e7\u00e3o Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal, 2025.
\nO acesso ao verde e a resili\u00eancia clim\u00e1tica nas escolas das capitais brasileiras<\/a>.<\/strong> Instituto Alana, 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Extreme events impact aspects such as school attendance and nutrition","protected":false},"author":756,"featured_media":564258,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[165,159],"tags":[225,226,256,261],"coauthors":[5012],"class_list":["post-575966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humanities","category-science","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-public-policies","tag-sociology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/756"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575966"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":575967,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575966\/revisions\/575967"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575966"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=575966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}