How Do Climate Change and Environmental Degradation Contribute to Violence Against Children?

This scoping review of the literature explores the interlinkages between two pressing crises: violence against children (VAC) and climate change (CC) together with environmental degradation (ED). Only recently have research and policy begun to shine a light on the magnifying effect of CC on children’s exposure to violence, exploitation, and abuse, with the role of ED remaining under-explored. To spur academic and political movement in this area, our research aims to help establish the magnitude, direction, and pathways of the relationship between CC, ED, and VAC. We showcase the complexity of that relationship and illustrate, in the form of case studies, why context-specific approaches and more research are needed. Doing so, we cover five thematic areas: 1) Hazards and Disaster Risk Reduction, 2) Gender, 3) Im/mobility, 4) Child Labour and 5) Health. Taking all five thematic areas together, structural violence against children emerged as a cross-cutting theme, creating and reinforcing the conditions for multiple forms of VAC in the context of CC and ED.