This paper discusses the impacts on children of different ages of the increasing risk of storms, flooding, landslides, heat waves, drought and water supply constraints that climate change is likely to bring to most urban centres in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It also explores the implications for adaptation, focusing on preparedness as well as responses to extreme events and changes in weather patterns. As is the case with many poor groups, if adaptations to climate change fail to take account of the disproportionate risks to children (who make up between a third and a half of the population in the most affected areas), then they will be less than adequate in responding to the challenges.

Section I discusses why a concern for children, and specifically urban children, is important. Children, especially young children, are in a stage of rapid development and are less well equipped on many fronts to deal with deprivation and stress. Their more rapid metabolisms, immature organs and nervous systems, developing cognition, limited experience and behavioural characteristics are all at issue here. In addition, their exposure to various risks is more likely to have long-term repercussions than it is with adults. Almost all the disproportionate implications for children are intensified by poverty and the difficult choices low-income households make as they adapt to more challenging conditions. Events that might have little or no effect on children in high-income countries and communities can have critical implications for children in poverty.

Urban children are generally better off than their rural counterparts, but this is not true for the hundreds of millions living in urban poverty. Without adequate planning and good governance, poor urban areas can be among the world’s most life-threatening environments. In some informal settlements, a quarter of all children still die before the age of five. Nor does the “urban advantage” come into play in terms of education and life opportunities for most of those in poverty. In many urban areas, the risks children face are likely to be intensified by climate change. Most of the people and enterprises at most serious risk from extreme weather events and rising sea levels are located in urban slums in low- and middle-income countries, where there is a combination of high exposure to hazards and inadequate protective infrastructure and services.

Section II discusses risk factors and protective factors for children. Although children are disproportionately at risk on many fronts, it is a mistake to think of them only as victims in the face of climate change. With adequate support and protection, children can also be extraordinarily resilient in the face of stresses and shocks of various kinds. There is, moreover, ample documentation of the benefits of having children and young people active, informed and involved in responding to the challenges in their lives, not only for their own learning and development, but for the energy, resourcefulness and knowledge that they can bring to local issues.

Section III reviews how climate change is likely to impact children with regard to health and survival, learning and competence, and coping with adversity. There is not enough hard knowledge about the implications of climate change for children to present a comprehensive picture. Even where more general impacts are projected, figures are seldom disaggregated by age. But it is possible to extrapolate from existing knowledge in related areas: work on environmental health in urban areas; disaster responses; household coping strategies; the effects on children of urban poverty; children’s resilience and the beneficial effects of their participation in various efforts – all contribute to a picture of the implications of climate change-related disasters, as well as to more gradual changes. Section IV discusses the implications for adaptation for children with regard to reducing risks and preparedne