In the villages of the Sundarbans, school timetables now bend to the tides. When river water swallows the path to school, lessons wait for the land to dry. When the power fails for days, mothers light kerosene lamps to check on infants through humid nights. Childhood, once predictable, now depends on the weather.
Across India’s climate-exposed regions, the story is much the same. Heatwaves, erratic monsoons, and cyclones no longer arrive as seasonal surprises — they have become permanent fixtures in a child’s biography. But climate change is not only an environmental crisis. It is a childhood crisis, quietly rewriting the terms of safety, health, and opportunity for millions.
When the soil fails, families move — and children lose more than homes
The link between climate and migration is often measured in hectares lost and homes destroyed. But in the delta, it is measured in broken childhoods. As crops fail and fish disappear, families migrate to cities in search of survival. Children are left behind in fragile care networks or pulled into uncertain labour.
The silent emergency of the mind
Beyond infrastructure lies another frontier — the emotional cost of living with uncertainty. In mental health and psychosocial research among boys affected by violence in the Sundarbans, fear of storms, loss, and displacement leaves deep psychological scars.
Climate anxiety among children is not abstract; it is a lived, daily condition. Integrating psychosocial support into school activities and youth groups — where children learn that adaptation is not just about survival, but about regaining agency and hope.
Towards a just climate future for children
Climate change is magnifying inequality faster than policy can catch up. Children in flood-prone deltas, tribal belts, and informal settlements face a triple vulnerability — of geography, poverty, and age.
If we are to truly achieve climate justice, we must begin with child justice. This means designing policies that treat every child as a stakeholder in adaptation — from school curricula that teach local climate literacy, to social protection systems that travel with migrating families, to investments that strengthen frontline health workers.
The next generation will inherit not just a warmer planet, but also the values we embed in today’s response — empathy, equity, and imagination. For their sake, our response must rise to meet their courage.
(The views expressed are personal.)
