Globally, many challenges threaten young people’s health and well-being, including climate change and drought. Despite contributing least to global warming, Africa faces elevated exposure to climate change disasters. Unfortunately, little attention has been paid to the relationship between climate vulnerability and street childhood for the children living and working on the streets. Globally, a disquieting and escalating number of children live and work on the streets. These children present public health and human rights concerns as they are socially excluded from critical support systems, especially education and parental guidance. This article reviews the literature on climate vulnerability and street childhood in Zimbabwe and Africa on articles dating from 1965 to 2023. The paper finds that climate change influences childhood in the street.
Nonetheless, the paper does not suggest causality but the association between climate change and street childhood. To achieve sustainable futures for children living and working on the streets, researchers and policymakers should consider the effects of climate change through sustainable agricultural practices to ensure food security. Moreover, more empirical studies should be conducted on the impact of climate change on livelihoods and child development. Policymakers should provide programmatic and innovative approaches to address African food insecurity.
Keywords: climate vulnerability, resilience, adolescent street children, flocking, Indigenous knowledge systems
Manuscript submitted to Journal of Social Development in Africa | This work was supported through funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York [grant number: G-20-57628] through the Future Africa Research Leadership Fellowship at Future Africa, University of Pretoria.
