Child-Led Regional Report: Impact of Climate Change & Disasters

Why was this report needed?

We aimed to get a better understanding of the impact of climate change and disasters in our communities. In recent years, we continue to experience extreme temperature and weather patterns which have disrupted their lives. In Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand, extreme heat has been prevalent, while in Mongolia, extreme heat has caused desertification while extreme cold temperature has led to rampant coal burning that consequently polluted the air and poisoned and killed 500 people in the last four years. Vietnam also suffered from prolonged heavy rains causing landslides in the summer.

How many researchers conducted the study and from which countries?

Four countries employed mixed methods (Mongolia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand), with Mongolia and Myanmar conducting surveys and FGDs and Vietnam and Thailand conducting surveys and interviews. Specifically, Vietnam and Thailand conducted paper-based surveys while Myanmar conducted the survey online via Google Forms.

Meanwhile, Laos conducted both a paper-based survey and an online survey via the online tool KOBO, while Cambodia conducted qualitative key informant interviews and FGDs.

How did you analyze or make sense of your data?

Laos used the KOBO tool analysis while Myanmar used the Google Forms analysis to make sense of their survey data. Meanwhile, Thailand, Vietnam and Mongolia used an excel sheet to tally the responses and obtain percentages of responses for each question.

Meanwhile, Cambodia, Mongolia, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar, used a saturation grid created through Microsoft Excel to track the most common and dominant responses in each question and list down the most striking quotes from their interview/FGD participants.

Who did you interview/survey and why did you interview/survey them?

543 survey participants, 70 interview participants, 88 FGD participants = 701 participants (majority of whom are children and a number are community/local leaders, child/youth leaders)

Key Findings

Dominant natural hazards

The majority of the respondents and participants cited extreme heat, drought, heavy rainfall, flooding and landslides. In Laos, drought was the most cited. In Thailand, irregular rainfall and flash floods were the most cited. In Myanmar, Mongolia and Vietnam, air pollution was cited. In Mongolia and Myanmar, garbage problems and water pollution were the most cited.

Multiple aspects of their lives heavily impacted

The aspects of their lives that have been heavily impacted are their: physical and mental health, family’s livelihood, education and community life.

I was really worried about my cow; it has no grass and water to eat which has led to death. It affected our family’s income, led to food shortage, and affected our education and health.

A child in Cambodia

Because of floods, our parents can’t go to work and at these times our livelihood gets affected too.We feel stressed and we can’t sleep well because it’s often dangerous.

Thant, 14, Myanmar

Our classes got suspended because of the danger of floods. We can’t go to school. Moreover, all the schools were flooded.

A child in Vietnam

My friend died when a landslide buried him while he was riding his motorcycle to school during the rainy season.

A child in Laos

During the winter, when temperatures drop to extreme lows, families burn coal in order to heat their homes. Unfortunately, this leads to a significant increase in air pollution and impacts the health of children.

Erdenesuren, 16, Mongolia

Recommendations

Strengthening climate education and advocacy

Strengthening climate action and disaster mitigation initiatives

Increasing opportunities for meaningful child and youth participation