Climate Extreme: How Young People Can Respond to Disasters in a Changing World

"Often seen as nothing more than victims in disasters, children in Asia actually have a vital role to play in community disaster risk reduction activities..."

This resource from Plan International is designed to give young people in the developing world knowledge about how to prepare and reduce risks they could face when disasters impact their communities. Presenting examples of the roles children and youth have played in disaster preparedness, community education, hazard identification, and in evacuation and first aid during disasters, the learning tool is a simplified version of the 594-page report that was prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): "Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX) [PDF]". This report integrates perspectives from several historically distinct research communities studying climate science, climate impacts, adaptation to climate change, and disaster risk management

This child-friendly version of the IPCC report is based on the premise that "[c]hildren and young people have the right to information that is tailored to them. Even complex scientific reports should be converted to child and youth appropriate versions, if the information is likely to affect them." The strategy here involves ensuring that children and youth can be full participants in disaster preparedness now through knowledge and access to research, rather than considering them only as "future decision makers".

The report for children and youth, titled "Climate Extreme", aims to convert complex research into easy-to-understand information which can arm young people with the knowledge they need to be a part of climate change adaptation and disaster preparedness, challenging them to be involved in disaster preparedness. Examples that exist across Asia are included here. For instance, young people have lobbied their government to get their school moved out of the path of potential landslides in the Philippines. Girls and boys in Bangladesh have carried out household visits and community assemblies to share their skills and knowledge on early warning and household preparedness with others. A school safety programme in India involves children in conducting risk and vulnerability assessments in over 2,000 schools, while in Thailand youth are actively engaged in revising community-based disaster risk management plans in flood affected areas. In Vietnam, children are training their peers on how climate change could affect their communities.

Tips are provided for youth throughout. In terms of navigating the resource itself, suggestions include: "Check the first page of each chapter for definitions of words that will help you understand that chapter; Make sure you check out the case studies and fact boxes so you can see how all this affects real people; [and] Keep your eyes open for suggestions about where you can go for more information."

Australian Aid (the disaster response arm of AusAID) funded the production of the child-friendly version.