New UNESCO study highlights impact of climate change on the right to education in Asia-Pacific region

Source(s): United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - Headquarters
A Vietnamese school girl bikes through the flooded streets in Ho Chi Minh wearing her school uniform.
xuanhuongho/Shutterstock

Every year over the past decade, most of the world’s new disaster displacements are recorded in East and South Asia and the Pacific. In 2021, Asia and the Pacific accounted for 80 per cent of the world’s new disaster displacements.

That is why UNESCO has published a new and timely regional report analyzing the impacts of climate change and displacement on the right to education in the Asia-Pacific region as part of its initiative on The impacts of climate change and displacement on the right to education. The study is among several regional reports released this year providing guidance for policy-makers, and will contribute to a Global Report which will be released by the end of 2023.

The number of internally displaced persons because of disasters globally has swollen from 23.7 million people in 2021 to 32,6 million people in 2022 according to the International Displacement Monitoring Center. Climate-displaced people, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized groups, see their right to education compromised by direct and indirect barriers to education. The protection of the right to education for specific group of persons affected by climate change, as well as their specific educational vulnerabilities, has not been adequately addressed.

UNESCO carried comparative case studies in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Tuvalu, and Viet Nam. Based on these studies, the report examines not only specific vulnerabilities to climate change and related mobility, but also the impacts of climate change on the right to education in the region.

Key findings of the regional report

  • Population growth and rapid urbanization, including in highly hazard-prone urban areas, are heightening the vulnerability of people in the region.
  • School closures due to flooding represent massive disruption to education in all of the selected countries. This phenomenon is exacerbated by inadequate school infrastructure and disaster management plans. The continuity of education is also prevented by the use of schools as emergency shelters.
  • The lack of financial resources is a common factor to all displacement scenarios in this region. Families are forced to prioritize economic security over their children’s education.
  • Climate change and climate displacement exacerbate existing educational inequalities and barriers to education. The financially disadvantaged, girls and women, rural communities, those with pre-existing health risks and persons with disabilities are the most vulnerable to climate-induced barriers to education.
  • Climate displaced persons face administrative and language barriers in their access to education, as well as trauma and discrimination.
  • Disaster response policies and measures across government sectors are often inconsistent and disintegrated, thereby delaying students’ return to learning.
  • Among the countries studied, Bangladesh, with its National Strategy on the Management of Disaster and Climate Induced Internal Displacement, has the only comprehensive, national-level policy that explicitly ensures the right to education for those displaced by climate change.

Intersectoral action must be taken to address both the common barriers to education as well as the national specificities amidst climate change and climate displacement. UNESCO will continue to advocate for the right to education by providing guidance and recommendations to policy-makers.

The findings and recommendations of this regional report will be shared and discussed with experts and state representatives at a side-event organized on 17 May by UNESCO and the UN University-Institute for Advanced Study of Sustainability on the margins of the 79th session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Commission.

View the report

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