Young children’s needs and voices matter in national resilience action
Advocacy : Clean, safe and sustainable environment
(1) Mechanisms for prioritising young children’s needs and voices through their caregivers need to be put in place to make national resilience actions inclusive. This is particularly important where ECD policies are delinked from climate action. In the Asia-Pacific region, climate change is not specifically mentioned in any existing ECD plans.
(2) Additional data concerning the state of the physical environment and associated behaviours for young children and for caregivers is needed to fully understand the linkages between climate change, environmental degradation, and early childhood development. A key recommendation is that additional research is needed to investigate the impact of climate change and environmental degradation on ECD, specifically looking at the age groups of children and effective responses to their needs. Research into engaging young children’s voices and on the needs of vulnerable groups, such as children with disabilities or low-income families, will also greatly improve the ability to respond and plan in effective and impactful ways.
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