John, every day, more and more children are threatened by the worsening effects of the climate crisis. This Earth Day, please take a moment to learn about these impacts and the ways your support is helping children and their communities build resilience.
While people everywhere are experiencing the effects of climate change, those who have contributed the least to this crisis – children, those in poverty and future generations – are the most affected. Extreme temperatures leave many families living in poverty with less food, less clean water, lower incomes and worsening health. The climate crisis magnifies inequality and displacement and may also increase the likelihood of conflict.
13-year-old Tenneh is just one of the millions of children whose future is endangered by the worsening effects of climate change – but thanks to supporters like you, she has hope. This is her story.
Tenneh lives by the river in a remote village in Sierra Leone. The river is central for her community – people wash clothes, catch their food and embark on journeys there. Tenneh and her classmates even use the river to get to their Save the Children-supported school. She loves social studies and dreams of becoming a nurse one day.
But rising seas, fiercer storms and hotter weather are putting Tenneh’s community, her education and her future at risk. The climate crisis is here and we can’t change that, but we can help at-risk children and communities like Tenneh’s adapt and build resilience to avoid becoming climate refugees. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters like you, we’re doing just that in several ways.
With a long history in helping crisis-affected communities recover and rebuild, we know our response to climate change must be as multifaceted as this crisis itself. The Sierra Leone Coastal Resilience Project is a long-term climate initiative that is already making a difference for Tenneh and children across Sierra Leone.
This five-year initiative includes water and sanitation projects to ensure families have potable water to drink, wash and cook with. It includes ecosystem management, such as the planting of mangroves to prevent coastal erosion, and education initiatives to teach children how they can help protect their communities. It also includes livelihood support to teach sustainable farming practices to families like Tenneh’s who live off the land.
In addition to directly supporting communities like Tenneh’s, we’re working with officials at the local and national level to strengthen planning and develop further strategies. The effects of climate change are ongoing and ever-changing, and we recognize that we must continue to innovate and adapt our approach to best meet children’s needs.
The Sierra Leone Coastal Resilience Project aims to reach 260,000 people directly, and we expect an additional 1 million people to benefit from it. And it’s all made possible by supporters like you, John. Thanks to you, we can help more children like Tenneh access the education they deserve and find relief from the negative effects of the climate crisis.
Together, we can help children and families everywhere survive and thrive amid the climate crisis and other hardships. Thank you for your commitment to this lifesaving work.
