Happy Earth Day!

When we talk about the climate crisis, we cannot overstate the damage it is causing to women and girls around the world in particular.

In Bangladesh, teenage girls’ vulnerability to a variety of dangers increases when natural disasters strike. Girls suffer from food insecurity, sexual harassment, and child marriage during monsoon season when increasingly devastating floods destroy crops and displace families.

"In my village, people think about girls in a very traditional way. Whenever a family has problems with money, the first thing they think about is stopping their daughter’s education and marrying her off," described 15-year-old Aisha.

And in Myanmar, Cyclone Mocha — one of the most powerful storms to hit the country — tore homes to pieces while torrential downpours submerged areas along the coast, flooding villages and leaving hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people without shelter.

UNFPA-supported health facilities and safe spaces for women and girls were extensively damaged — or destroyed entirely — by the storm. Months later, women and girls are in urgent need of assistance with access to aid still limited.

“I used to cultivate cassava and other grains,” Pela from Madagascar told us. The region faced its most acute drought in 40 years in 2022. “The children went to school while we were in the fields.”

But at just age 25, Pela hardly remembers that life anymore. “The droughts have changed many things. Now everything has become expensive — food, water. We had to stop schooling for two of the children.” Pela became the sole breadwinner after her husband fell ill. Now, she washes clothes or carries water for money, but it’s hardly enough.

“I am not even able to feed my four children, so giving birth to another child is not in my plans anymore.” Pela received family planning from UNFPA so she could avoid another pregnancy in the arid conditions.

Women and girls are being hit the hardest by the impacts of the climate crisis. Yet too often, they are also the ones being left behind in times of crisis.

As we continue working together to meet the needs of women and girls around the world, we cannot ignore the impacts of the climate crisis. This Earth Day, will you sign our pledge if you agree that our lifesaving work should include mitigating the devastating impacts of climate change?

Thank you for adding your name.

— USA for UNFPA