UNICEF launched a new climate finance initiative on Wednesday to support countries to cope with natural disasters and address the current impacts of climate change. For the first time, the Today and Tomorrow initiative combines funding for immediate resilience and risk prevention programmes for children to help them cope with future cyclones. This is combined with risk transfer financing provided by the insurance market to help them deal with these crises in the future.
“We know more climate disasters are in the making. We just do not know where or when they will hit”, said Karin Hulshof, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director for Partnerships.” The risks of climate change are no longer hypothetical. They are here. And even while we work to build communities’ resilience against climate disasters, we have to become much better at anticipating risks for our children,” she added.
Youth are among the most vulnerable groups in our society. Extreme weather events can be devastating for them. Young people are among the most vulnerable groups in our society. A recent UNICEF study estimated that 400 million children are at high risk of being affected by cyclones. This is according to UNICEF’s Children’s Climate Risk Index, which was published last year.
For the first three years of the pilot phase, Bangladesh, Comoros, Haiti, Fiji, Madagascar, Mozambique, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu will be the focus countries of this initiative. UNICEF is raising $30 million for the project and inviting additional private and public partners to participate in closing the humanitarian funding gap for disaster protection for children and youth.