Link between climate change and child marriages is often overlooked

Director of Pastoral Child Foundation Simon Leadismo training morans of Lkisieku age set at Archers Post in Samburu county on harmful cultural practices like female genital mutilation and early marriages that are retrogressive and negatively impact girls in the community. [Michael Saitoti, Standard]

A 2020 report on the link between Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and environmental issues by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) suggests that dowry practices are usually heightened during natural disasters such as drought and displacement of people.

This study prompts a much-needed assessment of the social implications of the worst drought in four decades that Kenya recently experienced.