The interlinkages between climate change and child marriage: Learning from emerging evidence and practice

The first Child Marriage Research to Action Network (CRANK) research meeting of 2025 focused on the interlinkages between climate change and child marriage.

In this meeting – held to coincide with the 58th Session of the Commission on Population and Development – we discussed emerging evidence, practice and strategies, and their implications for prevention, adaptation and response. Taking a holistic approach to wellbeing, we also considered the links between child marriage, food insecurity and climate-induced displacement, and social protection, education, health and social norms.

For the first time, we have compiled a four-page summary, which includes key takeaways, evidence-based recommendations for action, research gaps, and additional resources and tools – download it below. You can access all the meeting resources – notes, presentations and recordings – on the meeting page.

Why focus on climate change and child marriage

We know:

• For every 10% change in rainfall due to climate change, child marriage increases 1%.[1]
• Girls and adolescents are the most severely impacted by both issues.

But:

• Climate change and child marriage are often addressed in isolation. Girls and adolescents – including those who are, or have been, married (ever-married girls) – are rarely represented in climate policy.
• Responses are often short-term, only dealing with the period immediately after climate shock or marriage and not the longer-term consequences.
• The impact of climate change on child marriage is indirect and varies by context.

Key takeaways

Below is a summary of the key takeaways. Check out the brief for more detail and for evidence-based recommendations.

• Environmental crises worsen known drivers of child marriage, but the impacts depend on local socio-cultural contexts. Where dowry is predominant (like South Asia), environmental crisis leads to reductions in child marriage; where bride price is predominant (like West, Central, East and Southern Africa) crisis leads to increases in child marriage.
• We need to take a lifecycle approach to understand, prevent and respond to climate change and child marriage beyond the moment of marriage or disaster. Studies looking at short-term (proximal) effects of weather “shocks” show less impact than those looking at medium and longer-term (distal) and cumulative effects. Climate-induced displacement – before, during or after climate-related shocks – may mean the impacts are felt in another location, and at a later date.
• It is important to engage in drafting policy documents – including on climate, gender, education and social protection – at the national level to ensure they address the underlying drivers and long-term impacts of climate vulnerability and child marriage. Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are due in September 2025.
• Working in partnership at different levels is essential to deliver coordinated, cross-sectoral interventions that reduce the climate-related economic and social drivers of child marriage. This means engaging relevant ministries – like those for gender, social protection, education and agriculture – and service providers at the local level to deliver initiatives like school feeding and smart agriculture in areas vulnerable to food insecurity.
• Adolescent girl-centred community engagement – alongside support for education, livelihoods, and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) – can encourage parents to openly commit to their daughters’ education. They can also increase girls’ and mothers’ decision-making power. Creative communication that uses storytelling formats and materials can help translate research into grassroots action, and bring community voices, experiences, negotiations and adaptation strategies into more nuanced research, policy and news stories.