Educating the girl child: An effective tool for climate change mitigation
Nov. 13, 2021
An estimated 263 million children are out of school and 130 million of those children are mostly girls in developing and underdeveloped countries.
This is a ticking time bomb waiting to happen because, as girls become less educated, they become unaware of critical issues like climate change and therefore, unknowingly put their immediate communities – and the continent and world to a larger extent – at risk.
A major risk driver is population growth. The United Nations made a 9.7 billion world population growth projection by 2050 from the 7.3 billion that it is currently. It also projected a 1.2 billion population increase in Africa as a result of an unbalanced ratio in fertility and mortality rates.
According to research, when girls have access to quality education, there are far greater chances of tackling climate change. As a matter of fact, not only has empowering and educating girls been linked to mitigating climate change. It has also proven to be one of the most cost-effective and high-impact ways for Africa to positively address it.
Educating them will help them understand family planning and enable them to actively manage their reproductive health thereby reducing population growth. They will also have a chance at earning more and improving their standards of living.
Guidance and sufficient information on family planning and female reproductive health through quality education presents unlimited personal choices for girls and make them financially independent.
The ripple effect of tackling fertility rates through investment in girls’ education will be their investment in the education of their children as well.
That way, the impact of climate change will lessen and girls will have fair chances at shaping the world through their actions.
Courtesy: climateaction.africa