Advocacy Factsheet : Climate Change, El Niño, & Africa’s Children’s Rights to Food & Water

At 1.1°C of global warming, children’s rights to food and water across Africa are already under severe threat. Climate change is systematically dismantling children’s rights to food and water across Africa and a new El Niño event, confirmed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on 2 June 2026 with 80-90% probability, threatens to make things significantly worse. As the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) affirms through its 1.1TooHigh! Child-Rights Based Approach to Climate Action in Africa campaign, Africa’s children bear the heaviest burden of the climate emergency despite contributing least to it. The rights guaranteed to them under the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) to food, water, health, life, and survival demand immediate and decisive action. 
This factsheet has been developed in the context of the 2026 Day of the African Child, under the theme “Ensuring universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene for every child in Africa.” It highlights the scale of the challenge and outlines the concrete actions needed to address it.