The study was based on interviews with 50 children and parents living in informal settlements in Port Harcourt, the fifth most populous city in Nigeria and the largest city in the Niger Delta, who were asked how floods and heatwaves impacted their daily lives.
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria, 4 June 2025 – Headaches, sleepless nights and burning heat rash are some of the many trials facing children living in slums and informal settlements in Nigeria amid the climate crisis, according to a study released by Save the Children and Cities4Children on the eve of World Environment Day.
The study was based on interviews with 50 children and parents living in informal settlements in Port Harcourt, the fifth most populous city in Nigeria and the largest city in the Niger Delta, who were asked how floods and heatwaves impacted their daily lives.
Researchers found children were extremely concerned at how repeated flooding prevented them from going to school, prevented their parents from working, and can trap people inside their houses.
Children were also alarmed about the impact of pollution, floods and heatwaves on their health, with several mentioning an increase in disease-carrying mosquitos in flooded areas, as well as rashes due to the heat. Children also reported being exposed to harmful outdoor and indoor air pollution because they live so close to industrial areas, dusty roads, burning waste, and diesel generators, which have led to breathing difficulties and headaches.
“When it’s really hot, sometimes I feel like the heat is removing all the blood from my body. I just get stiff and sick,” said Favour*, an 11-year-old girl living in an informal settlement in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
“There are more mosquitoes because of the rain and standing water. The mosquitos keep us up at night and cause more malaria,” said Grace*, a mother of one.
“Air pollution and black soot pollutes our drinking water and makes people sick,” said Daniel*, a community leader.
Due to the lack of open spaces in many informal settlements, children have limited options when it comes to playing in open fields. In one Port Harcourt community, children took the initiative to dig gulleys and drainage channels to ease flooding on the field and save their football pitch.
There are about 500 million children around the world currently living in informal settlements and slums, a number expected to triple by 2050 to as many as 1.5 billion children (UN DESA 2023). These children will be dealing with increased heat, rainfall, flooding and drought, in a world where average temperatures are 2 degrees higher and urban communities will be even hotter due to the lack of open and green space and the high density of buildings.
The report documented suggestions from children and youth living in Port Harcourts’s informal settlements on how to create a more sustainable future for their communities. These suggestions included planting more trees to create shade and reduce air pollution, using clean fuel for cooking, reducing the burning of waste, and installing draining systems to channel water away from homes during raining seasons.
Sarah Sabry, Save the Children’s Global Lead – Urban and the Chair of the Global Alliance – Cities4Children, said:
" Climate change is an urgent and escalating global challenge, impacting children in cities with increasing severity. Climate change exacerbates the existing vulnerabilities in slums, where children already have limited access to clean water, sanitation, and healthcare while living in hazard-prone locations like steep slopes, next to large garbage dumps, low-lying coastal areas, or floodplains.
“But as we see in this study, children in informal settlements are not just victims; they are important stakeholders with innovative ideas for action. Their solutions must be integrated into climate action, governance, and urban resilience planning. Governments, humanitarian organizations, and the private sector must prioritize investing in child-centered adaptation strategies, early warning systems, and access to healthcare, education, and safe housing”.
Save the Children supports children and their communities globally in preventing, preparing for, adapting to, and recovering from climate disasters and gradual climate change. We have set up floating schools, rebuilt destroyed homes and provided cash grants to families hit by disasters.
We also work to influence governments and other key stakeholders on climate policies, including at the UNFCCC COP summits, giving children a platform for their voices to be heard.
*Names changed to protect identities
NOTES:
- The Research-into-Action brief Children, Climate Change, and Slums: Risks, Realities, and Resilience in Action was published on 6 June, 2025 by Save the Children and the Global Alliance Cities4Children.
- The brief brings together key evidence from existing sources and primary research on the impacts of climate change on children in slums and informal settlements and spotlights some ideas for child-centred climate action.
- To gain a deeper understanding of the impact of climate change on daily life, two authors of this brief—residents of informal waterfront settlements in Port Harcourt—worked alongside colleagues at the Chicoco Collective, a human rights, media advocacy, and urban planning and design initiative rooted in these communities. Together, they conducted a series of focus groups to document the lived experiences of children and caregivers.
- Over 50 participants were engaged across six focus groups, ensuring representation from different age groups and community roles. The focus groups were broken out into caregivers (primarily mothers with infants and children under five), children aged 5-11, children aged 12-16, youth aged 16-21, and community leaders.
