Seven-year-old Agnes lives with her parents and eight siblings on one of Vanuatu’s small islands in the Pacific Ocean. She loves swimming with her brother, Charlie, and exploring the coral reef in the clear blue waters around their home. These days, Agnes and her family, and communities across Vanuatu, are facing increasingly frequent and extreme weather events. Cyclone-induced winds, flooding and landslides are causing damage to homes and schools, farms and backyard gardens. And as the consequences of climate change intensify, so does the risk to children’s futures. When fruit trees and crops are destroyed, the shortage of nutritious food threatens children’s health at a critical time in their development. When 2023’s Cyclone Lola destroyed crops and left families short of nutritious food; communities, climate resilience experts and local authorities embarked on an ambitious plan to improve food security and resilience in impacted communities. As a part of the programme, Save the Children built a collapsable nursery in Agnes’s community that can be taken down when a cyclone is predicted, so saplings and trees can be stored, protected and replanted after it passes. And in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture in Vanuatu, Save the Children set up a seed bank where families can collect climate-resistant seeds to grow in their nurseries and gardens. Save the Children bought the seeds from the Vanuatu Agriculture Technical Research Centre in Santo and distributed over 9,000 packets of seeds to 1,106 households. New, shorter varieties of fruit trees have been introduced that are less likely to fall if a cyclone hits – using a method called grafting. And so far, the programme has reached 8,000 people across 28 communities. Agnes’s father, Apia, is a community leader who attended training courses run by Save the Children, learning about the innovations, how different types of crops can withstand cyclones and extreme weather, and how to extract and preserve them. He’s sharing that knowledge with others in the community, as well as Agnes and his other children. Quotes from Agnes: “My name is Agnes. I am seven years old. Charlie loves taking me to the sea and we just swim.” “I like to go to the beach to see the reef and the shells, fish, sea cucumber with the coral… not forgetting the coral reefs. The colourful coral reefs.” “We don't have to throw plastics into the water. Because the fish eats it [plastic] and it will die. When I feel bad, I would go and pick them up. Sometimes, I go by myself, and other times my friends would follow me." “During the cyclone, we stayed in the house. We were all in the house. Me, Charlie, Madelene and Vanessa. I heard thunder and lightning. At night, I heard thunderclaps. In the daytime, I would hear the lightning striking too. I was so scared.” “At the time, my parents were in Vila. They stayed in Vila because of baby David.” “All the fruits were everywhere. The woods and the trees… later there wasn't any more food. After the cyclone, the food was short.” “I help Walter and Mum to weed the grass round our house. We planted corn, eggplant, tomato, round cabbage and Chinese cabbage. I like cabbage and banana. They make you strong.” “It is very important for girls like me to eat healthy food. These foods make us strong. Girls should eat this kind of food, So that they might be able to grow stronger.” Conor Ashleigh / Save the Children

Everything is connected. No one knows that better than Alison, a mother of six from Malaita in the Solomon Islands. Her country – made up of hundreds of islands in the South Pacific – is a microcosm for climate change. Increasingly ferocious winds and rains have wrecked the mangroves that always acted as a natural buffer for the islands. Now the cyclones and sea water make their way inland uninhibited, flattening homes and killing the garden crops that so many Solomon Islanders rely on for food and money. “When I was just married into this family a strong wind blew down all the houses in our area. Our own home was blown down too,” remembers Alison. “We escaped with only the clothes on our back.” It's an existential threat for Alison, her children, and the future of their country - one that short term help like food aid won’t solve. “I do not want my children to have to experience this again. I want to protect them from that.” Save the Children is working hand in hand with communities to take on climate change through connections of our own. In collaboration with local NGO, Mai Maaasina Green Belt, our Nature Based Solutions project aims to restore protective ecosystems like mangroves, and help families diversify their income away from farming. That’s why Alison is part of a group of women and young people training to keep bees. Bees love mangroves, which provide a perfect haven. In turn, they pollinate the mangroves, helping them grow. The mangroves then protect the islands – along with wildlife and food sources like fish and crabs - from storms and high tides. They even store carbon deposits that don’t make their way into the atmosphere, effectively slowing climate change globally. And all the while, the bees produce sweet honey for community farmers to sell. “With honeybee training I know if I do it well, I am able to earn money for my family,” says Alison. “For 1 kilo it is $200, and I can produce up to $4,000, so I am like "Wow".” With that money, Alison can pay for her children’s school fees, giving them opportunities to thrive. She can make sure they’re well fed too – even when heavy rain inevitably affects her garden in future. We can’t stop climate change. But by thinking differently, and making connections like these, we can help families adapt and stay safe through the storms ahead. Conor Ashleigh / Save the Children

Twins Shadi* and Basil* are eight years old and live with their parents, and their younger brother (6) in a tent in the central region of the Gaza Strip. They were forced from their homes when the war started in Gaza and have been displaced four times since then. Their father, Mazen* (48) says the living conditions in the shelter are extremely difficult with no electricity or clean drinking water and poor bathroom facilities. They also struggle to access fresh food – due to availability and very high prices – and mainly eat canned food. He worries about the impact this will have on his sons’ growth and development. But most of all, Mazen worries about the children’s loss of education. They tell him they miss their friends and teachers, and the routine of school. He worries that they are forgetting everything they have learnt and that it will be years before they are back in normal classrooms, given so many schools have been destroyed in the war. Mazen says the war has also impacted on his sons’ mental health and that they lose control easily over little things, they have lost their appetite for food and their motivation to learn. Shadi and Basil attend a Save the Children learning and recreational space in the shelter where they live. Staff in the space aim to provide children with a sense of stabilisation and run psychosocial and recreational activities. Save the Children staff will gradually introduce learning activities once children feel more comfortable and safer. Given the trauma children have experienced, it’s important to start with helping children to feel safe, build their resilience and to support them to express themselves. Sacha Myers / Save the Children