Welcome to the Climate Brides Podcast. Here's a sneak peak into our series of conversations on child marriage, climate change, and much more. Stay tuned and stay updated.
REETIKA REVATHY SUBRAMANIAN:
South Asia has the highest rate of early and forced marriages in the world and a long standing vulnerability to climate change. Nearly one in five girls is married before she turns 15. And in the past 10 years alone, more than 750 million people or half the region's population have been affected by climate-related disasters.
The cyclones in Bangladesh, blistering heatwaves in India, the tsunami in Sri Lanka, droughts in Afghanistan, and floods in Pakistan, have shown us how the climate crisis intersects with and increases inequalities of gender, caste, ethnicity, and flows of capital. Greater burdens fall on women and girls in sourcing water, fuel, and food for their families. There are newer obstacles to accessing assistance and humanitarian aid. And an alarming rise in cases of ethnic, gendered, and sexual violence. Research and ground reports clearly indicate that marrying off a minor daughter during or soon after a climate-related disaster means there is one less mouth to feed. It is a marriage of survival.
Yet, globally, there is a serious lack of robust data to measure the impacts of climate change on the lives of girls. This gap risks leaving girls' and communities' voices out of the programmes and policies that must protect them.
Welcome to the Climate Brides podcast, where we try to fill this glaring gap. My name is Reetika Revathy Subramanian, and I am your host. Join me as I speak with survivors, frontline workers, activists, and researchers in and from South Asia, to unpack the everyday lives and resistances of young communities braving some of the biggest challenges of the 21st century.
Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts. The first episode releases in ten days.
The Climate Brides podcast is supported by the University of Cambridge Public Engagement Starter Fund 2021. If you want to learn more about the topic, head over to our website, where we will have full transcripts of the episodes, specially curated reading lists, and climate models and infographics. Until then, follow the Climate Brides page on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to stay tuned, and stay updated.
Credits:
Host: Reetika Revathy Subramanian
Music Producer and Editor: Dr Siddharth Nagarajan
Illustrator: Maitri Dore