By Tendai Makaripe
In Hwange’s Chachachunda village, tucked in western Zimbabwe, 14-year-old Amina has to trek long distances in search of water because rising temperatures and unpredictable rainfall patterns, hallmarks of climate change, have led to drought-induced water scarcity.
On these treks, Amina and her peers from Chachachunda, Mwemba, Mashala, and Zvabo Makuyu villages often face dangers from sexual predators who jeopardise their safety.
The daily quest for water is not just about quenching thirst—it is a perilous journey, underscoring the complex web between climate change and safeguarding fundamental Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) for girls, especially in remote parts of Zimbabwe.
“Every day, we walk far more than 7 km to fetch water. It’s hard and scary. We just wish it was safe for us girls,” Amina said.
“The changing weather makes life unpredictable and threatens our sexual well-being,” she added.
Amina and other girls in Zimbabwe are bearing the largest brunt of climate change, a fact supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide.
UNICEF notes that every child on earth is exposed to at least one climate and environmental hazards, such as heatwaves, cyclones, air pollution, flooding, and water scarcity.
“In Zimbabwe, 6.5 million children (0-18 years old) are at risk of impact from climate-induced emergencies,” as per UNICEF’s 2021 Children’s Climate Risk Index (CCRI).
Human rights activist Mlondolozi Ndlovu believes that climate change is an elephant in the room when it comes to the provision of SRHR to girls like Amina and others who live in marginalised communities.
He argues that principles of SRHR such as the right to information, right to health services, right to safe and healthy pregnancy and childbirth, as well as the right to consent are violated and underreported in Zimbabwe.
“SRHR are enshrined in local, regional, and international instruments but girls like Amina suffer their violation,” Ndlovu said.
Article 52 of the Zimbabwean Constitution provides that “every individual possesses the right to physical and mental well-being, encompassing the right to make choices about reproduction”.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action; The Maputo Protocol; and Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) all call for gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, including their sexual and reproductive health and rights.
“These rights are not mere jargon on paper, but pillars that support the holistic development of every child,” said Ndlovu, adding that they represent a commitment to ensuring that every young individual is equipped with the knowledge and means to understand and protect their own bodies.
He added: “They guarantee a child’s right to an education that fosters understanding and autonomy over one’s own body, shielding them from the horrors of sexual violence, and ensuring their unimpeded access to comprehensive healthcare.
“Moreover, these rights serve as the bulwark against societal practices and norms that may impede a child’s journey towards a dignified adolescence.”
A director in the Ministry of health and child care who requested anonymity noted that lack of political will, inadequate resources and funding, and discrimination against women and girls all prevent full access to SRHR worldwide.
“Ensuring everyone is protected by SRHR does not have just one solution, but it includes initiatives such as comprehensive sexuality education, access to a range of modern contraceptives, antenatal childbirth and postnatal care, safe abortion services and treatment of complications of unsafe abortion, and prevention and treatment of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections,” he said.
Risk and disaster management analyst Wadzanai Mupatsi said climate change-induced disasters like Cyclone Idai, not only decimate homes and livelihoods in the Manicaland Province but exposed how the SRHR of young girls is easily violated during such pandemics.
“Warming trends and reduced rainfall, along with more frequent and severe natural disasters, endanger children and damage schools, water systems, hospitals, and playgrounds,” she said.
In the aftermath of Cyclone Idai, development researcher Kudzai Chatiza said women and girls faced challenges of unsafe shelter, exposure to gender-based violence (GBV), and negative coping mechanisms, including transactional sex. Their burdens of unpaid care work intensified.
“The security of these girls’ homes was replaced by the uncertainty of camps or temporary settlements, where the risk of exploitation, violence, and disease looms large,” he said.
“Their erstwhile structured lives, with school and play, were overshadowed by the overarching need for survival in often perilous conditions”.
Climate change has also compounded poverty among rural dwellers due to unpredictable rainfall which has led to reduced crop yields, pushing previously self-sufficient families into poverty.
“This has contributed to the violation of SRHR of girls in rural areas,” said peace and governance expert Gideon Madzikatidze.
He added that some parents are forcing their children to enter into child marriages as a coping strategy in response to drought-related failed harvests, hunger, and financial stress.
Social worker Lisa Samupita Williams also said environmental crises worsen known drivers of child marriage, pushing families to marry their daughters early through loss of assets and opportunities for income generation, displacement of people from their homes, educational disruption, and the creation of settings in which sexual violence and the fear of sexual violence increase.
“Given many of the areas with the highest current rates of child marriage face the gravest environmental threats, action to tackle child marriage must take account of the link identified in this review,” she said.
The problem of child marriages in Zimbabwe is unending with statistics from UNICEF stating that over a third of girls are married before the age of 18 and 5 percent are married before their 15th birthday.
SRHR expert and programs officer at Katswe Sistahood, an organisation fighting for the rights and empowerment of women, Fadziso-Fadzisai Mawunganidze said climate change has also affected people’s incomes in rural areas leading young girls to engage in transactional sex for survival.
“This exploitation not only robs young girls of their childhood but also exposes them to a plethora of sexual and reproductive health risks, including sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies,” she said.
Unfortunately, this sexual exploitation which can be traced to the effects of climate change contributes to maternal mortality.
A Bulawayo-based doctor told 263Chat that child brides often have earlier first pregnancies with a concomitantly higher risk of complications for both mother and child including fistula, haemorrhage, obstructed labour, low birth weight, and prematurity.
“Maternal complications are the leading global cause of death for girls aged 15–19. Child marriage is associated with higher rates of STIs including HIV, entrenches gender norms, and can enable other forms of gender-based violence including intimate partner violence, domestic abuse, and boy-child preference,” she said.
Climate change-induced destruction of infrastructure as was the case during Cyclone Idai also compromises girls’ access to SRHR services and information, due to the disruption of health facilities, transport systems, and communication networks.
This led to unmet needs for family planning, maternal health care, STI testing and treatment, HIV prevention and care, and menstrual hygiene management.
The children, in dire need of adolescent care, were left bereft.
These daily struggles, shaped by a rapidly shifting climate, reflect a nexus of challenges that are as much about safeguarding basic human rights as they are about the environment.
They underscore a universal truth: environmental crises amplify existing vulnerabilities, particularly for the most marginalized.
For Amina, it is not just about the scorching sun or the parched earth—it is about her dignity, her safety, and her potential being robbed from them every day.
