Children’s mental health and climate change adaptation

A new review of national climate change policy.

Man-made climate change is now affecting everyone’s health, including children. How are countries addressing child mental health in their climate change policies? The short answer is they aren’t.

Climate change policy review

Kathryn E. Sangel of the University of Heidelberg in Germany developed and led a study on this topic, in which I was one of the contributors, and it was recently published in the journal Nature. The Lancet: Child and Adolescent HealthWe looked at how 160 countries’ climate change adaptation policies incorporate all aspects of child health. Not a single country covered the direct mental health needs of children. Some mental health and well-being measures may provide indirect support, as long as they target children.

Samoa and Ireland noted resources being put into post-disaster mental health services, but nuance is needed when trying to attribute disasters to climate change. Samoa is also looking to expand community mental health programs and services, and is working to ensure that mental health symptoms are part of non-communicable disease surveillance. Kiribati, a chain of islands separated by thousands of kilometers, is strengthening its online mental health services, developing new guidelines for mood-related symptoms, and training mental health staff on the possible effects of climate change. In the Pacific, Fiji noted its support for research into the mental health impacts of climate change.

Many other countries offer similar approaches and programmes that do not necessarily mention climate change, but are certainly related to the issue. Such measures are more generally about mental health and well-being and can support children if they are involved. These policies and actions can therefore contribute to addressing all aspects related to climate change adaptation and children’s mental health.

Important Gaps

However, there are clear gaps in several countries in terms of integrating child-focused mental health into national health policies and action plans. Children need to actively contribute to the development and implementation of these policies, including those directly related to climate change adaptation and impacts.

Engaging children means engaging their families. Health research highlights that mental health needs to be included in maternal and child health care for the most effective outcomes. Research on fathers is sparse, despite widespread evidence that they are important for children’s health.

Another area in need of further research concerns the role of non-parent primary caregivers and wider family and social networks. Much of the existing research focuses on the assumption that the mother, and sometimes the father, is the child’s central family.

Solastorgia

Returning to climate change, young people around the world are expressing eco-anxiety and climate grief. A field has opened up called “Solastorgia”, a term coined by Glenn Albrecht to refer to the negative emotions and mental health effects of experiencing environmental changes in one’s home. This excessively negative attitude towards climate change, in addition to requiring conditions to ensure that the science is fully taken into account, may be causing mental health effects that are far worse than the effects of climate change itself.

Albrecht and others who study and practice environmental psychology and ecopsychology favor evidence-based realism about the actual impacts of climate change, while focusing on practical action – what we can and should do to stop climate change and address its worsening impacts. Climate mental health and wellbeing policies should be scientifically accurate and incorporate eco-inspiration and climate hope to support mental health by bringing positivity and activity into our lives.

This way, they can see the world getting better, contribute to all that needs to be done, and take control of their own future.

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