The Media Network Action on Climate Change (MENACC) says the impacts of climate change and other environmental challenges are on the rise, wide and far reaching especially for poor communities in rural areas leading to child marriage among other challenges.
MENACC Executive Coordinator Kennedy Phiri tells Flava News, the authorities particularly the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) to enhance coping mechanisms for families that predominantly depend on the environment for their livelihoods and set up early warning systems in the face of climate change.
Mr. Phiri states that cooperating partners and civil society organisations must also heighten sensitization programmes of communities regarding climate change and the fight against child marriages by being proactive rather than reactive.
He notes that among the effects that arise when droughts or floods hit communities are hunger, increased poverty, lost sources of income, reduced access to resources, displacement, damaged environment on which people depend for sustenance, loss of education and health access.
He further notes that some families in a bid to deal with these challenges turn to child marriage as a source of income or survival to push through the effects brought about by climate change.
