Climate change poses significant threats to education systems worldwide, particularly in vulnerable regions like East and Southern Africa, where extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, cyclones, and heatwaves disrupt schooling and endanger millions of children. According to UNICEF (2021), climate-related disasters affect over 100 million children annually, with Sub-Saharan Africa experiencing some of the highest risks, including school closures and infrastructure damage. In East and Southern Africa, countries like Mozambique, Malawi, Kenya, and South Africa have faced recurrent cyclones (e.g., Cyclone Idai in 2019) and prolonged droughts, leading to the displacement of learners and loss of educational continuity.
As a sector that is both highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, but also critical to building adaptive capacity amongst children and their communities, the education sector must adapt to the impacts of climate change, and this can be enabled and supported through the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) formulation and implementation. Without education's integration, NAPs risk failing to protect the 250 million school-aged children in the region perpetuating cycles of vulnerability. This Webinar organized by UNFCCC- RCC EASA in collaboration with Save the Children and the NAP Global Network is timely as many countries in the region progress in the formulation and implementation of the NAPs. The webinar is justified by the need to:
• Raise awareness among policymakers, other education sector actors and youth advocates in East and Southern Africa about best practices for inclusion of education in NAP formulation and implementation.
• Share resources and emerging good practice for integrating education into the NAP.
This webinar will assist countries to align with the UNFCCC's Least Developed Countries Expert Group (LEG) guidelines (UNFCCC, 2025), which call for sectoral integration in NAPs. It will also explore how to leverage the NAP process to strengthen the climate resilience of the education system, particularly for children and youth.