Climate Change Creates A New Generation Of African Child Brides

As global warming, erratic rains and unpredictable weather patterns make life harsher for the rural poor in the Global South, many of them resort to marrying off their daughters at a young age, in the hope of increasing their economic stability.

When a young man came to their door and asked for the 13-year-old’s hand in marriage, the couple didn’t think about it for too long, lest he look elsewhere. Ntonya begged them to change their minds. She was too young, she pleaded. She didn’t want to leave. But it was to no avail. Her parents sat her down and spelled it out for her: the weather had changed and taken everything from them. There was not enough food to go around. They couldn’t afford another mouth at the table, writes Gethin Chamberlain.

With the rising temperatures in countries such as Malawi and Mozambique, both of which are among the poorest countries in the world already with a widespread early marriage problem, the number of climate change brides is predicted to increase.