Investigating the resilience of vulnerable children to future groundwater scarcity

Climate change and water scarcity are intertwined natural and humanitarian crises, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations. By 2040, one in four children globally will face severe water scarcity, exposing them to water-borne diseases. Many, particularly girls and young women in resource-limited regions, are forced to abandon education and career opportunities to fetch water due to traditional gender roles. As climate change reduces surface water availability, groundwater demand is projected to rise significantly over the next 30 years.

We will present our research framework to investigate how slow-onset climate events, such as prolonged droughts, impact child poverty - characterised as malnutrition and educational deprivation - through groundwater availability by integrating theories, data, and methods in child development, water security, climate change, and sustainable development . The aim is to develop solutions to improve resilience, adaptation strategies and public services for vulnerable children by answering three important questions:

• Where are groundwater-dependent regions globally, continentally, and regionally, and what climate factors drive uncertainty in groundwater availability?
• How does groundwater scarcity affect child poverty in semi-arid and arid developing regions?
• Why do regions with comparable climate hazards and groundwater availability exhibit different levels of child poverty, and what lessons can be shared?