A new study from Save the Children released on World Food Day is warning that climate change is worsening child malnutrition in Papua New Guinea (PNG), Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, as climate-induced disasters become more frequent and intense in the Pacific.
The relationship between the urgent crises of malnutrition and climate change is still emerging and underexamined. Save the Children’s study has found that climate change is making it significantly harder for families to access healthy food, affecting not only how food is grown but also raises the price of produce, impacts livelihoods and limits market access. All of this reduces the availability and market stability of fresh, nutritious foods and pushes people toward cheaper, unhealthy options.
The figures are alarming. Melanesia faces a ‘triple burden of malnutrition’. One in three Melanesian children
faces stunting, anemia, or being overweight. Almost half of PNG’s children (48.2%) have stunted growth due to chronic malnutrition. In Solomon Islands, nearly 32% of children are stunted and in Vanuatu, the prevalence of stunting is 29%, with wasting affecting 8% of children under five.
Meanwhile, the region grapples with some of the world’s fastest-intensifying climate-induced disasters. In 2023, Vanuatu experienced three severe tropical cyclones, with Tropical Cyclone Lola the earliest Category 5 cyclone ever recorded in the southern hemisphere, making it the most intense pre-season cyclone ever.
Annette is a 32-year-old mother of two, currently pregnant with her third child. She lives in Vanuatu’s Shefa Province which was severely hit by twin tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin in 2023. She told Save the Children,
” Climate change has had a serious impact on our gardens. The quality of some local produce is not what it was 10 to 15 years ago. For those of us who depend on the local market, it’s especially difficult-our small planting areas are no longer healthy or fertile. I see children becoming malnourished because they’re not eating the right kinds of food. Instead, they’re filling up on things like uncooked noodles, sweets, and soft drinks.”
Across the three countries, repeated climate-related disasters such as cyclones and floods destroy crops and affect fishing grounds, disrupting local food supplies and cutting access to vital nutrients like protein, iron and zinc. At the same time, essential water, sanitation and health infrastructure are damaged and become challenging to access for already remote island populations. Community members are reporting that these cumulative effects are becoming harder to bounce back from, making it a struggle to keep children fed and protected from illness.
During the critical first 1,000 days of life (from conception to their second birthday) children require optimal nutrition to establish foundations for lifelong health and development. However, the Pacific’s fragile food, water and health systems are creating the devastating triple burden of malnutrition including:
– Undernutrition and stunting
– Rising obesity rates
– ‘Hidden hunger’: the lack of essential vitamins and minerals required to grow
Save the Children Vanuatu Country Director, Polly Banks says the impacts of climate change are systematically undermining the food, health and water systems that underpin child nutrition, making recovery from crises increasingly difficult and creating long-term developmental setbacks.
“Communities across the Pacific are on the front line of the climate crisis, with little recovery time between climate-induced disasters. This study draws attention to the pressing challenges facing communities already struggling to ensure their children have healthy and nutritious diets.
“Across the world, but especially in the Pacific, the first 1,000 days of a child’s life is critical, and climate induced cyclones, changing rainfall and rising sea levels will increase the vulnerability that children and their communities are facing. “We cannot look at the child nutrition crisis in the Pacific and the very real threat of climate change as two separate issues; they are and have always been connected and we have an opportunity to address the risks that
this poses.
“We are calling for increased attention on embedding nutrition in climate adaptation efforts and to increase climate-sensitive approach into key sectors – food, health and water systems. We have an opportunity to act now, before the impacts of climate change on nutrition become irreversible.”
Save the Children is calling for Pacific governments and partners to integrate nutrition into climate adaptation policies and programs across agriculture, health, social protection, and infrastructure to ensure vulnerable populations are protected and can build resilience.
