ACERWC African Committee of Experts on the Rights & Welfare of the Child left about 15 million people food insecure.257 Among the displaced people, children make up a high fraction and are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and violence.258 In the course of the previous ‘drought in 2010-2011, the number of underage girls sold into child marriage in exchange for livestock increased as families struggled to survive.’259 In West Africa, Lake Chad which borders Cameroon, Nigeria, Niger and Chad has dried up by 90% since the 1960s.260 About 25 million people in the region rely on the lake for their livelihoods in activities such as fisheries and agriculture.261 The drastic reduction in levels of water has left around 7 million people food insecure.262 This has resulted in displacement of about 2.6 million people with 1.5 million of them being children who risk malnourishment and vulnerability to violence.263 The box below helps underscore the potential effects of climate change as driver of movement of children in Africa as observed by UNICEF:264 Climate Change as a driver for movement of minors With drought and temperatures intensifying in West and Central Africa, tensions in accessing scarce resources for cattle are also increasing hostilities in many rural areas, pushing greater numbers of people towards cities. But with more than 100 million people living in coastal cities less than one metre above sea level, even conservative estimates of a sea-level rise could result in the forced displacement of millions of climate refugees. Climate change has the potential to set off a chain reaction, with drought driving displacement to urban areas, often in precarious settlements or marginal neighbourhoods that are in swamps or low laying areas. These areas are more vulnerable to flooding, which could cause waves of displacement as people seek safety for their families and children. Unless the long-term planning of governments and civil society is equipped to anticipate these climate shocks and subsequent migration, the unmitigated impact of these forces will create detrimental outcomes for children across the region. These devastating impacts of climate change are witnessed in Africa because the continent highly depends on natural resources and agriculture, poor infrastructure, weak institutions which lack capacity to effectively respond to climate change and high poverty rate which ‘undermines the resilience of local populations to climate shocks.’265 Addressing effects of climate change in Africa such as displacement calls for integrated efforts at both continental level with the aim to reduce displacement, protection of rights of the people on the move and support measures that guarantee safe and dignified movement of both adults and children. 257 UNICEF (n 166 above) p5. OXFAM, Uprooted By Climate Change: Responding to the Growing Risk 0f Displacement (2017) p 21. 258 As above. 259 As above. 260 European Council on Foreign Relations, ‘Climate-driven migration in Africa’ https://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_climate_driven_migration_in_africa (accessed 22 June 2018). 261 As above. 262 As above. 263 OXFAM, Uprooted By Climate Change: Responding to the Growing Risk 0f Displacement (2017) p 24. h 264 UNICEF, ‘In Search of Opportunities: Voices of children on the move in West and Central Africa’ (2017) p 6. 265 European Council on Foreign Relations, ‘Climate-driven migration in Africa’ https://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_climate_driven_migration_in_africa (accessed 22 June 2018). 54