Young people in the region report extremely high levels of anxiety, depression, and climate change worry.
Climate change is impacting adolescent well-being in areas most affected by global warming, according to a new study undertaken in Madagascar.
Young people in rural areas of the country reported severe anxiety and depression related to fears about climate change.
The authors of the research, published in the Journal of Climate Change and Health, have called for mental health support to be built into climate adaptation efforts to help young people facing an uncertain future.
“Adolescents in Androy, southern Madagascar, speak of famine, fear, and futures stolen by drought and sandstorms,” says co-author Dr Nambinina Rasolomalala from the Catholic University of Madagascar.
“With crops failing and water scarce, many adolescents are forced to leave their communities to survive, while those who stay face hunger, lost education, and deep despair.”
‘Life is a misery’: How climate change is affecting adolescent wellbeing
The threats to child and adolescent health posed by climate change are well-documented, the authors say. But there is limited research into its effects on mental health in the low- and middle-income countries that are most affected by the climate crisis.
The study, conducted by researchers at Trinity College Dublin, UCL, Queen Mary University of London, the Catholic University of Madagascar, and CBM Global, reveals that climate change is having a severe impact on adolescent mental health in southern Madagascar.
The study gathered survey data from 83 adolescents, alongside data from focus groups undertaken with 48 of those same adolescents, across six rural villages in March 2024.
Young people in the region report extremely high levels of anxiety, depression, and climate change worry, with many describing a sense of hopelessness about the future.
Participants described feeling powerless, with one adolescent saying, “I have no idea what I can do to be happy” and another saying, “Life is a misery”.
‘Climate change is not just an environmental issue’
“Young people in southern Madagascar are the unwilling pioneers of the impact of climate change,” says lead author Dr Kristin Hadfield from Trinity College Dublin. “They can provide important insights into the way climate changes impact on adolescent mental health.”
Hadfield adds that the research makes it clear how climate change is not just an environmental issue but a mental health issue as well.
“We found that chronic climate stressors – not just extreme weather events – are already shaping adolescent mental health,” she says. “In higher-income countries, climate anxiety often focuses on future risks, but in Madagascar, young people are already living the reality.”
Uncertainty about the future is fuelling climate anxiety
The study found that climate change affected adolescent mental health through three main pathways: loss of household resources, uncertainty about the future, and disruption of coping mechanisms.
Food insecurity is particularly severe – 90 per cent of households had run out of food in the past year, and 69 per cent of adolescents had gone an entire day without eating.
ADVERTISEMENTMany of those who responded to the survey expressed deep distress over their families’ struggles, and most had witnessed people in their communities starve to death.
As one adolescent put it, “So many died […] there were many elders, but they died because of the malnutrition”. Another said, “There is no water and when sunlight is burning, we are suffering”.
Researchers urge better mental health support in vulnerable countries
Co-author Professor Isabelle Mareschal, from Queen Mary University of London, says the findings underline the importance of recognising the need to prepare for the psychological effects of climate, not just environmental.
“We hope that these findings can help inform interventions to improve mental health outcomes, with a focus on young people in low- and middle-income countries.”
ADVERTISEMENTThe study was conducted in southern Madagascar’s Grand Sud region, which is one of the areas most severely affected by climate change. In 2021 the region experienced what some consider to be the first climate change-induced famine in the world.