'Mental health crisis' among young people living in countries worst affected by climate change

The UN says Madagascar’s 32 million inhabitants are 'highly vulnerable' to climate change due to severe impacts on water and subsistence agriculture, and food security. Picture: AP /Alexander Joe

A "mental health crisis" is happening among young people living in countries being most acutely affected by droughts, food insecurity, extreme weather events, and other impacts of climate change, according to a Trinity College Dublin-led study.

The report, published this week in the Journal of Climate Change and Health, outlines how climate change is not just an environmental issue, but also something which is having a “severe” impact on the mental health of adolescents facing an uncertain future.