Exploring the social, economic and environmental challenges to climate change adaptation among the youth in street situations in Lusaka`s central business district, Zambia

Abstract

Youth in street situations in Zambia's Lusaka Central Business District experience overlapping social, economic, and environmental challenges that heighten their vulnerability to climate change. Despite facing disproportionate climate risks, they remain largely excluded from climate change policy formulation and adaptation planning. This study examines the implications of excluding street-connected youth from climate governance and how this undermines their adaptive capacity and resilience. A qualitative research approach was employed using focus group discussions, storytelling, field observations, and semi-structured interviews with experts. The study explored how police brutality, unsafe shelter, gender-based violence, food insecurity, rising food prices, and climate-related health risks, including heatwaves, floods, and vector-borne diseases, shape the lived experiences of street-connected youth. The findings reveal that these intersecting challenges significantly constrain youths' ability to adapt to climate change. Nevertheless, they demonstrate agency through innovative but fragile coping strategies, including pooling resources, collecting recyclables for resale, improving shelter arrangements, and relying on informal social networks during climate events. Expert participants further identified institutional and policy gaps that render street-connected youth largely invisible within Zambia's climate adaptation frameworks. The study demonstrates that climate adaptation is not only an environmental challenge but also a social and political issue shaped by structural exclusion. It concludes that strengthening resilience requires participatory, rights-based climate governance that actively includes marginalized youth in policy design and implementation. Such an approach would enhance equitable climate adaptation while contributing to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 1 (No Poverty), 2 (Zero Hunger), and 13 (Climate Action).