Children are the most vulnerable group in disaster situations and this book provides a new framework in disaster planning to help build resilience and protect children.

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. Environmental disasters represent an increasing global social challenge. They are complex not only because of their causes, but also because of the quantity and diversity of players and strategies that are involved and coordinated to cope with them. Legal frameworks and bureaucratic emergency plans tend to homogenise the population and overlook the distinctive needs of children and young people, who are one of the most severely physically, politically and emotionally vulnerable groups in a disaster situation.

Using research with over five hundred and fifty children internationally, this book argues for a transformation in children’s roles in disasters and a radical shift towards child-centred ways of working that recognise their capacity in increasing disaster resilience. This book makes an important intervention and shows how policy changes will benefit at-risk communities as a whole.