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Climate change is not just an environmental issue — it's a mental health crisis impacting adolescent wellbeing right now in areas most affected by climate change, according to new research from Queen Mary University.

The authors of the study published in the 'Journal of Climate Change and Health' have called for mental health supports to be built into climate adaptation efforts to help young people facing an uncertain future.

We already know that climate change is threatening child and adolescent health worldwide, but there is limited research on its effects on mental health in the low- and middle-income countries that are most affected by climate crisis.

The study reveals that climate change is having a severe impact on adolescent mental health in southern Madagascar. The mixed-methods study gathered survey data from 83 adolescents and focus groups with 48 participants across six rural villages in March 2024.

Young people in the region reported 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 indicating "life is a misery".

The study, conducted by researchers at Queen Mary University of London, Trinity's School of Psychology and with colleagues in the Catholic University of Madagascar, University College London, and CBM Global, 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% of households had run out of food in the past year, and 69% of adolescents had gone an entire day without eating. Many 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 stated simply, "there is no water and when sunlight is burning, we are suffering".

This research makes it clear that climate change is not just an environmental issue — it is a mental health issue as well that needs to also be addressed. We found that chronic climate stressors — not just extreme weather events — are already shaping adolescent mental health. In higher-income countries, climate anxiety often focuses on future risks, but in Madagascar, young people are already living this reality.

The full paper, "There is no hope; only strong wind": How climate change impacts adolescent mental health in southern Madagascar, can be viewed on the Journal of Climate Change and Health's website.