Poverty, lack of access to clean water, education and medical care make half of the world's children extremely vulnerable
Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerousAccording to a UNICEF report a billion children it is at "extreme risk" due to the impacts of the climate crisis and pollution.
To endanger the health and life of almost half of the children in the world they are heat waves, floods, cyclones, disease, drought and air pollution.
In most cases, children at risk live in one of 33 countries that are facing three or four of these impacts at the same time. The impacts of the climate crisis they are deeply iniquitous, since the top ten very high risk countries they are responsible for only 0,5% of global emissions. These include India, Nigeria, the Philippines and Africa.
The recent report, launched with young climate activists, combined several factors for the first time make children more vulnerable the effects of climate change. These factors include poverty, lack of access to clean water, education and medical care.
The report calculated the odds of the little ones of surviving the effects of the climate crisis taking into account their conditions: 920 million children are highly exposed to water scarcity, 820 million to extreme heat waves and 600 million to diseases such as malaria. and dengue fever, which could worsen with the spread of climatic conditions suitable for the spread of mosquitoes and pathogens.
“This report offers for the first time a comprehensive picture of where and how children are vulnerable to climate change, and the picture is almost dire. Virtually no child's life will be intact. Children are particularly vulnerable to climate risks. Compared to adults, children require more food and water per unit of body weight and are less able to survive extreme weather events, ”explained Henrietta Fore, executive director of UNICEF.
For this reason, the report calls for children and young people to be taken into account in all negotiations and decisions concerning the climate, including the COP26 United Nations summit to be held in Glasgow next November.
“The decisions will define their future. Children and young people must be recognized as the legitimate heirs of this planet we all share, ”Fore added.
According to Henrietta Fore there is still time to act, but not doing enough and we can't wait any longer. Among the strategies to be implemented immediately is that of improving children's access to essential services and, at the same time, accelerating the drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
It is no longer possible to postpone a intervention since these are not risks that could occur in the future, but situations that already affect many children and young people.
“One of the reasons I'm a climate activist is because I was born into climate change like many of us. I have vivid memories of homework being done by candlelight as typhoons raged outside. I grew up afraid of drowning in my bedroom because I woke up in a flooded room, ”the account of Mitzi Jonelle Tan, a young activist from the Philippines who helped launch the report.
Follow us on Telegram | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | Youtube
Sources of reference: Unicef / The Guardian
Read also:
- Thousands of Somali children fleeing locusts and floods on foot are out of food
- Those 8 children who died in the mega storm in the US are the sad symbol of the looming climate crisis
- Cyclone Amphan, alone and homeless: a terrible tragedy for 19 million children forgotten by the world
