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Almost every child on the planet is more or less exposed to climatic or environmental hazards. Hundreds of millions of children and adolescents may die, be injured or become ill as a result of cyclones, floods, droughts or air pollution.

Today, a report with the climate risk index for children was published for the first time under the auspices of UNICEF, according to which children in the Central African Republic, Chad, Nigeria, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau are most at risk of natural disasters.

Children are in danger

In this document, the rating of countries is based on the degree of impact of dangerous climate and environmental shocks on children. According to the report, about a billion children –almost half of the 2.2 billion children in the world – live in 33 countries "at extremely high risk." These include mainly African countries, as well as Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and Myanmar. These children face the threat of exposure to several climatic and environmental shocks at once.

The report says that 240 million children in coastal areas could be affected by floods associated with rising sea and ocean levels, and even more – 330 million – would face the same threat if they left the banks of the river. 400 million children are at risk of cyclones. Approximately 600 million minors are at risk of contracting infectious diseases. More than a billion children breathe air polluted above the norm. 820 million boys and girls are seriously affected by extreme heat and are experiencing water scarcity.

The report's data reflect today's figures, but, according to experts, as the effects of climate change increase, they are likely to increase.

This is the kind of world adults leave to children

This is the state of the planet that adults leave as a legacy to the younger generation. Its representatives, such as the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, a member of the youth movement against climate change "Fridays For the Future" (Fridays For the Future), demand to abandon excessive consumption and environmental pollution. The appeal of the leaders of the movement became the preface to the UNICEF report. And in the newspaper The New York Times, in connection with the release of the UNICEF report, an entire article was published by representatives of the movement "Fridays for the Future", entitled "This is the world adults leave us".

The authors of the article remind that tomorrow marks exactly three years since Greta Thunberg on Friday, instead of going to school, staged a single protest rally in front of the Swedish parliament building against the inaction of politicians in the face of the threat of the climate crisis. Her example was followed by schoolchildren in different countries.

Today, millions of children and teenagers have united in the "Fridays for the Future" movement. They demand that politicians take urgent measures to save the planet from unprecedented heat, large-scale floods and frequent forest fires.

"For us, children and young people, climate change is the most serious threat to our future. We are the ones who will have to clean up the mess, clean up what you adults have done. After all, it seems that we will suffer the most in the current situation, " the article says.

Its authors – young activists from Sweden, Mexico, Bangladesh and Kenya-promise not to stop fighting and to seek decisive measures from politicians aimed at combating climate change.

UNICEF supports their calls for change. The Foundation also believes that the climate crisis is a serious threat to children, which is confirmed by a new report.

"For the first time, we have a complete picture of where and how children can be affected by climate change, and this picture is unimaginably terrible. Climate and environmental shocks undermine all children's rights without exception, from the right to clean air, food and clean water to the right to education, housing, freedom from exploitation and the right to survival," said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Faure. She added that almost every child will suffer.

Some pollute, others pay for it with their lives and health

As it turned out during the preparation of the report, the areas where children are exposed to the most significant consequences of climate change are not necessarily characterized by high levels of greenhouse gas emissions. Thirty-three countries where children are "at extremely high risk" together account for only 9 percent of global CO2 emissions. Conversely, of the 10 countries with the highest emissions, only one is classified in the index as "extremely high risk".

"Climate change is extremely unfair. Despite the fact that no child is responsible for the increase in global temperature, it is children who pay the highest price. Children from the countries that bear the least responsibility for what is happening will suffer the most, " Henrietta Faure said.

The head of UNICEF called on governments to listen to children and give priority to measures to protect them from the effects of global warming, as well as to work more decisively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Experts remind that children are already the main victims of the consequences of global warming, because compared to adults they need more food and water per unit of body weight, they are less able to survive extreme weather events and are more susceptible to toxic chemicals, temperature changes and diseases.

"The movement of young activists who are engaged in climate issues will grow and fight for a just cause, because we simply have no other choice," Farzana Faruk Jumu from Bangladesh, Eric Njuguna from Kenya, Adriana Calderon from Mexico and Greta Thunberg from Sweden said in the preface to the report. These young people promise that they will do everything to ensure that their own children inherit a habitable planet.

The UN Children's Fund calls on governments to support these efforts and, in particular, to increase investments in climate change adaptation and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. By 2030, countries should reduce their emissions by at least 45 percent compared to the level of 2010. This is the only way they will be able to keep global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Photo by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs/G. Clark-Displaced children go for water, which is delivered to Aden twice a day

un.org