Climate Change and Environment
Climate change and environmental degradation undermine the rights of every child
Challenge
The climate crisis is a child rights crisis. Climate change arguably poses the single greatest challenge to the realisation of children’s rights and threatens to undercut decades of hard-won progress to improve children’s lives. Climate change, environmental degradation, and the associated natural shocks and stresses, pose a threat to children’s health, nutrition, education, development and indeed their very survival and future potential.
Children in East Asia and the Pacific are faced with multiple challenges posed by the climate crisis, environmental degradation and rising inequity. About 92 per cent of people, including 26.6 million children, in the region are exposed to levels of harmful air pollution, a leading environmental cause of death and illness in the region. More than 90 per cent of all disaster risks and losses in the region are climate-related.
This region is, at the same time, responsible for an increasingly large share of global greenhouse gas emissions, as it is home to fast-growing economies with high resource intensity and polluting industries.
The effects of the climate crisis are already being felt in East Asia and the Pacific. The scientific evidence is clear: the frequency, intensity and duration of climate-related extreme weather events and the slow onset changes such as sea-level rise will only escalate if the current path of inaction continues, affecting, in particular, the most vulnerable and marginalized children.
Children and adolescents around the region are aware of the climate impacts and are desperately calling for action to address this crisis
Solution
UNICEF is committed to tackling the climate and environmental crisis in partnership with public, private, civil society and children/youth partners. UNICEF actions are structured around the following four areas of work, with a focus on most vulnerable and marginalized children and youth in the region:
1. Reducing the vulnerability of children, families and their communities to the current and projected impacts of climate change:
- Undertake child climate vulnerability and risk assessments at national and local levels under current and future climate scenarios, across all UNICEF sectors.
- Make the investment case for prioritizing and allocating public finance for climate-smart and disaster-resilient infrastructure for children.
2. Improving climate resilience of social services that are critical for children’s health, education, nutrition and well-being:
- Formulate sector-specific climate adaptation strategies and plans at national and local levels, complementing disaster risk management plans.
- Support the tracking and monitoring of climate and environmental factors through data and indicators, linking with existing health, education, child and social protection, and water information systems.
3. Limiting emissions of greenhouse gases and pollution, while delivering co-benefits on children’s health, nutrition, education and water & sanitation rights:
- Scale up the provision of on-site renewable energy sources for health facilities and schools such as solar photovoltaics, wind, or other renewables.
- Develop, test and scale up eco-school models with air quality monitoring, low-carbon energy, water and waste management.
4. Integrating children’s needs and perspectives into climate change policies, finance and interventions through empowerment and participation of children and adolescents in climate actions:
- Provide technical support and resources to promote youth-led, climate-smart innovations, including innovations for climate-resilient and sustainable diets.
- Establish youth engagement platforms that will empower children and young people with skills, knowledge and resources (tools/platforms) for air pollution and climate action.
Climate Action for All
East Asia and Pacific Multi-Country Climate Initiative
Climate change is an increasingly significant threat to children's rights and jeopardizes the progress made to improve their lives. Children and those in poorer communities especially are extremely vulnerable due to their physiology and exposure to climate hazards.
Children in East Asia and the Pacific face challenges from environmental degradation and are highly exposed to critical events such as rising temperatures, storms, floods, and droughts.