UNITED NATIONS:
More than a billion children face at least three overlapping climate hazards, 34 of them in Pakistan, UNICEF warned on Monday, while highlighting the disproportionate impact in some regions of the world.
For the report, the UN agency cross-referenced data showing where approximately 2.4 billion children live on the planet with the geographic distribution of the eight most common climate impacts. They are coastal floods, river floods, droughts, tropical storms, heat waves (at least three days above the high temperature threshold, which varies by country), extreme heat, forest fires and sand storms.
The report mainly focuses on the 1.1 billion children who are exposed to at least three risks, the most common combination being drought, extreme heat (more than 35 degrees Celsius) and heat waves.
That combination affects about 296 million children, including 74 million in Nigeria, 34 million in Pakistan and 32 million in India.
The number of children in this three or more category has increased markedly over the past 20 years.
Almost all children (about 2.3 billion) are exposed to at least one risk. Two billion are exposed to at least two, while 364 million face at least four.
Of the 123,000 children exposed to seven or more climate hazards, about 46,000 are in Myanmar.
“Children are at the forefront of the impact of climate change,” said UNICEF chief Catherine Russell.
As for the worst place for a child, “there is no very short answer,” one of the report’s authors, Tom Slaymaker, told AFP.
‘Hot spots’
“But not everyone is the same,” Slaymaker said. “We see some hotspots… they’re really concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of South Asia.”
Countries with large populations of children – including Bangladesh, India, Nigeria and Pakistan – top the list for the number of children exposed to at least three hazards.
But in purely percentage terms, countries in sub-Saharan Africa – particularly the Sahel – have the highest proportion of children affected by threats. The impacts are often exacerbated by the failure of governments to address climate dangers.
Chad, for example, faces a humanitarian crisis with limited access to water, electricity and food. According to the report, more than 95 percent of the country’s children are exposed to at least three hazards, one of the highest proportions in the world.
Other particularly vulnerable countries include 39 island states that face challenges such as a shortage of fresh water, dependence on imports and an inability to easily shelter elsewhere after a disaster such as a hurricane.
No country is truly spared, the report shows.
