Qalmost half of the children of the planet is at very high risk from the impact of the climate crisis about daily life. Those who live in countries where the scarcity of water it’s an age-old problem. But not only that: also in Italy it is estimated that in 2050 most children will be exposed to heat waves increasingly frequent. He remembers it Unicef on Earth Day 2023, Earth Day, for which he has organized various initiatives to raise awareness on the climate and children.
The climate crisis threatens children and adolescents
Pollution, water scarcity and increasingly widespread and frequent extreme weather events are threatening an entire generation of children and adolescents. Globally by 2040, nearly 1 in 4 children will live in areas with high water scarcity. By 2050, almost all children on earth – just over 2 billion – are predicted to face frequent heat waves. And this is regardless of whether the world reaches a “low greenhouse gas emissions scenario” – with estimated warming of 1.7 degrees in 2050 – or a “very high greenhouse gas emissions scenario”, with estimated warming of 2.4 degrees in 2050.
Furthermore, already today 624 million children are exposed to one of three other high heat conditions: high heat wave duration, high heat wave severity, or extremely high temperatures.
Climate and children: a global problem, from India to Europe
The climate and children problem is global: it doesn’t matter only those who live in countries already experiencing extreme heat, with 84 or more days a year exceeding 35 degrees Celsius (740 million children live there), such as the Central African Republic, Chad, Nigeria, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. Last year, in the summer, we too got a taste of what extreme heat means, and we will have another one soon. For our children these are probably the coolest summers of their lives.
Unicef warns: “This is the coldest year of the rest of their lives”
These are some of the painful truths highlighted by UNICEF in 2021 with l‘Children’s Climate Risk Index, the world’s first child-focused climate index. And then with the report “The coldest year of the rest of their lives. Protecting children from the growing impact of heatwaves”.
The risks for the little ones
Infants and toddlers are less able to regulate their temperature compared to adults, putting them at higher risk when affected by high heat. In addition to threatening children’s health, heatwaves also threaten their access to food and water, their education and their future livelihoods.
Unicef initiatives for World Earth Day
To celebrate World Earth Day, Unicef Italy will organize or take part in various activities and initiatives. Among many, the Unicef campaign Let’s change the AIR. On the platform measureyourimpact.unicef.it a quiz is active for reflect on the sustainability of our daily habits. About half of those who have already participated answered that they implement “basic” behaviors to reduce their ecological footprint, only 4% that they adopt “advanced” behaviors in terms of sustainability. In short, there is scope to do much more.
Again, from April 22nd until May 27th the volunteers of the Unicef local committees will be activated in the area through the “Il corso dell’acqua” initiative: special walks dedicated to discovering the water sources present on a given territory, deepening the close connection between the protection of the well-being of the environment and water sources.
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