Climate change and children

A child at a climate demonstration in Juneau, Alaska

Children are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change than adults. The World Health Organization estimated that 88% of the existing global burden of disease caused by climate change affects children under five years of age.[1] A Lancet review on health and climate change lists children as the worst-affected category by climate change.[2] Children under 14 are 44 percent more likely to die from environmental factors,[3] and those in urban areas are disproportionately impacted by lower air quality and overcrowding.[4]

Children are physically more vulnerable to climate change in all its forms.[5] Climate change affects the physical health of children and their well-being. Prevailing inequalities, between and within countries, determine how climate change impacts children.[6] Children often have no voice in terms of global responses to climate change.[5]

People living in low-income countries experience a higher burden of disease and are less capable of coping with climate change-related threats.[7] Nearly every child in the world is at risk from climate change and pollution, while almost half are at extreme risk.[8]

  1. ^ Anderko, Laura; Chalupka, Stephanie; Du, Maritha; Hauptman, Marissa (January 2020). "Climate changes reproductive and children's health: a review of risks, exposures, and impacts". Pediatric Research. 87 (2): 414–419. doi:10.1038/s41390-019-0654-7. ISSN 1530-0447. PMID 31731287.
  2. ^ Watts, Nick; Amann, Markus; Arnell, Nigel; Ayeb-Karlsson, Sonja; Belesova, Kristine; Boykoff, Maxwell; Byass, Peter; Cai, Wenjia; Campbell-Lendrum, Diarmid; Capstick, Stuart; Chambers, Jonathan (16 November 2019). "The 2019 report of The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: ensuring that the health of a child born today is not defined by a changing climate". Lancet. 394 (10211): 1836–1878. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32596-6. hdl:10871/40583. ISSN 1474-547X. PMID 31733928. S2CID 207976337. Archived from the original on 19 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  3. ^ Bartlett, Sheridan (2008). "Climate change and urban children: Impacts and implications for adaptation in low- and middle-income countries". Environment and Urbanization. 20 (2): 501–519. Bibcode:2008EnUrb..20..501B. doi:10.1177/0956247808096125. S2CID 55860349.
  4. ^ "WHO | The global burden of disease: 2004 update". WHO. Archived from the original on 24 March 2009.
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Currie-2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Helldén, Daniel; Andersson, Camilla; Nilsson, Maria; Ebi, Kristie L.; Friberg, Peter; Alfvén, Tobias (1 March 2021). "Climate change and child health: a scoping review and an expanded conceptual framework". The Lancet Planetary Health. 5 (3): e164–e175. doi:10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30274-6. ISSN 2542-5196. PMID 33713617.
  7. ^ "Unless we act now: The impact of climate change on children". www.unicef.org. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  8. ^ Carrington, Damian (20 August 2021). "A billion children at 'extreme risk' from climate impacts – Unicef". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 August 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2021.