Children’s Climate Risk Index (CCRI)
Context:
- Climate crisis putting a billion children at ‘extremely high risk,’ warns new UN report.
- Almost half of the world’s children are seriously threatened by the rapidly deteriorating global climate.
More about news:
- UNICEF — a United Nations agency is working in more than 190 countries and territories to provide humanitarian and developmental aid to the world’s most disadvantaged children and adolescents.
- Recently, UNICEF has launched “The Climate Crisis Is a Child Rights Crisis” report that has found that a billion children across the world are at “extremely high risk” from the impacts of climate change.
- It is the first climate report that show regions where children are vulnerable due to an array of stressors, including poverty and lack of access to education, health care or clean water.
About Children’s Climate Risk Index
- The report introduces the new Children’s Climate Risk Index (CCRI).
- CCRI is a composite index that ranks nations based on children’s exposure to climate shocks, providing the first comprehensive look at how exactly children are affected by the climate crisis, offering a road map for policymakers seeking to prioritise action based on those who are most at risk.
- CCRI found that 1 billion children are “highly exposed” to “exceedingly high levels of air pollution,” 920 million to water scarcity, 820 million to heat waves, 815 million to lead pollution, 600 million to vector-borne diseases, 400 million to tropical storms, 330 million to riverine flooding, and 240 million to coastal flooding.
Key highlights of report:
- Climate and environmental shocks are undermining the complete spectrum of children’s rights, from access to clean air, food and safe water; to education, housing, freedom from exploitation and even their right to survive.
- The report found that almost every single child on the planet has been exposed to at least one climate or environmental stressor, such as air pollution, flooding, heat waves, tropical storms, flooding or drought.
- Moreover, the report found that 850 million children — approximately one-third of the world’s child population — are exposed to four or more stressors.
- Children bear the greatest burden of climate change. Not only are they more vulnerable than adults to the extreme weather, toxic hazards and diseases it causes, but the planet is becoming a more dangerous place to live.
- The 33 extremely high-risk countries for children — including the Central African Republic, Chad, Nigeria, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau — collectively are responsible for a mere nine percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.
- A 2020 report produced by Oxfam, found that the richest one per cent of people are responsible for 15 percent of cumulative emissions — twice as much as the poorest half of the global population.
- Climate change is deeply inequitable. While no child is responsible for rising global temperatures, they will pay the highest costs. The children from countries least responsible will suffer most of all.
- Inequality cuts across and within countries — the most vulnerable are often propelled further into poverty due to multiple risk factors, including poor access to vaccines, creating vicious cycles that are difficult to escape.
- To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, global net man-made emissions of carbon dioxide must be nearly halved by 2030, and reach “net zero” by 2050, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN body for assessing the current state of the world’s climate science.
- The main problem is that the world’s nations are not meeting their targets to achieve these goals.
Suggestions:
- UNICEF calls on governments and businesses to protect children from the climate crisis by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
- By increasing investments in health and hygiene services, education and clean water; providing children with climate education and green skills; including young people in climate negotiations and decision making.
- Ensuring a “green, low-carbon and inclusive” COVID-19 recovery “so that the capacity of future generations to address and respond to the climate crisis is not compromised.”
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