AS the planet bakes in the hottest summer ever, with each passing month warmer than the last, the climate crisis is depriving children of some of their basic human rights and reducing opportunities for them to secure and live a decent life. Extreme weather events linked to climate change disproportionately affect children’s health and lives. We are facing a child rights crisis, a situation that is already alarming in poor regions that are hit first and worst by climate change.

In addition to the immediate threats, the burden of long-term risks of climate change also falls unfairly on children, as they have to live longer with its adverse consequences.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change notes that “children aged 10 or younger in the year 2020 are projected to experience a nearly four-fold increase in extreme events under 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming by 2100 and a five-fold increase under 3°C warming. Such increases in exposure would not be experienced by a person aged 55 in the year 2020 in their remaining lifetime under any warming scenario.”

Concerned about their future, children everywhere have stood up for their rights. An international movement led by children is successfully drawing attention to the........

© Dawn