Global warming, over 100 million children exposed to heatwave risk
It is estimated that almost a third of children who are five years old today (about 38 million worldwide) will be spared from exposure to unprecedented heat waves in their lifetime, provided that the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C by 2100 is achieved. This is one of the data that emerges from a research by Save the Children and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel on the occasion of World Environment Day , which will be celebrated tomorrow, Thursday 5 June.
According to the study, based on government climate commitments and policies to date, global temperatures will rise by 2.7°C above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century . This will mean that around 100 million children of the 120 million born in 2020, or 83%, will face unprecedented exposure to extreme heat in their lifetimes. However, if global warming is limited to the 1.5°C target set by the Paris Agreement , the number of five-year-olds expected to suffer from extreme heat would be reduced to 62 million, a difference of 38 million.
"There is therefore an urgent need to rapidly phase out fossil fuel use and subsidies to protect children around the world," Save the Children said in a statement released today. "Extreme heat is dangerously impacting children's physical and mental health, compromising access to food and clean water, and causing school closures. Furthermore, keeping global warming to 1.5°C would protect millions of children born in 2020 from the worst impacts of other devastating climate-related impacts, such as crop failure, floods, tropical cyclones, droughts, and fires ."
The research, published in the report “ Born into the climate crisis 2 – An unprecedented life: protecting children's rights in a changing climate ”, also found that if global temperature rise is limited to 1.5°C, around eight million children would not face unprecedented crop losses, around five million would not face river flooding and another five million would not have to deal with the consequences of extreme tropical cyclones. Finally, around two million would avoid drought and 1.5 million would be spared unprecedented exposure to fires. Extreme weather events are increasingly threatening children’s lives, forcing them to abandon their homes and schools, to lack access to food and making them more vulnerable to risks such as child marriage.
16-year-old Denise (all minors have been fictitiously named to protect their privacy) and her family were forced to flee their home in Brazil when the worst floods in 80 years devastated their community last year. Their home was badly damaged and she was unable to go to school for nearly two months. “It affected me both psychologically and in my academic performance,” she explains. “After the floods, my grades dropped significantly. To get them back up and get through secondary school was really difficult.”
Children who already face inequality and discrimination, along with those in low- and middle-income countries, are generally the most affected. They also have fewer resources to cope with climate shocks and are already much more exposed to the risk of insect- and water-borne diseases, hunger and malnutrition, their homes are often more fragile and exposed to the growing risk of floods, cyclones and other extreme weather events .
Haruka , 16, is from Vanuatu, which has been hit by three of the most severe cyclones in a single year. “Cyclones are scary,” she says. “They keep destroying my house every year, and we don’t even bother to fix the ceiling anymore. Over the past few years, I’ve seen constant destruction and constant rebuilding. This seemingly endless cycle has become our normality, and most people don’t realize that we, as children, are the ones bearing the brunt of a crisis we didn’t cause.”
The research also makes some projections, examining a scenario in which global temperatures could increase by 3.5°C by 2100: this situation would put approximately 111 million children at risk, equal to 92% of those born in 2020. If we focus in particular on the Italian context, it is estimated that 100% of minors born in 2020, throughout the country, would be exposed to unprecedented heat waves in their lifetimes in the event of a temperature increase of 2.7°C.
While a rapid phase-out of fossil fuel use and subsidies is needed to meet the 1.5°C target, Save the Children stresses the importance of " scaling up climate finance, child-focused and community-led adaptation efforts, and increasing the participation of children and adolescents in climate action and policy-making ."
"The climate crisis is a crisis of children's rights and has potentially long-term consequences for children, who are once again forced to pay the price of a crisis for which they are not responsible", says Daniela Fatarella , general director of Save the Children Italy. "Climate change is a phenomenon that now affects all children and young people in the world, including those living in our country. In view of the next negotiations in Bonn, which will open in less than two weeks, we therefore hope that Italy can help ensure that the rights, voices and specific vulnerabilities of children are increasingly integrated into plans, policies and financing for the climate at both national and international levels ".
“Around the world, girls and boys are bearing the brunt of a crisis they did not create,” said Inger Ashing , Executive Director of Save the Children International. “Extreme heat threatens their health and learning, cyclones hit their homes and schools, droughts reduce crop yields and the availability of quality food. In this now daily disaster scenario, children are begging us not to stay silent. This new research shows there is hope, but only if we take urgent and ambitious action to rapidly limit global warming to 1.5°C and truly put children at the centre of our climate response at all levels.”
Save the Children works in around 110 countries addressing the consequences of climate change in all its activities. The organization supports children and their communities globally in preventing, preparing for, adapting to and recovering from climate-related disasters and slow-onset climate change. It works to ensure that children can access essential services and infrastructure for health, protection and education, despite extreme weather events. For example, it has set up floating schools, rebuilt destroyed homes and provided subsidies to affected families. It also works to influence governments and other relevant stakeholders for climate policies and financing, also in view of the Conference of the Parties on climate - COP , also offering children a platform to make their voices heard. In Italy, Save the Children promotes the culture of climate risk prevention by raising awareness and training children and adolescents on how to prevent risks and how to behave in the event of extreme climate or natural phenomena such as floods, earthquakes or fires, so as to increase their capacity to respond to emergencies and self-protect. Finally, it supports the protagonism of young people on issues of climate justice, environmental protection and the fight against climate change. It promotes intergenerational dialogue, the participation of new generations in decision-making processes on these issues and the formalization of spaces and mechanisms of participation that are truly inclusive of their point of view.
Credits: photo by Pixabay on Pexels (opening) and Save the Children
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