In Focus: Children, climate change and environmental degradation
Children are affected disproportionately by climate change, but investing in adaptation and mitigation solutions benefits everyone.
The triple planetary crisis of climate change, environmental pollution and biodiversity loss has put virtually every child in the world at risk. Around 1 billion children - nearly half of the world's 2.2 billion children - now face extreme risks to their ability to survive, grow and thrive.
Almost 160 million children across Europe and Central Asia are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation. Children are also affected disproportionately by these risks, which threaten almost every aspect of their health and well-being at all stages of their development, from their mother's pregnancy to the first weeks of life, and from their school years into young adulthood.
They are hit first and hardest by every type of climate and environmental risk. These include extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, floods, sandstorms, mudslides and landslides, but also slow-onset changes triggered by climate change, such as drought, desertification and water scarcity. Children also face the ever-present challenges of air pollution, lead pollution, pesticide pollution, deteriorating water quality and energy poverty.
Many children across the region face overlapping risks, with conflict, poverty, climate change and environmental degradation reinforcing and compounding each other to devastating effect. These crises only add to the marginalization of children, families and communities that are excluded and side-lined, including children with disabilities, who already face challenges in accessing basic services such as education, safe water and sanitation.
The combined impact of these crises on children demands a combined response. Yet children are often treated as an afterthought in the response to climate change and environmental degradation. UNICEF works to ensure that they are front and centre. As well as being the most vulnerable to the climate crisis and ongoing environmental degradation, children also represent our greatest hope for lasting solutions. Measures that address their vulnerability benefit them, their families and communities, and support the global pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals.