Are our leaders too old? The climate crisis is a "children’s rights crisis", says aid group UNICEF. Now, for the first time, young people will have an official space at a major climate conference.
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Climate crisis puts over 1bn children at risk
Are our leaders too old? The climate crisis is a "children's rights crisis", says aid group UNICEF. Now, for the first time, young people will have an official space at a major climate conference.
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<h2 class=" eplus-wrapper" id="crosshead">Listen up </h2>
It is 2050. After wading through a flood to get to school, you arrive to learn how to save food in a drought. The windows are closed, keeping at bay the fumes from last week's wildfires.
One billion children worldwide are at "extremely high risk" from the impacts of climate change.1 By 2040, one in four children could live in areas of extreme water shortage. By 2050, 24 million additional children are expected to be undernourished because of the climate crisis.2 Children in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are particularly at risk.
It seems right, then, that as COP27The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as the Conference of the Parties (COP). kicks off in Sharm El SheikhAn Egyptian resort city on the Red Sea. this week, children and young people have their first dedicated "pavilion". The Children and Youth Pavilion will be at the heart of the UN negotiations, in the conference "blue zone".3
"A child born today would experience four times the extreme weather events than we do," says Dr Omnia El Omrani, the COP27 youth envoy. "This impact is unjust."
This generation of politicians and leaders have had a chance to halt the crisis. Most agree: so far, there has been little success. Last week, the UNUnited Nations. An intergovernmental organisation based in New York that aims to maintain international peace and security. environment agency found there was "no credible pathway to 1.5C in place" and called for "rapid transformation of societies".4
Young activists are ready for radical action - as the the School Strike for Climate, led by teenager Greta Thunberg in September 2019, showed.
But others say climate policy could be child-focused without being led by children. The solutions to climate change are undoubtedly complex. Older experts have the technical know-how to build genuinely effective solutions. And climate policies need extensive diplomatic negotiation, financial planning and technological innovation.
Climate change is a global problem. It will affect people of all ages and all nationalities. This is why many think that above all, climate change policy must be inclusive. Policymakers with decades of experience should talk to, and learn from, children.
Yes: The older generation does not have the same incentive to stop climate change. The only way to create radical change is to hand over to the people it will truly effect - children.
No: Climate change solutions are scientific, technological and extremely complicated. We need to harness the expertise of older academics and experts.
Or... There should be a collaborative process for tackling climate change, which combines policy-making expertise with the enthusiasm and passion of the younger generation.
COP27 - The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as the Conference of the Parties (COP).
Sharm El Sheikh - An Egyptian resort city on the Red Sea.
UN - United Nations. An intergovernmental organisation based in New York that aims to maintain international peace and security.
Climate crisis puts over 1bn children at risk
Facing the consequences: Half the world's children live in countries at "extremely high risk" from climate change. Glossary
COP27 - The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as the Conference of the Parties (COP).
Sharm El Sheikh - An Egyptian resort city on the Red Sea.
UN - United Nations. An intergovernmental organisation based in New York that aims to maintain international peace and security.