Children in India, 3 different South Asian nations at extraordinarily excessive threat of local weather disaster impacts: UNICEF

India is amongst 4 South Asian nations the place kids are most vulnerable to the impacts of local weather change threatening their well being, schooling, and safety, in line with a brand new UNICEF report.

‘The Climate Crisis Is a Child Rights Crisis: Introducing the Children’s Climate Risk Index’ (CCRI) is UNICEF’s first focussed on kids. It ranks nations primarily based on kids’s publicity to local weather and environmental shocks akin to cyclones and heatwaves, in addition to their vulnerability to these shocks primarily based on their entry to important companies.Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India are amongst 4 South Asian nations the place kids are at extraordinarily excessive threat of the impacts of the local weather disaster, with a rating of 14th, fifteenth, twenty fifth and twenty sixth respectively.CCRI has positioned India as {one of the} 33 extraordinarily high-risk nations with flooding and air air pollution being the repeated environmental shocks resulting in socio-economic opposed penalties for ladies and kids.Approximately 1 billion kids reside in {one of the} 33 nations labeled as “extremely high-risk”, together with the 4 South Asian nations.It is estimated that greater than 600 million Indians will face ‘acute water shortages’ within the coming years, whereas on the similar time flash flooding is to extend considerably within the majority of India’s city areas as soon as the worldwide temperature enhance rises above 2° Celsius. Twenty-one of the world’s 30 cities with probably the most polluted air in 2020 had been in India.Dr Yasmin Ali Haque, UNICEF India Representative, stated, “Climate change is a child rights crisis. The Children’s Climate Change Index data has pointed to the serious deprivations faced by children due to the intensifying effect that climate and environmental shocks have on existing inadequate access to essential services such as water and sanitation, healthcare and education.””Understanding where and how children are uniquely vulnerable to this crisis is crucial to building our resilience and effectively addressing climate change. UNICEF hopes the findings of the report will help prioritise action to protect those most at risk and to ensure that children inherit a liveable planet.”India’s neighbours Nepal is ranked 51st and Sri Lanka 61st. Bhutan is ranked 111th, with children at relatively lower risk.”For the first time, we have clear evidence of the impact of climate change on millions of children in South Asia. Droughts, floods, air pollution and river erosion across the region have left millions of children homeless and hungry, and without any healthcare and water,” stated George Laryea-Adjei, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia.“Together, climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic have created an alarming crisis for South Asian children. The time to act is now – if we invest in water, healthcare and education, we can protect their futures from the impacts of a changing climate and degrading environment,” Laryea-Adjei stated.Read | India backs UK for profitable CoP 26 Summit, says it believes in local weather motionRead | India clears Kigali Amendment: Centre to undertake technique to part out ozone-depleting substances