With the planet’s younglings, especially girls, bearing the brunt of climate upheaval, a day of “expert chitchat” is kicking off at the UN climate talks in Germany on Tuesday to hunt for ways to address this inequality.
Youths frolic in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital—one of many nations grappling with severe weather birthed from climate change. AFP – ROBERTO SCHMIDT
This Bonn shindig follows a report by Save the Children that highlights a grim reality: the number of kids ravaged by hunger due to extreme weather has shot up twofold in the past five years.
Fresh figures show a 20 percent bump in “crisis” level hunger just in 2023, affecting around 33 million kids. Back in 2018, that statistic sat at 13 million.
Save the Children’s findings mark out 18 nations where drying spells, cyclones, and floods are top culprits for food scarcity.
‘A child rights catastrophe’
“The climate crisis, at its core, is a child rights calamity,” declared Jack Wakefield, the charity’s global head honcho for climate change policy.
“Kids face massive jeopardy, though they’ve contributed the least to global emissions skyrocketing.”
Food shortages expose kiddos to severe malnourishment, leading to stunted growth, increased disease vulnerability, and hampered mental and physical development.
Malnutrition stays among the grim reapers for kids under five worldwide.
Climate calamities themselves menace children, warned Save the Children’s Emily Wight.
“Recent hellish heatwaves have shuttered schools in numerous nations, while disastrous floods have uprooted countless kids,” Wight observed.
Girls hit hardest
Food scarcity often drives families to yank their kids out of school for work or early marriages, with girls more likely to fetch food or sacrifice their meals for their brothers.
“This concocts perilous scenarios for children,” Wight added.
Only a scant 2.4 percent of funds from significant global climate coffers aim at projects centered on children’s needs—something the Bonn dialogue looks to remedy.
“No child ought to attend school on an empty belly,” Wakefield stressed, urging swift action.
“It’s uplifting to see global climate dialogue dedicating space to the atrocious impacts of the climate crisis on children’s rights and lives.
“For the sake of the globe’s 2.4 billion children, let’s rally for centralizing kids’ needs and voices in the global climate response.”
