Children vulnerable to climatic changes: UNICEF

Children vulnerable to climatic changes: UNICEF

A report from UNICEF reveals that children are most vulnerable to climatic changes, especially in the East Asia and Pacific.

Talking to MediaGlobal Matthew McKinnon, head of the Climate Vulnerability Initiative at DARA International, claimed, "In Asia, Central and South Asia are the most vulnerable regions; in the Pacific, it is the small island developing states. Both areas are
affected by more extreme weather, by effects on human health, by sea-level rise, by desertification (especially India and China), by economic damages to the agricultural sector and effects for natural resources, such as water and biodiversity."

Furthermore, communications specialist with UNICEF’s East Asia and Pacific Regional Office Geoffrey Keele stated, "The leading killers of children worldwide are highly sensitive to climate changes,” he says. “For example, higher temperatures have been linked
to increased rates of malnutrition, cholera, diarrheal disease and vector-borne diseases like dengue and malaria. Yet children’s underdeveloped immune systems put them at far greater risk of contracting these diseases and succumbing to their complications."

The United Nations (UN) has been worried on the rapid climatic changes in the past decade and wants the countries to respond to the situation before it gets too late.

Earlier, the World Bank’s envoy for climate change Andrew Steer also predicted that the changes in climate will bring more floods and disasters to the world. He stressed that steps should be taken to make this world a better place for everyone.

Floods have really caused a lot of damage to the world in the past few years. The concerning thing is that the intensity and frequency of such disasters is increasing day by day.

Last year, hundreds of people died in severe floods in Pakistan. The same happened this year in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Apart from the deaths, millions of people were left homeless and had to struggle against hunger, poverty and disease.

If things continue like this, things will go out of control. It is high time for every country to react to this situation before it gets too late.

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Posted by Waqar Masood on Dec 3 2011. Filed under World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry