2023 witnessed highest global temperatures in over 1,00,000 years

The urgency of the climate crisis and its effects on child health are undeniable, says Lancet Countdown report 

Geneva: The urgency of the climate crisis and its effects on child health are undeniable. According to the latest annual report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change, 2023 saw the highest global temperatures in over 1,00,000 years.

Infants younger than 1 year, who are particularly vulnerable to extreme heat, were exposed to 8*4 days of heatwave annually in 2013-22 compared with 4*0 days in 1986-2005.

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In 2022, more than 27 million children faced acute food insecurity because of extreme weather in countries heavily affected by the climate crisis, and UNICEF estimates that 739 million children were exposed to high or extremely high-water scarcity.

As a result, children are at increased risk of dehydration, malnutrition, life-threatening infections (eg, dengue, malaria, vibriosis), among many other adverse health effects, with lifelong consequences on their physical and mental wellbeing and human capital.

Despite being at high risk due to their unique physiology, cumulative exposure over the lifecourse, and social vulnerability, children and adolescents have been largely ignored in the climate response.

Young people’s concerns about climate change and their leadership in activism stand in stark contrast to the way they are considered in climate-related policy, financing, media coverage, and discourse.

According to UNICEF, only 2*4% of key multilateral climate funds support projects incorporating child-responsive activities. In Kathrin Zangerl and colleagues’ analysis of national climate adaptation policies from 160 countries, only five (3%) are taking substantial steps to include child-specific measures.

Most countries largely overlook (111 [69%]) or fully neglect (44 [28%]) child-related needs. Where children’s needs are considered, the focus tends to be on education, awareness raising, community engagement, and nutrition, with particularly little attention to middle childhood (6-12 years).

Notably, no country’s climate adaptation policies addressed children’s mental health needs directly–a huge mismatch with the widespread climate anxiety and dissatisfaction with government responses among adolescents.

Children are also oversimplified in these policies, often conceptualised solely as vulnerable and needing protection, and typically universalised with little consideration of ages, developmental stage, genders, social roles, and agencies.

As a result, many adaptation measures are directed at actors related to children (eg, caregivers, educators, health professionals) rather than empowering children’s autonomy and participation.