A child born today has a much better chance of reaching her fifth birthday than ever before, according to UNICEF, but climate change and environmental degradation is threatening to reverse progress on child and adolescent survival, health and well-being.
The irony is that children are not responsible for the climate change brought about by human actions, yet, they bear the greatest burden of its impact.
Our children will be the first global generation of children to grow up in a world made far more dangerous and uncertain as a result of a changing climate and degraded environment.
Children are particularly vulnerable to environmental risks, including pollution, hazardous chemicals and waste, radiation, climate change as well as emerging threats like e-waste.
And although research is very clearly showing the need for urgent action to counter climate change and environmental degradation, why are our authorities so slow in taking the necessary actions?
Why is the international community so slow to act tangibly to address the concerns of our children and our young people in relation to climate change and the deteriorating environment, for the well-being of our children?
It seems the international community still believes that organising one COP after the other, without achieving the necessary tangible results, will placate this global movement of young activists for climate and environmental justice. It will not!
No wonder Greta Thunberg’s address to hundreds of young activists during the Glasgow Summit COP26 called on governments to stop their “Blah, Blah, Blah”.
At the end of February, just days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released another stark scientific report warning that the dangers of global warming are mounting so rapidly that adapting to them could soon become impossible.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres did not mince his words: “Delay means death.”
With Europe now scrambling to sever its reliance on Russian fuels imports, we have to ensure that our climate change goals are not put on the back burner.
That is why projects like NATURA – the Nature-based Solutions for Urban Resilience in the Anthropocene project linking scientists from Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, North and Latin America – are so important.
Without action now, climate change will exacerbate the inequalities children already face, and future generations will continue to suffer- Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca
Projects like NATURA give me hope for a better world for our children and young people as the strong voices that make up this project are so important to sustain and support our children’s plight for a better tomorrow.
At a recent all-hands NATURA meeting that was held in Malta, I shared the research carried out by the Malta Foundation for the Well-being of Society, which shows that children yearn to be in a natural environment if given the choice.
They want to be outdoors, in the fresh air and sunlight, by the sea and surrounded by greenery, trees and flowers, hearing the birds and the wind, playing in water with sticks and rocks.
But, unfortunately, the European Commission estimates that, by 2050, some 80 per cent of the EU’s population will be living in urban areas. The loss of green spaces because of urbanisation, construction, overdevelopment and traffic sets off an alarm that we must do more to ensure our long-term health and sustainable well-being, in particular that of our children and young people, are kept at the heart of our national and international agenda.
This loss poses the very real risk of completely losing the precious places where we should be forming strong and resilient communities, build relationships and feel connected to our environmental heritage and to one another. It is in this context that authorities and governments need to urgently place issues of climate change and environmental degradation at the heart of all their policies.
We also need to promote the Intergovernmental Declaration on Children, Youth and Climate Action drafted during the COP 25 in Madrid if we want to see its proposals turn into action.
The global community has the means to act and has shown it is capable of action in real time to address a crisis, with governments, businesses and individuals taking measures and changing behaviours, whether it was to address the COVID-19 pandemic or rallying to take coordinated sanctions against Russia and support Ukraine.
Without action now, climate change will exacerbate the inequalities children already face and future generations will continue to suffer. Action was needed yesterday, not tomorrow!
President Emeritus Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca is also president of Eurochild.