No single country is providing children with a healthy life and a climate fit for their future: UN report
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The future of every single child in the world is at risk as nations across the world fail to curb the effects of climate change and provide a clean and healthy environment essential for their well-being, according to a report commissioned by the United Nations.
According to more than 40 of the world’s pre-eminent child and adolescent health experts, not one country on Earth is adequately protecting the next generation from the impacts of carbon emissions, the destruction of nature and high-calorie and processed foods.
“Climate change, ecological degradation, migrating populations, conflict, pervasive inequalities, and predatory commercial practices threaten the health and future of children in every country,” the report said.
While the children in wealthy nations have a better chance at survival and well-being, those same countries disproportionately contribute to the carbon emissions threatening the future of all children, the joint report by the World Health Organization, UNICEF and medical journal The Lancet found.
It further added that not a single country performed well in all three categories measured: child flourishing, sustainability, and equity.
“Countries need to overhaul their approach to child and adolescent health, to ensure that we not only look after our children today but protect the world they will inherit in the future,” said New Zealand’s former Prime Minister Helen Clark, who is now the co-chair of the international commission that produced the report.
The report also highlighted the threats to children posed by the commercial sector. Exposure to marketing and advertisements of junk food, and fat- and sugar-laden foods are linked to obesity among children.
