One more 35 million youngsters expected to be powerless against "high water feelings of anxiety" by 2050, body cautions
Monday, November 13, 2023
Up to 739 million children face water scarcity worldwide: UNICEF.
The agency predicts that an additional 35 million children will be at risk by 2050.
Climate change affects children's mental health, UNICEF director says.
The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has warned that children living in South Asian countries are at risk due to worsening water shortages in the region.
Most of the most affected children live in South, Southeast Asia, Central Asia and some sub-Saharan countries, according to the UN agency's report: "The Climate Changed Child".
The revelation is alarming because South Asia, with its eight countries, is one of the regions most affected by climate change and accounts for one quarter of the world's children.
According to the agency, up to 739 million children worldwide face “high or very high” water scarcity – as measured by a composite measure of baseline water stress, seasonal variability, interannual variability, groundwater table decline and drought risk.
UNICEF's high Children's Climate Risk Index reflects increased exposure to the risks associated with water scarcity.
The report also highlighted that 436 million children face "extreme water vulnerability", which is categorized as the double burden of high or very high water scarcity.
Extreme water vulnerability is a key contributor to the death of children under five from 'preventable diseases'.
Unicef Executive Director Catherine Russell described the adverse effects of climate change as "devastating" for children and said that the phenomenon affects children's physical and mental health in particular.
Meanwhile, UNICEF South Asia Chief Sanjay Wijesekera also acknowledged that millions of children in the region face a lack of drinking water.
End investment in safe drinking water and sanitation services' as the 'first line of defense to protect children from the impacts of climate change', the report further warns that 35 million children will be vulnerable to 'high or very high levels of water stress' - a ratio of total water demand to available surface and groundwater supplies – by 2050 in the regions of South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.
At COP28, Unicef called on world leaders to include children in the Global Stocktake (GST) and include "child- and climate-resilient essential services in the final decision on the Global Adaptation Goal (GGA).
