Climate crisis and children

As the citizens of today, we need to think about what kind of world and planet we are leaving behind for our children and for their children. In South Asia, the situation of the children who live in the region today, around 60 million of them, appears to be particularly perilous due to climate change, according to a new report released by the UN. The report states that four South Asian countries, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and India rank high on the list of countries where children are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change due to floods, heatwaves, torrential rain, changes which put into jeopardy the food supply chain, and other factors. Pakistan in fact ranked at 14, on the list of over a hundred countries, is most at risk followed at number 15 by Afghanistan and Bangladesh and at number 26 by India. Sri Lanka and Nepal rank somewhat lower down the list while Bhutan is a far better place than each of these.

We need to think about why our children are at such risk. Of course, none of the South Asian countries are themselves primarily responsible for emissions which lead to climate change. They are however, the main victims as a consequence of gas emissions released by other nations around the world, including all the developed nations and China. So, Pakistan and the other South Asian countries need to develop a collective voice to speak up for their children. After all, these children cannot speak for themselves or understand what is happening to the planet they should be growing up on in safety and with protection from pollution and diseases created by a world which is disintegrating rapidly as a result of the inability to manage the resources acquired to keep it as a place where people and particularly young people can live happy, healthy lives.

Reports from Lahore speak of more and more children being born each year with asthma and of respiratory diseases, which are prevalent in all age groups, and particularly in children. We need to act strongly. And ideally, we need to act collectively. Within our own country, we can also do more to prevent the impact of climate change by ensuring houses are built in safer places and by studying our crop planting and rotation patterns, so that they can ensure a steady food supply. But climate change is a reality that the globe has to handle together and that no one country or a group of countries in one region can handle on their own. To do this, the UN has to be pressurised to bring about change, and put pressure on nations, which are most responsible for pollution, emissions and the use of fossil fuels to change their policies so that people everywhere are safe and we can leave behind a planet on which people are able to live and breathe without inhaling pollutants and without being forced to survive on water, which is not safe to drink.