African children are particularly vulnerable to climate change.

Less than 3% of global funding to tackle climate change is targeted at children, UNICEF says.

Children in Ga-Mashashane village, South Africa. (Source: AP)

Africa – a continent of 1.2 billion people – is home to some of the least carbon-emitting countries but is hit hard by droughts, floods, storms and heatwaves.

According to a report titled "Time to Act" by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), children in 48 out of 49 African countries are assessed to be at "high or extremely high risk" from climate shocks.

“It is clear that the youngest members of African societies are bearing the brunt of the harsh impacts of climate change,” said Lieke van de Wiel, UNICEF Deputy Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa.

Children are “the least able to cope due to their physiological vulnerability and poor access to essential social services”.

Furthermore, they are “woefully left out of the critical climate finance flows needed to help them adapt, survive and respond to the climate crisis”.

Children living in Nigeria, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Chad, the Central African Republic and Somalia are most at risk.

The main concern is the risk of illness as children face "a dangerous combination of increased exposure to multiple, increasingly severe shocks".

Less than 3% of global funding to tackle climate change is targeted at children, UNICEF said, calling for more to be done, especially by the private sector.

“We need to see a stronger focus on funding for this group, to equip them to face climate-related disruptions throughout their lives,” said Lieke van de Wiel.

The UNICEF report was released days before the first-ever Africa Climate Summit takes place in the Kenyan capital Nairobi from September 4-6.

The conference is designed to showcase Africa's vast green energy potential, kicking off a series of major meetings ahead of the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in November in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

With the world still far from meeting its carbon emissions targets and communities suffering from extreme weather events, the upcoming COP28 conference will be dominated by conflicting visions of energy, according to AFP .

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/lien-hop-quoc-tre-em-chau-phi-dac-biet-de-bi-ton-thuong-truoc-bien-doi-khi-hau-240615.html