Children from some of the countries most affected by the climate crisis have made an impassioned call for political leaders to stop gambling with their futures, and commit to finances and policies that put the world’s 2.2 billion children first.
“Last year I went to Cop27 to talk about what could happen with climate change, this year I’m here to talk about climate collapse,” said Revan Ahmed, 13, from Tripoli in Libya, where thousands of people were killed and displaced after Storm Daniel caused unprecedented flooding in September.
“We dream of a future with clean water, a future where food security is a reality and we get to go to school without worrying about floods or high heats. The world leaders owe it to future generations,” said Ahmed, at a press conference organised by Unicef.
Extreme weather internally displaced at least 43 million children in the past six years, the equivalent of 20,000 children being forced to abandon their homes and school every day. This is probably a major undercount, and a billion children are at “extremely high risk” of the effects of the climate crisis, according to Unicef.
“Every year of my life there has been a Cop, and every year world leaders have failed to acknowledge the special needs and vulnerabilities of children in the climate crisis,” said Vanessa Nakate, the 27-year-old Ugandan climate justice advocate and Unicef goodwill ambassador who opened the event.
There has never been an official Cop decision focused on climate and children, and less than 3% of international climate finance since 2006 has been spent on supporting children.
Francisco Vera, 14, from Colombia, called out the hypocrisy of rich countries failing to fund climate action. “All the money being invested on the war on Gaza but they say there isn’t money to fight climate change. What is happening to our humanity? If we want climate justice, we have to end war,” said Vera.
A report by the UN Child Rights Committee published in August said children have the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and governments must take urgent action including the phase-out of fossil fuels and transition to renewables to guarantee this.
“The climate has changed and we are paying the price for something we didn’t do, and that is not fair,” said Lova Renee, 13, from Madagascar. “We’re here to call on world leaders to make decisions at Cop that have a real impact on children’s lives.”
