ACCORDING to Unicef, extreme weather last year disrupted the schooling of 242 million children in 85 countries around the world.'Children cannot concentrate in classrooms that offer no respite from sweltering heat, and they cannot get to school if the path is flooded or if schools are washed away,' Unicef Executive Director Catherine Russell pointed out.If the climate crisis continues at its present rate, half the world's children — around 1 billion — could be vulnerable to climate and environmental shocks, the UN agency warned.South Asia was the region hardest hit by climate-related school interruptions, with 128 million schoolchildren affected.In the Philippines, an unprecedented heat wave during the summer months last year forced the closure of schools to spare students from heat-related illnesses.In April, with temperatures soaring past 42 Celsius, the Department of Education suspended classes in 5,000 schools, and more than 3.6 million students had to receive their lessons online.Schools were again closed during the rainy season as a series of devastating storms and a hyperactive monsoon triggered widespread flooding. Some schools also doubled as evacuation centers, preventing students from returning earlier to their classrooms.During the past few years, rising global temperatures have shot past the 1.5 Celsius warming threshold for the first time. The past year, 2024, was the hottest year on record.As the planet continues to warm, wet and dry periods have become more intense and prolonged, making populations more vulnerable to disasters.Children make up the segment that is most at risk from climate hazards such as pollution, deadly diseases and extreme weather.'They heat up faster, they sweat less efficiently and cool down more slowly than adults,' Russell said.Regrettably, the dangers posed by climate change to children have been largely overlooked in global policy discussions. And many governments refuse to acknowledge the impact of the climate crisis on children's health.Higher temperatures and increased rainfall, for example, result in crop failures and rising food prices, which worsen child malnutrition.Extreme heat is also linked to an increase in mental health problems in children and adolescents, Unicef said.'The climate crisis is not just changing the planet — it is changing children,' it lamented.Yet the world is not doing nearly enough to protect them. 'Only 2.4 percent of climate finance from key multilateral climate funds support projects incorporating child-responsive activities,' Unicef said.At the 2023 climate conference in Dubai, Unicef proposed the inclusion of children and climate-resilient essential services in the Global Goal for Adaptation (GGA).It also suggested making the Loss and Damage Fund more receptive to children's rights.The reception to the Unicef proposals was, at best, lukewarm.The global failure to confront the climate crisis has, in Unicef's view, 'created a child rights crisis. It is jeopardizing every child's fundamental right to health and well-being.'Adapting essential services, compensation for loss and damage, disaster risk reduction, early warning and increased investment in decarbonization 'can make the difference between life and death, a future or disaster, for the planet's children.'Taking children's rights into account would lead to more ambitious and effective policies on environmental protection, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has pointed out.The Philippines has been making inroads into highlighting awareness of the impact of climate change on children. In 2022, the Department of Education started to promote climate education through its programs, projects and activities.While climate change concepts are already integrated with the K-12 curriculum, 'there is a need to strengthen its presence in the curriculum by refining learning competencies and standards and monitoring learning delivery,' the department said.It also reiterated its commitment 'to reviewing learning competencies relevant to Climate Change Education (CCE) and coordinates various offices and experts with the enhancements needed in developmentally appropriate and multi-disciplinary climate change education.'For Unicef, however, it is crucial that all governments are obligated 'to ensure a clean, healthy and sustainable environment to protect and fulfill children's rights.'Unicef's appeal that children's futures 'must be at the forefront of all climate-related plans and actions' is a call to arms that the world must heed.
