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 Climate change is already harming people's health by increasing the
number of extreme weather events and exacerbating air pollution,
according to the study published in The Lancet medical journal. And
if nothing is done to mitigate it, its impacts could burden an
entire generation with disease and illness throughout their lives.
"Children are particularly vulnerable to the health risks of a
changing climate. Their bodies and immune systems are still
developing, leaving them more susceptible to disease and
environmental pollutants," said Nick Watts, who co-led The Lancet
Countdown on Health and Climate Change study.
He warned that health damage in early childhood is "persistent and
pervasive", and carries lifelong consequences.
"Without immediate action from all countries to cut greenhouse gas
emissions, gains in wellbeing and life expectancy will be
compromised, and climate change will come to define the health of an
entire generation," he told a London briefing.
Yet introducing policies to limit emissions and cap global warming
would see a different outcome, the research teams said.
In that scenario, a child born today, would see an end to coal use
in Britain, for example, by their 6th birthday, and the world
reaching net-zero emissions by the time they were 31.
VULNERABLE
The Lancet study is a collaboration by 120 experts from 35
institutions including the World Health Organization, the World
Bank, University College London and China's Tsinghua University.
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On a "business-as-usual" pathway, with little action to limit
climate change, it found that amid rising temperatures and extreme
weather events, children would be vulnerable to malnutrition and
rising food prices, and the most likely to suffer from warmer waters
and climates accelerating the spread of infectious diseases such as
dengue fever and cholera.
Among the most immediate and long-lasting health threats from
climate change is air pollution, the researchers said.
They called for urgent action to reduce outdoor and indoor pollution
through the introduction of cleaner fuels and vehicles, and policies
to encourage safe and active transport such as walking and cycling.
The WHO says that globally in 2016, 7 million deaths were due to the
effects of household and ambient air pollution. The vast majority of
these were in low and middle-income countries.
"If we want to protect our children, we need to make sure the air
they breathe isn't toxic," said Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson, a global health
specialist at Britain's Sussex University who worked on the Lancet
study.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland, editing by Alexandra Hudson)
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