2023-11-29T15:12:34+00:00
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/ Save the Children, which is based in Britain, announced that the harsh weather conditions in the countries most vulnerable to climate change have exacerbated the suffering of more than 27 million children from hunger during the past year.
The organization indicated in the analysis it published prior to the United Nations Climate Summit (COP28), that this number of hungry children represents a significant increase of 135% over the year 2021.
This human rights organization noted that “children constituted about half of the 57 million people who found themselves in a cycle of severe food insecurity,” warning that this “amounts to the level of a crisis or is in a worse situation than that, in 12 countries” due to… Extreme weather events in 2022.
Among the 12 countries, those located in the Horn of Africa were the most affected. About half of the 27 million children facing hunger live in Ethiopia and Somalia.
The organization’s CEO, Inger Aching, said in a statement: “As climate-related weather events become more frequent and increase in intensity, we will see greater repercussions on the lives of children,” according to Agence France-Presse.
The organization called on all leaders participating in COP28 to “act effectively” to solve the climate crisis, by recognizing children as “key agents of change” and dealing with other causes of food insecurity, such as conflicts and weak health systems.
The organization particularly highlighted the situation in Somalia, which is one of the countries most vulnerable to the repercussions of climate change and stuck in a vicious cycle of drought and floods.
She stressed that the recent monsoon rains and floods that struck several parts of the country pushed about 650,000 people to flee, most of them children.
Save the Children also pointed out that two million people in Pakistan still suffer from acute malnutrition, after floods flooded a third of the country last year.
The organization estimated that 774 million children (equivalent to a third of the world’s child population) face the dual repercussions of poverty and significant climate risks.
It stated in a report issued last week that more than 17.6 million children will be born into hunger this year, one-fifth more than was the case a decade ago.