Children represent almost one-third of the world’s population. They have the right to live in a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.1 They should be able to attend school, have access to nutritious food and clean water, enjoy good health and development, and grow and play in a safe world.2
Yet the climate crisis poses an immense and unprecedented threat to the realisation of children’s rights, and climate disruption will roll back hard-won development gains that improve their lives. Indeed, recent evidence of the limited effectiveness of Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals3 underscores the need to protect gains that have been made and enhance development as communities adapt to the impacts of climate change. Not only are children already experiencing the impacts of the climate crisis today, but they will also suffer the longest due to the uncertainty that climate change casts over their future.