Children should be at the forefront of the response to the climate crisis, according to leading experts who strongly endorse the call to declare the climate crisis a global public health emergency. In a letter published in response to a recent report, Prof Alan Stein, Director of the Children and Climate Initiative at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, and Dr Lynette Okengo, Director of the African Early Childhood Development Network, argue that prioritising children is essential for building future resilience.
Why Children Must Be Central
The experts highlight ample evidence demonstrating the critical importance of early childhood development, which is increasingly disrupted by climate change. Droughts, flooding, food insecurity, displacement, and extreme heat are already affecting children's nutrition, learning, and physical and mental health. Early impairments to development can have lifelong consequences, and some physical impairments may even be passed on to subsequent generations.
These impacts are occurring worldwide and will intensify as extreme weather events become more severe and frequent. For many countries, these threats jeopardise decades of progress in child health and education.
Call for Targeted Policies and Inclusion
Addressing this challenge requires targeted policies based on robust climate attribution evidence, but it also demands giving voice to the youngest citizens. All too often, children are excluded from climate discussions and policy planning. At COP30, the Brazilian health ministry established the Belém Health Action Plan as a roadmap for health ministries to adapt to climate change. Following consultation, including from the experts' initiative, children were included as an important part of this plan.
Such advocacy is a constant task for many organisations, but ultimately, the inclusion of children must become second nature for policymakers. The coming decades will present myriad adaptation challenges and overlapping health crises. Thinking about how adaptive processes can meet children's needs provides a practical and moral framework for prioritising actions.
Conclusion
Declaring the climate crisis a global public health emergency would be a strong start, but foregrounding children in that emergency will be vital for our future resilience, the experts conclude.
