According to a poll conducted by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), young people in the African continent are reconsidering parenthood due to climate change.
They are reconsidering the option of having children due to their uncertainty about the future of a planet in crisis, UNICEF revealed.
This was disclosed on Wednesday at the ongoing COP27 climate change conference taking place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
Some 243,512 young people from 163 countries participated in the UNICEF U-Report poll, over July and August of this year.
Through the poll, young people were asked questions relating to their attitudes about climate change, which were sent via SMS and instant messaging technology.
Globally, two in five said climate impacts have made them reconsider their desire to have children.
Concern was highest in African regions, where nearly half of respondents said they were now on the fence. The Middle East and North Africa accounted for 44 per cent, while in Sub-Saharan Africa, it was 43 per cent.
Young people in these two regions reported having experienced a range of climate shocks and, more than other respondents globally, said these shocks had impacted their access to food and water, and depleted family income overall.
“The impacts of climate change are with us now, but they are far more than floods, droughts and heatwaves. They extend to our very sense of hope,” said Paloma Escudero, head of UNICEF’s COP27 delegation.
“Especially in Africa, young people are seeing the impact these shocks are having on themselves and those they love, and it is changing their plans for the future. But it doesn’t have to. At COP27, world leaders must listen to this anxiety from young people and take immediate action to protect them.”
To this, UNICEF is urging world leaders to take immediate action to protect children from the climate emergency, not only through rapidly reducing the emissions that cause global warming, but also by adapting the critical social services their young citizens rely on.
The agency stressed that adaptation measures, such as creating water systems that stand up to flooding and drought, will save lives.
At COP26 in Scotland last year, developed countries agreed to double support for adaptation to $40 billion a year by 2025.
This year, they must present a credible roadmap for this pledge, as a step to delivering at least $300 billion annually for adaptation by the end of the decade.
UNICEF also urges governments to find solutions to support those facing climate losses and damages, beyond the limits of what communities can adapt to, and to close the “finance gap” for addressing these irreversible changes.
While there is much talk at COP27 about policy decisions, “that is not what is at stake here,” Ms. Escudero remarked.
“This survey makes it clear young people’s futures are up in the air – whether they have children, whether they leave their countries, how well they survive the dangers they face,” she said.
“For their sake, success at COP27 must be measured by the delivery of long-promised financing to help communities adapt and the development of solutions to respond to loss and damage.”
UN NEWS
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