“Our house is on fire,” warned young climate activist Greta Thunberg at last year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Her pointed words — accusing adults of sitting idly by as the planet burns — quieted a roomful of global leaders, inspired young activists worldwide and underscored the critical importance of putting children at the center of global action to build a better future.
Climate change is happening. That was apparent in Australia’s unprecedented bushfires earlier this year, in which 18 million hectares burned and an estimated 1 billion animals died. It was also reflected in India’s heat wave last year, which was among its longest and most intense in decades.
A warming planet is also contributing to the global spread of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne viral infection.
Yet, even as the clock runs out to avert a catastrophe, global climate action is not gaining momentum. As Thunberg and other youth activists have underscored, it is children who would bear the brunt of this failure, as they inherit an increasingly inhospitable planet.
Climate change is not the only area where governments are failing children. Predatory commercial marketing that targets children and their caretakers is contributing to the widespread consumption of unhealthy products, such as alcohol, tobacco, e-cigarettes and sugary beverages.
The global economic losses associated with the inappropriate use of breast-milk substitutes — linked to lowered intelligence, obesity and increased risk of diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases — amount to an estimated US$302 billion.
Children are the most precious resource, and they deserve to live long, healthy and productive lives.
To determine how to enable them to do just that, the WHO, UNICEF and the Lancet convened a landmark commission — which I cochaired, along with Senegalese Minister of State Awa Marie Coll-Seck — that brought together 40 experts on children’s health and well-being.
As the commission’s report — A Future for the World’s Children? — shows, the key is to invest in people while they are young.
Evidence shows that hungry children have poorer health, worse educational outcomes and earn less as adults. Children who are exposed to violence are more likely to commit violence.
Conversely, children who receive proper nutrition, appropriate care and quality education grow up to be healthy, productive citizens, who are presumably better equipped to raise healthy, productive children of their own.
In short, investing in children today brings lifelong, and even intergenerational benefits. This brings value to all of society.
For example, a school-building program in Indonesia from 1973 to 1979 helped to boost living standards and tax revenues.
The return on investment in children is remarkably high. In the US, every dollar invested in a preschool program was found to bring US$7 to US$12 in societal benefits per person, through reductions in aggressive behavior and improved educational attainment.
In lower-middle-income countries, every US$1 invested in maternal and child health can bring more than US$11 in benefits.
However, people should not pursue such investments only because of the numbers. If society cannot protect children’s futures, what is the measure of humanity?
The WHO-UNICEF-Lancet commission calls upon leaders at every level, from heads of state and government to civil society and community leaders, to place children at the center of strategies to achieve sustainable development.
This requires long-term vision, with presidents and prime ministers ensuring that sufficient funds are directed toward the needed programs and supporting effective collaboration among ministries and departments.
Every sector has a role to play in building a world fit for children. For example, traffic accidents are the No. 1 killer of children and young people aged five to 29, implying an urgent need for interventions to improve road safety.
Likewise, with 40 percent of the world’s children living in informal settlements — characterized by overcrowding, poor access to services, and exposure to hazards like fires and flooding — housing reform is essential.
Some countries recognize the importance of boosting public investment in children.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s government has introduced a “world-first” well-being budget, which puts people — especially society’s most vulnerable, including children — first. The budget allocates billions of New Zealand dollars for mental-health services, child poverty and measures to tackle family violence.
However, New Zealand continues to emit far too much carbon dioxide — 183 percent of the level needed to meet its 2030 target and adhere to the Paris Agreement, the report shows.
Other rich countries — such as Norway and South Korea — are doing similarly well in helping children flourish, while continuing to emit far too much carbon dioxide to ensure that children tomorrow can do so as well.
Meanwhile, some less wealthy countries — such as Armenia, Costa Rica and Sri Lanka — are on track to reach emissions targets by 2030, and are doing a fair job of ensuring that their children are healthy, educated and safe.
“I don’t want your hope,” Thunberg told world leaders in Davos. “I want you to panic ... and act.”
She is right. If governments are to bequeath a sustainable future to Thunberg’s generation, and those that follow, leaders must act courageously — and immediately. This is the stuff legacies are made of.
Helen Clark, board chair of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, is a former prime minister of New Zealand and administrator of the UN Development Programme.
Copyright: Project Syndicate
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