Interview: UNICEF official calls on world leaders to consider children at climate conference

"Think of the children in your negotiations" will be the message sent by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) to world leaders who are going to Paris for the upcoming climate conference.

Children are vulnerable to climate change here and now, a UNICEF official told Xinhua in a recent interview ahead of the much-anticipated COP21 Climate Change Conference scheduled to be held in Paris from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11

"Unless we act now -- The impact of climate change on children," a new UNICEF report released here Tuesday, details the types of increased risks climate change poses to children.

David Anthony, one of the co-authors of the report, told Xinhua about the report's findings and what they mean for world leaders as they negotiate in Paris.

"Climate change is often talked about as a future event but the kind of climate risks that children face are quite prevalent now," Anthony said.

"Over 500 million children live in areas of flood occurrence risk, and we have 160 million in extreme or high risk of drought so these are real risks for children right now," he said.

By renewing their commitments to attend the climate change conference despite the recent Paris attacks world leaders have shown the importance they place on the meeting.

The United Nations and many others hope that the upcoming conference will see countries finally reach an agreement on how they will work together to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius. Two degrees Celsius is the generally agreed upper limit of warming above pre-industrial levels needed to prevent the most catastrophic effects of climate change.

However, while world leaders are discussing future possible scenarios, Anthony wants them to know that the world's poorest children are particularly vulnerable to climate change already.

"It's the poorest children who live in the poorest countries, the most difficult parts of these countries, that are going to be experiencing climate change hardest and strongest," he said.

This is in part, because climate change will exacerbate some of the challenges already affecting the world's most vulnerable people. For example, children are already overrepresented as refugees, and yet climate change is likely to make more people have to leave their homes, the report found.

And some of the world's most deadly illnesses -- such as malaria -- are likely to spread further as the climate changes, said Anthony. This will disproportionately affect children under five, who already represent two thirds of global malaria deaths, as noted in the report. The report also notes that the reemergence of malaria in China has been linked to increases in rainfall and temperature.

Anthony said that it was important for world leaders to consider children as they negotiate their joint commitments to addressing climate change over the coming weeks.

He called on both developed and developing countries to work together. "Bold action is really required in Paris in a few days time to make the kinds of changes that we will really need," he said, "by both developing countries and developed countries alike."

But he added that while governments must be responsible for looking after the wellbeing of children, everyone has a role to play in preventing climate change.

"Everyone has a role to play to contribute to making sure that their children -- or our children -- have a world in which to live," he said. Enditem