Some 690Mln Children Worldwide Affected by Climate Change

Some 530 million children live in flood-prone zones, and other 160 million inhabit high drought severity zones, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Some 690 million children around the world are highly exposed to the negative impact of climate change, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Tuesday.

Some 530 million children live in flood-prone zones, and other 160 million inhabit high drought severity zones, UNICEF said in a report released ahead of the 21st United Nations climate change conference.

The report said that 300 million children in zones with a high flood occurrence live on less than $3.10 a day. Approximately 50 million children in drought severity zones live in countries where more than half of the population lives below the poverty line.

“The sheer numbers underline the urgency of acting now,” UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said in a press release published at the organization’s website.

UNICEF stressed that droughts, floods, and other severe weather conditions, emerging out of climate change, could cause deaths and illnesses among children living in those areas.

The UN conference on climate change will be held from November 30 to December 11 in Paris.