Planetary crisis puts children at risk: UNICEF report

News: UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children 2024 (SOWC-2024) report has mentioned about the impact of planetary crisis on children as about half of the world’s children (nearly one billion) are living in the countries that face high risks of climate and environmental hazards.

1. The report analyses the impact of three long term global forces on the lives of children between now and 2050.

2. These three long-term forces are: A) Demographic shifts B) Climate and Environmental crises C) Frontier technologies.

3. On the demographic front, the global child population is likely to stabilise at around 2.3 billion by 2050s.

4. Regionally, South Asia is likely to host the largest child population, and will be joined by eastern, southern, central and western Africa.

5. The climate and environmental crisis in the form of air pollution, global warming, food insecurity, extreme weather events will have a deep impact on health and developmental prospects of children.

6. The frontier technologies like artificial intelligence, next-generation renewable energy, neurotechnology and vaccine breakthrough is likely to significantly improve childhood in the future.