Mental Health
Climate change is harming children’s mental health
Remember that there is no planet B. And, protecting climate should be a priority. It’s high time, we realise that because of heat waves, wildfires and floods this year.
According to the most recent assessment of the International Panel on Climate Change, the effects are now “widespread, rapid, and intensifying.” Many impacts are irreversible and changes to oceans, ice sheets and sea levels will persist for thousands of years.
In August, the United Nations Children’s Fund, in August, reported that half the world’s 2.2 billion children are at “extremely high risk” from the impacts of climate change.
In a new research paper, we show that climate change is already affecting the healthy psychological development of children worldwide. These impacts begin before birth and stretch across development, and will accelerate as climate change advances.