Every child has the right to healthy environment

More than 1 million premature deaths among children under the age of 5 are caused by pollution and toxic substances annually. 

Children are physically, socially and economically more vulnerable and less able to survive shocks from floods, droughts, severe weather and heatwaves. Children are more vulnerable physiologically to toxic substances such as lead and other forms of pollution, affecting them at even low levels of exposure. Children are more at risk of death, compared with adults, from diseases that are likely to be exacerbated by pollution and climate change, such as pneumonia, malaria and diarrhoea. Any deprivation caused by climate and environmental degradation at a young age can result in a lifetime of lost opportunity.