UNICEF launches new child-focused climate initiative to head off disasters

NEW YORK. KAZINFORM The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday launched a new climate financing initiative designed to help countries address current and growing impacts of the climate crisis, and better cope with disasters.

«We know more climate disasters are in the making. We just do not know where or when they will hit», said Karin Hulshof, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director for Partnerships,» WAM reports.

The Today and Tomorrow initiative, for the first time, combines funding for immediate resilience and risk prevention programmes for children today, with risk transfer finance provided by the insurance market to help cope with future cyclones.

«The risks of climate change are no longer hypothetical. They are here. And even while we work to build communities’ resilience against climate disasters, we have to become much better in pre-empting risks for our children», she added.

Youth are a critically vulnerable population who are among the most affected by extreme weather events.

Last year, UNICEF’s Children’s Climate Risk Index estimated that 400 million children are currently at high exposure to cyclones.

During the initial three-year pilot, the initiative will focus on Bangladesh, Comoros, Haiti, Fiji, Madagascar, Mozambique, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu.

To move forward, UNICEF is raising $30 million for the project and calling for additional private and public partners to join the agency in closing the intensifying humanitarian financing gap for disaster protection for children and youth.

Фото: wam.ae