Azerbaijan has a successful plan of child-related initiatives as part of its COP presidency, and UNICEF is confident that serious steps will be taken at COP29 to protect children from the consequences of the climate crisis, Kitty van der Heijden, assistant secretary-general and deputy executive director, partnerships, of UNICEF, told Report.

She noted that despite children being more vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change than others, this issue has not been included in the COP agenda for years.

“The main reason why we, as UNICEF, are so actively involved in initiatives to combat the effects of climate change is that, although children are subject to an unprecedented negative impact of climate change, this has not been considered a serious problem. Alarming data shows that 88% of people affected by climate change are children under five years old,” said van der Heijden.

The UNICEF deputy executive director noted that children are exposed to various negative impacts of the climate crisis.

“Lack of food, floods catching children who can’t swim off guard, premature births and low birth weight in pregnant women as a result of heat waves show that minors are exposed to various negative impacts. However, since they have no voice and cannot speak about their problems at the international level, this issue has never been recognized as a priority at climate conferences,” stated Kitty van der Heijden.

She also spoke about Azerbaijan’s successful plan of child-related initiatives as part of its COP presidency.