Belgian scientists from the Free University of Brussels and several other leading research centers conducted a study that showed that the current generation of children will experience several times more climate disasters during their lifetime than their grandparents. This was reported by gazeta.ru with reference to Nature.
The study analyzed data on 1.69 billion young people aged 5 to 18.
The results indicate that even under the most optimistic global warming scenario (+1.5°C), more than half (52%) of children born in 2020 will face extreme heat unprecedented for previous generations. At the same time, the frequency of weather anomalies such as heat waves, floods and other natural disasters in their lives will be 2-7 times higher than during the lives of people born in 1960.
If the current climate policy continues and warming reaches +2.7°C, this figure will increase to 90%.
“This means that 1.5 billion children will be exposed to extreme heat. In the pre-industrial era, the probability of such risks was less than 0.01%,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Luke Grant.
The scientists emphasize that urgent action could halve these risks. Under the +1.5°C scenario, the number of children at risk of hunger would decrease from 400 to 316 million, the risk of wildfires would affect 25 million fewer children, and the frequency of catastrophic droughts would decrease by 20%.
The researchers urge to consider the obtained data as a “code red” for all humanity. According to their forecasts, the planet will cross the critical mark of +1.5°C as early as the early 2030s if measures are not taken to reduce emissions by 45% by 2030.
