Elke Wisch, the country representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), affirmed this position at an event to mark the World Children’s Day 2023 here yesterday.
Organised by the UN agency with the theme ‘Children for Climate Action: Building a Resilient Tomorrow!’ the representative affirmed that children have tremendous potential in combating global warming and related changes to climatic expectations.
The global community needs to renew a shared commitment in addressing pollution and climate change creating global disasters, she stated, underlining that this time the youth and children need to be actively involved in order to make the mission long lasting, sustainable and future laden.
In order to realize the goal, the rights of children must be protected for the youth to also be involved in protecting the environment, she said, insisting that their opinions ought to be respected and their voices heard.
Dr Suleiman Jafo, the Union and Environment state minister in the Vice President's Office (VPO), declared that Tanzania is in the forefront in protecting the rights of children, while the youth get involved in a number of decision making processes.
“As for the effects of climate change, we have started to suffer the consequences including little or excessive rains, floods and other phenomena such as the dangerously rising sea water levels,” he stated.
Participants observed that with 50 percent of the country’s population being youngsters under the age of 18, children in Tanzania must be guided to focus on climate change and how its effects are affecting their livelihood expectations.
Experts say that globally, over a billion children face elevated climate risks, with 4.2bn children projected to be acutely affected in the next three decades.
World Children’s Day is a global day of action for raising awareness among children, a day that marks the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
During the day, activists enable children to express themselves on critical issues affecting their lives, to emphasise accountability and action, organisers noted.
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