According to UNICEF the United Nations Children's Fund.
"Nearly 10 million children under age five die every year of largely preventable diseases," said Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF. "Many of the main global killers of children – including malaria and diarrhoea – are sensitive to changes in temperature and rainfall, and could become more common if weather patterns change."
In addition, women and children tend to be disproportionately affected by hurricanes and flooding, which climate change experts say will increase in intensity and frequency in coming years. The destruction of homes, schools and health centres resulting from natural disasters reduce services available to families.
Climate change experts also predict that warming and shifting rains could impact crop production, which could reduce food availability. In 2006, some 36 per cent of children globally were either moderately or severely underweight.
Last year's report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that malnutrition and associated disorders, including those relating to child growth and development, could increase as the global climate changes. Reduced supplies of clean water in some areas could also add to the burden on rural women and girls, who are usually responsible for collecting water for cooking and washing.
The voices of women and children must be heard and their needs assessed as part of the international response to prospective changes to the environment, and they must have access to the knowledge and tools necessary to protect themselves and their communities.
Women on the Northern Rivers must begin to face the fact that this climate change scenario also affects both them and their families, with a likely increase in injury and damage due to severe storms or flooding, a rise in mosquito borne diseases, heat stress and other health-related problems.
So far, local women's groups like Clarence Valley Women's Inc have been very silent on an issue which is coming straight at us all within our own lifetimes.
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