UNICEF: Climate Change Biggest Threat to Children, ACYCS 2025 to Tackle Concerns

By Nabilah Saleh

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 (Bernama) — Children will have their voices heard directly by ASEAN ministers at the ASEAN Children and Youth Climate Summit 2025 (ACYCS 2025) in Langkawi next month, in pursuit of solutions to safeguard the region’s youngest generation from the escalating impacts of climate change.

The ACYCS 2025, organised by Malaysia’s Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Ministry in collaboration with UNICEF and supported by Malaysia’s Youth and Sports Ministry, will bring together young delegates and regional leaders.

UNICEF Representative to Malaysia and Special Representative to Brunei, Robert Gass, said the ACYCS 2025 would be a timely and significant platform to press for urgent solutions and stronger protections for children against the escalating impacts of climate change.

“The summit will present children’s voices directly to ASEAN ministers,” he told Bernama.

  The ACYCS 2025 will highlight how rising heat, polluted air and climate-related disasters are undermining children’s health and education across the region.

“Climate change is perhaps the most pressing issue facing all of us, but most importantly, children. When we look at the impacts of climate change on children, we see that about 80 per cent of the disease burden is faced by children, whether from heat stroke, air pollution or contaminated water,” he said.

Gass said children’s education has also been severely disrupted by climate-related disasters, adding that ACYCS 2025 will provide an opportunity to develop recommendations on mitigating the most pressing threats to children’s health and learning.

Recalling visits to Malaysia’s east coast states where schools were closed for up to a month, Gass said this meant one month of learning was lost.

“We really want to figure out how to move forward, how to mitigate some of the most challenging concerns facing children … and that will be an opportunity for us to do that,” he said.

Gass said that leaders should pay close attention as climate change has direct implications for the country’s future development, noting that children must be safeguarded if Malaysia is to achieve its high-income aspirations by 2026 or 2027.

“If it wants to accompany high income with high development, it needs to have children who are well educated, protected, healthy and able to reach their full potential,” he said.

Earlier, Gass paid a courtesy call on Bernama chairman Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai at the national news agency’s headquarters here on Monday. Also present was acting Deputy Editor-in-Chief of News Services Mohd Shukri Ishak.

Gass also highlighted that public awareness is critical to support the summit’s objectives, and UNICEF hopes to collaborate with media organisations to amplify the message.

“We are looking to work with Bernama, because we know that if we want to make these issues known to a broader population, we need to count on the expertise and communication that Bernama has,” he said.

–BERNAMA

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