Child labour getting up alarming in Bangladesh

The number of child labour in climate change affected countries like Bangladesh may rise in near future as the change may make it more difficult for children to attend school whose families struggle to survive, warned Save the Children, UK.
In a new report titled ‘Feeling the Heat: Child Survival in a Changing Climate’ the charity said, “There have already been reports of an increase in trafficking and child brides in areas where families are separated or forced into destitution by extreme weather patterns.”
The report on effects of climate change on children was compiled prior the UN climate summit in Copenhagen.
Emergency coordinator for Save the Children in Bangladesh, Alora Serdous will attend the climate change summit in Copenhagen this month to warn world leaders about the global health threat to children from climate change.
She said children are already suffering from treatable diseases and malnutrition in areas like southern Asia that has been hit by cyclones recently as well as drought-ridden parts of East Africa.
“Climate change is the biggest global health threat to children in the 21st century,” she said.
“Without concerted effort, millions of children will be at increased risk from disease, under nutrition, water scarcity, disasters and the collapse of public services and infrastructure.”
The charity warned that the global warming could cause the death of a quarter of a million children next year globally as a result of natural disasters causing an increase in injuries, water-borne diseases and starvation.
By 2030, the figure will almost double to 400,000 unless more is done to help poor countries adapt to a changing climate.
The new report suggested that improvement of sanitation to stop the spread of diarrhoea during floods and food aid to stop famine during droughts is become very much necessary. According to the Save the Children over 900 million children in the next generation will be affected by water shortages and 160 million more children will be at risk of catching malaria – one of the biggest killers of children under five – as it spreads to new parts of the world.
In the next 20 years 175 million children a year – equivalent to almost three times the population of Great Britain- will suffer the consequences of natural disasters like cyclones, droughts and floods.
The report said, “Today, nearly nine million children die before their fifth birthdays due to a small number of preventable diseases, such as diarrhoea, malaria and pneumonia.”
“Climate change is set to worsen the conditions which contribute to the prevalence of these diseases, placing children at greater risk. The effects of climate change will reduce poor communities’ access to clean water, reduce their ability to grow nutritious food, increase food price fluctuations and allow malaria mosquitoes to spread.”
“Because the effects of climate change on children are so significant, Save the Children has urged national governments and the international community to work together to forge a way forward.”
The report out forward some recommendations to reduce the affect of climate change poor countries.
The recommendations include: reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, immediately providing money and technical support by rich countries to help poor communities to adapt to the climate change that is already happening.
It said, “Child-centred disaster risk reduction (DRR) should be recognised as a corner stone of adaptation. Children who move independently as a result of climate change need to be protected by national and international policies and legislation. Services must be introduced with a specific provision for migrant children.”
“Governments must sign up to a binding agreement in Copenhagen, December 2009, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, to keep global temperatures as far below 2ºC as possible.”
Photo:dimag.no

Source: The New Nation