Healthy Environments for Healthy Children: Global Program Framework

The Global Programme Framework has been developed by UNICEF to support country offices as they address environmental pollution and climate change through UNICEF’s health programs, complementary to the organization’s WASH strategy, food system approach, and the organization’s overall policy on climate change and the environment. It demonstrates the case for action, offers guidance on concrete steps that can be taken with UN agencies and other partners, and provides a broad framework of interventions. Chapter 1 describes how economic development has produced mixed outcomes for child health and well-being and the ‘cocktail’ of risks that children face. Chapter 2 describes the types of environmental hazards that most affect children. Chapter 3 outlines children’s right to a healthy environment. Chapter 4 introduces the various multilateral environmental agreements and the national mechanisms that can support countries as they respond and adapt to climate change. Chapter 5 provides the framework to address the growing threats to children’s health from environmental pollution and climate change in UNICEF’s health programs.  

The Climate Crisis is a Child Rights Crisis: Introducing the Children’s Climate Risk Index

Addressing the climate crisis requires every part of society to act. Governments need to ensure that environmental policies are child-sensitive. Businesses must ensure their practices are protective of the natural environment on which children depend. Greenhouse gas emissions and environmental pollutants must be reduced dramatically. Services for children need to incorporate climate resilience and environmental sustainability. In addition, schools need to be educating for green skills, and children and young people need to be recognized and listened to as agents of change. The Children’s Climate Risk Index provides the first comprehensive view of children’s exposure and vulnerability to the impacts of climate change to help prioritize action for those most at risk and ultimately ensure today’s children inherit a livable planet. 

Gender-Based Violence and Environmental Linkages 

Ending gender-based violence and securing environmental sustainability are each global priorities. These two issues are linked in many ways, across contexts, countries, and communities. While seldom addressed together, understanding and addressing these linkages may be key to meeting interlinked global goals. This Center is a platform for gathering resources and tools, mobilizing learning, and forging action, together. You can find two key resources on this page; ‘ Strengthening safeguards: strategies for addressing gender-based violence in environmental projects’ and ‘Gender-based violence and environment linkages during COVID-19: Information note, Second edition: November 2020’.  

Inheriting a Sustainable World: Atlas on children’s health and the environment 

This book seeks to promote the importance of creating sustainable environments and reducing the exposure of children to modifiable environmental hazards. There is irrefutable evidence that what children experience during the first five years of life lays the foundations for physical and mental health, affecting their capacity to adapt, learn and thrive later in life. Adverse environmental exposures in childhood can increase lifelong disease risk, as seen with ever more prominent non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and cancer. This publication is divided by target: SDGs 1, 2, and 10 address equity and nutrition; SDG 6 focuses on water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH); SDGs 7 and 13 call attention to energy, air pollution, and climate change; SDGs 3, 6, and 12 look at chemical exposures; and SDGs 8, 9 and 11 study infrastructure and settings.