The climate emergency has affected development and violated the rights of children and adolescents around the world, and in Brazil. In addition to fires, prolonged, extreme droughts make access to water difficult and disrupt eating patterns. Excessive rainfall and other disasters leave people homeless, force their displacement and cancel school activities. Pollution, heat waves and floods cause disease. A 2021 report by UNICEF, a fund created by the U.N. to promote the rights and well-being of children and adolescents worldwide, showed that almost every boy and girl on the planet is exposed to at least one climate and environmental risk. According to the document, more than 2 billion children and adolescents under 18 are exposed to more than one climate/environmental-related risk, shock or stress. Brazil is at the center of the problem. More than 40 million children and adolescents, 60% of all Brazilians in this age group, are exposed to more than one of the risks addressed by UNICEF’s study. Mongabay interviewed young people from different regions of the country to understand how they have been tackling the climate crisis that is already affecting their routines and violating their rights. Darley Ferreira, 18, says he did not expect to see the Amazon rivers without water in 2023, when the region faced the worst drought ever recorded. He lives in the São Marcos community in the Lower Tapajós area, west Pará state, by the Arapiuns River, which dried up. Difficulties with river transport made it hard to travel to the community…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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