Children in vulnerable nations bearing the brunt of the climate change crisis issued an impassioned plea at a Cop29 youth summit on Monday for global action to safeguard future generations. Young activists taking part in the Unicef Children and Youth Press Conference – being held during the talks in Baku – told of the stark consequences of extreme weather in communities around the world as they endure severe droughts, polluted rivers and limited access to clean drinking water.
Their united call for support was made as Unicef – the UN agency responsible for humanitarian aid and development for children – outlined the need to ensure critical services can withstand environmental threats. "Children need to be included in the solutions, and global leaders need to make health care, education, water and sanitation – systems that children rely on – more resilient to the impacts of climate change," said Unicef executive director, Catherine Russell. "Now is the time to act.”
Unicef is calling on nations submitting climate action plans, also known as Nationally Determined Contributions, to ensure children are at the heart of their plans. The agency said less than half of the current national plans are child or youth-sensitive, and only 3 per cent were developed through participatory processes involving children.
'Our future at stake'
"You made a promise to protect our future – I stand here as a child asking you to keep that promise", said Georgina, 10, from Tanzania, the youngest participant in the youth conference. Unicef asked for only the first names of the child speakers to be used.
"Climate change is making us sick in the rural areas where there is no clean water, children must drink from unsafe sources. Boys and girls from the village walk up to 6km searching for water" she said.
"Sometimes they search the water source only to find it completely dry because there has been no rain, so they must search for another source, walking even further. By the time they return home, they are exhausted, dehydrated and too tired to study." Georgina is not alone: roughly one billion children – nearly half of the world's 2.2 billion children – live in countries classified as being at "extremely high risk" from climate hazards.
Rasul, 16, from Azerbaijan, told delegates that young people must be involved in this decision-making process. "For the people who live near the Caspian Sea in Baku, the weather is becoming more extreme and harder to predict," he said. "Winters and summers are getting longer, and it makes it difficult for me and my friends to enjoy simple activities such as cycling, walking or even playing."
Catarina, a 17-year-old surfer from Brazil, the host of next year's Cop climate summit, has called for a dedicated climate conference for children to address their needs and concerns. "When I look at my city and my rivers, and they are polluted, and if I go surf, when my government opens and throws sewage on the river, it goes to the ocean. I can't surf. I can't practice my spot, because I'm going to get sick."
"Children have things to say, and children know how to say it. We need the space. We need a Cop for children." Catarina told the conference.
Climate threat for families
Beyond health care and education, SOS Children's Villages, a non-profit developmental organisation, told The National that climate change is having an impact on a fundamental pillar of a child's upbringing: their family environment. An analysis published by the group on the loss of parental care found that climate change can increase poverty due to loss of livelihoods, which in turn can result in child labour, becoming street-connected, early or forced marriage and vulnerability to trafficking and exploitation.
"It's the loss of their livelihoods. It is their loss of food security. It's the loss of the families being able to take care of their children, and also, then, of course, the need to migrate, to leave their homes, to leave their current traditional ways of being." Angela Rosales, chief executive of SOS Children's Villages International said. "Many traditional communities are suffering from climate crisis. And then many children are unnecessarily losing parental care or family care."
Cop29 - in pictures
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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