The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned in its latest report that more than 8.8 million children in Afghanistan are simultaneously exposed to at least three climate hazards\u2014threats that directly impact their health, education, and survival.<\/p>\n
In the “Children’s Climate Risk Report 2026,” published on Tuesday, it states that approximately 21 million children live in Afghanistan, with 41% facing a combination of floods, droughts, extreme heatwaves, and dust storms. The report highlights that Afghanistan ranks alarmingly high among South Asian countries for children’s vulnerability to climate change.<\/p>\n
According to the report’s findings, over 75% of children in the country are exposed to droughts, and more than 50% endure prolonged and severe heatwaves. Additionally, over 1.7 million children are at risk from river flooding\u2014events that annually damage parts of residential areas.<\/p>\n
UNICEF emphasized that these threats are not merely environmental phenomena but disrupt essential services needed by children, including access to clean water, healthcare, proper nutrition, and education. The agency identified the widespread weakness of basic services to protect children from climate shocks as a key factor in Afghanistan\u2019s high vulnerability.<\/p>\n
While the malnutrition crisis continues extensively, UNICEF warned that climate change exacerbates the situation. The report notes that millions of children under five require treatment for malnutrition, and food insecurity remains at high levels. Droughts and extreme heat intensify pressure on food systems and reduce access to drinking water, increasing the risk of acute malnutrition.<\/p>\n
Experts have repeatedly stressed that effective climate crisis management requires transparent planning, unrestricted access for aid organizations, and sustainable investment in public infrastructure\u2014areas facing serious challenges under current conditions and restrictions in the country. So far, the Taliban administration has not presented a comprehensive and measurable plan to reduce children’s vulnerability to climate change.<\/p>\n
In conclusion, UNICEF called on the international community to urgently invest in strengthening climate-resilient services in Afghanistan, especially in health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education, and social protection sectors. The agency also stressed the importance of establishing climate-resilient schools as a means to ensure the continuity of children’s education during crises.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNICEF reports 8.8 million children in Afghanistan face multiple climate risks, urging urgent investment in health, education, and water services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,8,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-important-news","category-social-affairs","category-top-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}