Children of 21st century will face 2x climatic disasters compared to 20th century: Study

Children born these days will experience more climate disasters in their lifetimes than their grandparents, according to a recent study published in the journal Science this week. The study shows that a child born in 2020 will experience an average of 30 intense heatwaves throughout its lifetime even if countries meet their present goals to reduce future carbon emissions.

This is seven times the number of heatwaves experienced by someone born in 1960. In addition, newborns of today will grow up to suffer twice as many droughts and wildfires, as well as three times as many river floods and crop failures as someone who is 60 years old.

"Our results show a grave threat to the safety of young generations and call for drastic emission reductions to secure their future," said Professor Wim Thiery of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium, who conducted the research.

He went on to say that today's youth will live 'unprecedented' lives, including heatwaves, droughts, floods, and crop failures that would have been inconceivable in the past.

Thiery and 36 colleagues compared the hazards suffered by earlier generations to the number of catastrophic occurrences today's children will have to witness as a part of the study which used multiple climates and demographic models.

"The good news is that if we limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by phasing out fossil fuel consumption, we can remove much of the climatic burden off our children's shoulders. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said Dr Katja Frieler of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, who was part of the research team.

Image: AP