Achieving SDG 2 without breaching the 1.5 °C threshold: A Global Roadmap - Statement by Natalia Winder Rossi, Global Director of Social Policy and Social Protection, UNICEF

Good afternoon to all.

Many thanks to FAO for the invitation and for the opportunity to join this panel as part of the 1st Preparatory Committee Meeting for the 4th International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Always great to see my former FAO colleagues and friends.

And very excited to be able to share UNICEF’s commitment and work in this area, leveraging our expertise across multiple sectors.

Allow me to start with reminding ourselves that children continue to bear the heaviest burden of the current climate and environmental crises.

They are uniquely vulnerable and at a significantly higher risk of harm than adults.

Enabling an inclusive transition needs to prioritize critical actions on children and future generations.

• One billion children – nearly half of the world’s 2.2 billion children – live in countries at extremely high risk as determined by UNICEF’s Children’s Climate Risk Index¹
• in other words, exposed to climate and environmental hazards, with limited access to adequate resilience social services.

More so, we know that children are more likely than adults to be affected by malnutrition and other health issues specifically, in SIDS², we have seen an increase in the prevalence of underweight in children under 5, and of obesity of children under 18.

And let’s not forget that any deprivation due to environmental degradation or climate change during children’s formative years can result in irreparable harm that impacts their entire lives.

UNICEF recognizes the global climate crisis is a poverty and child nutrition crisis.

Despite this reality, children continue to be largely disregarded in the response to climate change.

UNICEF has recently launched its Global Climate and Sustainability action plan outlining our key priorities and specific areas of acceleration, leveraging our dual mandate, and expertise.

And many of course, aligned with what Maximo shared.

This Plan provides a roadmap to, first and foremost,

• PROTECT the lives, health and well-being of children and the resilience of their communities by scaling up risk informed social services: health, nutrition, education, WASH and very critically, social protection.

And let me re-emphasize this point: The explicit focus on enhancing the preparedness of social systems needs to be at the center of our collective efforts towards and inclusive and sustainable transition.

We have a long-standing work in these areas, and we will continue to scale-up this work, in partnership with many of you in this room.

For instance, in social protection, recognizing its critical role in enhancing households’ resilience to climate shocks, UNICEF continues to work to make sure social protection systems are inclusive and risk informed.

In nutrition, UNICEF works on transforming the food system to ensure that the quality diets for children and adolescents are only available, adequate and are sustained despite the presence of climatic and other shocks.

This means working on regulatory policies in the food environment including in schools to protect children from unhealthy low-quality goods, as well as advocate for the production of and access to nutritious foods.

And more so, leveraging linkages between both sectors:

UNICEF promotes and supports social protection systems that not only aim to reach and protect all vulnerable women and children, but that are intentionally designed to lead to positive changes in nutrition for children.

Prevention of malnutrition in the SIDS in the context of climate shocks is undoubtedly a urgent priority and UNICEF looks forward to collaboration with governments, FAO and other partners, with a particular focus on making positive change on children’s diets and for inclusive policies that protect women and children.

Second, the plan also prioritizes the need to ensure that children are active agents of change and have the space, opportunities, and education to continue to be critical champions of the environment.

In my last seconds, let me stress four crucial messages:

The critical importance of putting children at the center of these transformationsincluding from a financing perspective.

• First of all, highlighting that, in addressing the needs of children in SIDS, it's crucial to recognize the barriers that SIDS face in accessing vital climate finance both in terms of speed and accessibility of funding.
• To better support the rights and well-being of children in these vulnerable regions, we must advocate for streamlined funding processes, and all collaborate for increased regional support and coordination. Ensuring that SIDS have equitable access to climate finance, where government ownership and capacity and long-term programming are prioritized, is not just an environmental imperative, but a fundamental child rights issue.
• Building on this, UNICEF emphasizes the crucial need to center our transformational and sustainable system-strengthening efforts on the allocation of domestic, private, and international investments- and explicitly climate finance, particularly focusing on preparedness and risk-informed social systems.
• Furthermore, the significance of establishing strong, efficient, equal, and transparent public finance management systems cannot be overstated. These systems are the backbone of effective climate finance allocation, ensuring that resources are directed where they are most needed and making a tangible difference in the lives of children and communities in SIDS.
• By holding duty bearers accountable for protecting children's rights amidst climate threats and empowering children as claim holders, we ensure investments are focused on their needs, well-being, resilience, and equitable opportunities in a sustainable future.

Looking forward to work together to support the inclusive and sustainable development of SIDS.

¹ The Children’s Climate Risk Index (CCRI) provides the first comprehensive view of children’s exposure and vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. It ranks countries based on children’s exposure to climate and environmental shocks, such as cyclones and heatwaves, as well as their vulnerability to those shocks, based on their access to essential services. A composite index, the CCRI brings together geographical data by analyzing 1.) exposure to climate and environmental hazards, shocks and stresses; and 2.) child vulnerability.

² https://www.fao.org/3/cc3017en/cc3017en.pdf