By Jeremy Lovell
LONDON (Reuters) - Millions of the world's poorest childrenare among the principal victims of climate change caused by therich developed world, a United Nations report said on Tuesday,calling for urgent action.
The UNICEF report "Our Climate, Our Children, OurResponsibility" measured action on targets set in the U.N.Millennium Development Goals, aimed at halving child poverty by2015. It found failure on counts from health to survival,education and gender equality.
"It is clear that a failure to address climate change is afailure to protect children," said UNICEF UK director DavidBull. "Those who have contributed least to climate change --the world's poorest children -- are suffering the most."
The report said climate change could add 40,000-160,000child deaths a year in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa throughlower economic growth.
It also noted that if temperatures rose by two degreesCelsius above pre-industrial levels, up to 200 million peopleglobally would face hunger -- a figure that climbs to 550million with a temperature rise of three degrees.
The UNICEF report said economic damage due to climatechange would force parents to withdraw children from schools --often the only place they are guaranteed at least one meal aday -- to fetch water and fuel instead.
Environmental changes wrought by climate change will alsoexpand the range of deadly diseases such as malaria, whichalready kills 800,000 children a year and is now being seen inpreviously unaffected areas.
Scientists predict global average temperatures will rise bybetween 1.6 and 4.0 degrees Celsius this century due to carbonemissions from burning fossil fuels for power and transport,causing floods, famines, violent storms and droughts.
An international agreement is being sought on action toensure temperatures do not rise more than 2.0 degrees.
INEVITABLE
But some environmentalists say a 2.0 degree rise isinevitable whatever action is taken now. That is partly becauseof the 30-year time lag in climate response to emitted carbon,and partly because nations like China, which opens a newcoal-fired power station a week, cannot and will not stopburning carbon.
China, with vast coal reserves and an economy growing at 10percent a year, is set to overtake the United States as theworld's biggest carbon emitter.
Developing nations, under pressure to sign up to new curbson carbon emissions at the end of next year, say there is noreason they should keep their people in poverty when theproblem has been caused by the developed world.
"Rich countries' responsibility for the bulk of pastemissions demands that we give our strong support," saidNicholas Stern, whose 2006 report on the economic implicationsof the climate crisis sparked international concern.
"Business-as-usual or delayed action would lead to theprobability of much higher temperature increases which wouldcatastrophically transform our planet," he wrote in a forewordto Tuesday's report.
"It will be the young and the poor and developing countriesthat will suffer earliest and hardest.
"We cannot allow this to happen."
(Editing by Kate Kelland and Catherine Evans)