Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Floods kill islands’ crops and spoil wells
AS COP26 kicks off, young people from around the world will each day be telling the Daily Mirror why the summit cannot fail and sharing their hopes for the future.
Today, Junior Kevin, 17, from the Solomon Islands, tells of flooding that affects his coastal village.
The islands emit just 0.01% of global greenhouse gas emissions yet are at the forefront of the climate emergency. Junior asks world leaders to pay attention to the needs of smaller countries like his...
Junior writes: “In my village, climate change is the biggest issue affecting our lives.
“The sea levels are rising, causing flooding which damages our crops and fills our freshwater wells. “Food and water shortages are affecting the health of the children here. “People living in coastal areas have started moving inland. As a result, rivalries over land ownership arise because people are moving to places they don’t really belong to.
“I want world leaders to pay attention to our concerns and help us to reduce climate change.
“Help us to wake up from this nightmare.”
To limit the impacts of climate change on the lives of millions of children across the world, Save the Children is calling on the UK and all governments to accelerate their commitments to limit warming to 1.5C, take serious action on financing and scale up support for adaptation and loss and damage.
This is especially vital coming out from the COP26. Governments need to ensure that children are included at this critical juncture – not just to inspire action but to shape decisions that will affect them most.