India ranked 77th on a sustainability index that takes into account per capita carbon emissions and ability of children in a nation to live healthy lives and secures 131st spot on a flourishing ranking that measures the best chance at survival and well-being for children, according to a UN-backed report.
The report was released on Wednesday by a commission of over 40 child and adolescent health experts from around the world. It was commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO), UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and The Lancet medical journal.
In the report assessing the capacity of 180 countries to ensure that their youngsters can survive and thrive, India ranks 77th on the Sustainability Index and 131 on the Flourishing Index, it said.
Flourishing is the geometric mean of Surviving and Thriving. For Surviving, the authors selected maternal survival, survival in children younger than 5 years old, suicide, access to maternal and child health services, basic hygiene and sanitation, and lack of extreme poverty.
For Thriving, the domains were educational achievement, growth and nutrition, reproductive freedom, and protection from violence.
Under the Sustainability Index, the authors noted that promoting today's national conditions for children to survive and thrive must not come at the cost of eroding future global conditions for children's ability to flourish.
The Sustainability Index ranks countries on excess carbon emissions compared with the 2030 target. This provides a convenient and available proxy for a country's contribution to sustainability in future.
The report noted that under realistic assumptions about possible trajectories towards sustainable greenhouse gas emissions, models predict that global carbon emissions need to be reduced from 39·7 giga tonnes to 22·8 gigatonnes per year by 2030 to maintain even a 66 per cent chance of keeping global warming below 1·5°C.
It said that the world's survival depended on children being able to flourish, but no country is doing enough to give them a sustainable future.
"No country in the world is currently providing the conditions we need to support every child to grow up and have a healthy future," said Anthony Costello, Professor of Global Health and Sustainability at University College London, one of the lead authors of the report.
"Especially, they're under immediate threat from climate change and from commercial marketing, which has grown hugely in the last decade," said Costello – former WHO Director of Mother, Child and Adolescent health.
Norway leads the table for survival, health, education and nutrition rates - followed by South Korea and the Netherlands. Central African Republic, Chad and Somalia come at the bottom.
However, when taking into account per capita CO2 emissions, these top countries trail behind, with Norway 156th, the Republic of Korea 166th and the Netherlands 160th.
Each of the three emits 210 per cent more CO2 per capita than their 2030 target, the data shows, while the US, Australia, and Saudi Arabia are among the 10 worst emitters. The lowest emitters are Burundi, Chad and Somalia.
According to the report, the only countries on track to beat CO2 emission per capita targets by 2030, while also performing fairly – within the top 70 – on child flourishing measures are: Albania, Armenia, Grenada, Jordan, Moldova, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Uruguay and Vietnam.
"More than 2 billion people live in countries where development is hampered by humanitarian crises, conflicts, and natural disasters, problems increasingly linked with climate change," said Minister Awa Coll-Seck from Senegal, Co-Chair of the commission.
The report also highlights the distinct threat posed to children from harmful marketing.
Evidence suggests that children in some countries see as many as 30,000 advertisements on television alone in a single year, while youth exposure to vaping (e-cigarettes) advertisements increased by more than 250 per cent in the US over two years, reaching more than 24 million young people.
Studies in Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and the US – among many others – have shown that self-regulation has not hampered commercial ability to advertise to children.
Children's exposure to commercial marketing of junk food and sugary beverages is associated with purchase of unhealthy foods and overweight and obesity, linking predatory marketing to the alarming rise in childhood obesity, it said.
The number of obese children and adolescents increased from 11 million in 1975 to 124 million in 2016 – an 11-fold increase, with dire individual and societal costs, the report said.
To protect children, the authors call for a new global movement driven by and for children.
Specific recommendations include stopping CO2 emissions with the utmost urgency, to ensure children have a future on this planet; placing children and adolescents at the centre of global efforts to achieve sustainable development, the report said.
New policies and investment in all sectors to work towards child health and rights; incorporating children's voices into policy decisions and tightening national regulation of harmful commercial marketing, supported by a new Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, it said.
Comments
Waoooooo.....
Beef Sukka will be the main menu in this party.
What an idea sirjee, truly a international ___ agenda.
First thing is attending iftar party of haram earning is not permissible to a muslim.... dont host iftar party to show unity in hindu muslims instead go and save the poor hindu muslims who are dying of hunger and non shelter
Indresh Kumar who is the master mind for Samjoutha Express blast and accused in many terror activity in India..! Let them arrange Iftar party at Nagpur head office.
ALLAH is the creator of all that exists and even RSS members comes under it... they are not excluded.
ALLAH will judge according to our deeds done in this life and reward HEAVEN or hell which is eternity.
ALLAH sent many messenger to convey the message of knowing ALLAH who created all that exists & WORSHIP him alone without associating Partners with him.
ALLAH sent QURAN to the last and final messenger and its a guidance to whole of HUMANITY.....not just Muslims.
Quran asks MANKIND to ponder, contemplate and research on what it says. It also asks the intelligent creation of ALLAH to think again & think.
The ONE who is intelligent will understand it better
The ONE who doesnt want to accept - I feel pity on him that he could not recognize his CREATOR.
ALLAH knows What is RSS PLAN here. and ALLAH is the best of PLANNER... Any MUSLIM who attend this iftar party should convey the message of ISLAM. and also mention what happens to human life once ALLAH takes the LIFE back which he has created in the first place.
He can create us once again to give JUSTICE ... its easy for him .
WORSHIP THE CREATOR NOT HIS CREATION
Waoo wonderful Idea what for MRM looks like another part of 72 divisions of the group, any way, things are very/very good Ideology but do not Forget to Invite Our Master NAREN Bai !!!!!!!! you must call him he should have to have see the unity of a group!!!!!!!! no Gangasara served, Naren go buddy enjoy with your friends. Chalo Gujarat, you can see some of the Looted and Burned building.
if this sanghis can serve beef in this event, that will be the great meet i can call.
some negative comments i can c i will challenge those to celebrate diwali and show their real colour, some unwanted group of the country dont want the unity between the two. this is really sad because of few people.
all the best. will pray for the success of this program and this meet should be presented every year.
good move by sangha parivar, lets unite together,
Wow great anyways all the best for this great meet let both the party unite together,
Beef Sukka Serving!!!!
wow good one, everyone can attend?
Sangha Parivar doing good job, lets some dogs bark, nothing can harm the society and true agenda of the sangha parivar. they only want the growth of india. lets support it atleast instead of negative comments.
Please beware this RSS iftar party ...tiz is NAMROOD NARENDRA MODI
Plan...protest tiz type of iftar party....
DRAMA!!!!
or
SHOW OFF
OR
REALITY????
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