Climate Change May Kill 250,000 Kids Next Year - Many More to Die Annually by 2030

starving child stencil montreal photo
photo: 200 More Montreal Stencils via flickr.

Now here's one to tug at your climate change heartstrings... A new report from Save the Children highlights the impact that global warming is having on the world's children and how many more will be put at risk in the coming decades. The stats: Climate change could kill 250,000 children next year, and 400,000 annually by 2030:

Add to that over 900 million children born today that will experience water shortages; and 160 million more cases of childhood malaria, as the disease expands into more areas of the world. Oh, and by 2030 175 million children will annually be put at risk by increased cyclones, droughts and floods.

Save the Children goes on to call climate change the biggest global health threat in the 21st century.

Effects of Climate Change Far Reaching
Which may sound like hyperbole, but considering the wide-reaching effects of climate change -- in particular on water availability, and remembering that good sanitation and hygiene are keystones of preventing many of the most prominent diseases and illness that afflict children -- it's not entirely overreaching.

Really, it all just goes to show how far wide the impacts of climate change are. Though certain iconic animal species may get the headlines, the human impact is much grittier and local.

More: Save the Children via: The Telegraph

Global Warming Effects
Climate Change to Cause Global Health Catastrophe
 Himalayas, Africa Facing Climate Change-Induced Water Shortages - Yemen's Already Rioting
 Climate Change in Alps to Leave Europe High and Dry 