Kota Kinabalu: The stark reality is that approximately two billion children are at risk of impacts of environmental degradation, particularly air pollution, according to the Children’s Climate Risk Index (2021) by Unicef.
Representative to Unicef Malaysia, Robert Gass, who revealed this situation at the recent launch of the Air Quality Monitoring in Schools (Aquams) portal at Hilton Kota Kinabalu, said Malaysia is not an exception.
“In Malaysia, haze, caused by open burning of crop cycles, is one of the two most common environmental issues affecting children. In fact, in 2021, Malaysia’s average PM2.5 concentration in the air is 3.9 times the World Health Organisation’s annual air quality guideline value.
“Children are most vulnerable to environmental degradation as they are most susceptible to health problems such as asthma attacks and other viral respiratory infections caused by air pollutants.
