A/74/161 37. The human rights to water and sanitation were recognized in General Assembly resolution 64/292 and have been repeatedly affirmed. 38. Climate change is affecting precipitation patterns across the world, with some dry areas receiving less precipitation and wet areas receiving more frequent and intense precipitation. The four key elements of the rights to water and sanitation are threatened: availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned of particularly high vulnerability to water stres s in small island developing States and parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Climate change has already contributed to a water crisis in the Plurinational State of Bolivia, where glaciers are receding and water rationing has been required in major citi es. Indigenous pastoralists in Turkana County, Kenya, are struggling because climate change is negatively affecting water supplies, grazing opportunities and livestock herds, and increasing competition, conflict and insecurity. 43 Turkana women and girls bear the burden of longer walks to obtain potable water. 39. The right to sanitation may be threatened when water is increasingly scarce, and when floods, intense precipitation or other extreme weather events damage infrastructure or impair access. The rise in extreme weather events owing to climate change increases the risk of water-borne diseases, including typhoid fever and cholera. E. Rights of the child 40. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, in describing the right to health, explicitly requires that States act in the best interests of the child and consider “the dangers and risks of environmental pollution”. Children and young people around the world are increasingly outspoken about the impacts of climate change on their rights and their future and the need for urgent action. In response to the call for inputs for the present report, one indigenous youth leader observed that “Earth is a giving planet … Everything we ever needed to live, to survive, to enjoy the wonders of the world was provided by nature, yet we humans have become the most dangerous threat to life on Earth.” 41. Children are particularly vulnerable to health problems exacerbated by climate change, including vector-borne diseases, malnutrition, acute respiratory infections, diarrhoea and other water-borne illnesses. 44 Extreme weather events pose unique threats to the health and well-being of young bodies and minds. Globally, over 500 million children live in extremely high-risk flood zones; 160 million live in high or extremely high drought severity zones; and 115 million are at high risk from tropical cyclones. By 2040, almost 600 million children will live in regions with extremely limited water resources. The United Nations Children’s Fund warns that “climate change will harm the poorest and most vulnerable children first, hardest and longest”. 45 42. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has implored States to address climate change, “as this is one of the biggest threats to children’s health and exacerbates health disparities”. 46 In its reporting procedure, the Committee has increasingly referred to climate change, urging States to consider the best interests of the child as a matter of primary consideration when designing, implementing and monitoring laws and policies related to climate change, taking into account the explicit reference to children’s rights and intergenerational equity in the Paris Agreement. F. Right to a healthy environment 43. As noted in the Special Rapporteur’s previous reports, the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment is recognized in law by at least 155 Member States. 47 The substantive elements of this right include a safe climate, clean air, clean water and adequate sanitation, healthy and sustainably produced food, non -toxic environments in which to live, work, study and play, and healthy biodiversity and __________________ 43 44 45 46 47 12/22 Human Rights Watch, “There is no time left: climate change, environmental threats, and human rights in Turkana County, Kenya” (Human Rights Watch, 2015). A/HRC/35/13. UNICEF, Unless we act now: The impact of climate chan ge on children (UNICEF, 2015). General comment No. 15 (2013) on the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health (art. 24). A/HRC/40/55. 19-11977