Belgium’s impact on the global environment is particularly problematic
If Belgian consumption were applied to the world’s population, according to the report, the equivalent of 4.1 earths would be needed to meet the needs of humanity.
The majority of rich countries create deleterious and dangerous living conditions for children around the world, according to the latest report “Places and spaces: Environments and children’s well-being” published Tuesday by UNICEF. The behavior of 39 countries is analysed, and Belgium’s impact on the global environment is particularly problematic.
Concretely, the report analyzes the extent to which these OECD and EU countries provide the world’s children with a healthy living environment, based on a whole series of indicators such as exposure to polluting substances harmful (air pollution, pesticides, home humidity, lead); access to light, green spaces and safe roads; and countries’ contributions to the climate crisis, resource consumption and generation of waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE).
Spain, Ireland and Portugal are overall good performers in the ranking, unlike Australia, Canada, the United States and Belgium. ” Not only do most of the rich countries fail to provide their own children with a healthy living environment, but worse, they contribute to the destruction of that of other children, elsewhere in the world.», Explains Gunilla Olsson, Director of the Innocenti Research Center of Unicef.
The poor score of Belgium, which ranks 36th out of 39 countries, is mainly due to CO2 emissions as well as the treatment of electronic waste and finally its very high mode of consumption. If Belgian consumption were applied to the world’s population, according to the report, the equivalent of 4.1 earths would be needed to meet the needs of humanity.
The report also denounces the fact that in Belgium, 7.8% of children live with an excessive concentration of lead in the blood and that 8.9% of children live in places with a high risk of pesticide pollution. The lack of green spaces and neighborhoods suitable for children in large cities is also pointed out.