Session 3. Clean air for all: Strengthening women and children's engagement

Everyone has a right to a healthy environment and to breathe clean air. With 92 per cent or 4 billion people living in the region exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution (UNEP, 2018), air pollution is one of the key environmental crises in Asia and the Pacific. It affects everyone, but the most vulnerable people include women, children, and ethnic minorities and persons with disabilities.

For women in low- and middle-income countries, household air pollution is the single leading environmental health risk and a main cause of non-communicable diseases (WHO, 2016). Young children are especially vulnerable, as the negative effects of air pollution on a child begins at the time of conception and continues during childhood.

Air pollution affects a child's development, learning, and overall well-being. There is increasing evidence of its impact on a child's physical and cognitive development emphasizes potential effects throughout their lifetime (UNICEF, 2017).

Scaling up clean air solutions should include child-centered, gender-sensitive, human rights-based clean air solutions. This session aims to raise awareness on the impacts of air pollution on children, women, and vulnerable groups, and to promote clean air solutions that are human rights-focused and successfully employ gender perspective and child-centered approach.