Op-Ed: "Oil and gas extraction endangers the wellbeing of children here in Aotearoa"

“When governments sign new oil and gas licences, they are signing away our future” – a damning indictment from the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at the Pacific Islands Forum last week. An indictment that the New Zealand Government should pay heed to as it plans to open up oil and gas extraction once more. This reckless decision not only flies in the face of global commitments to lower emissions and keep warming to 1.5 degrees - it endangers the wellbeing of children here in Aotearoa, now and in the future.  

The full extent of just how connected fossil fuel policy and the health of children is made clear in a new UNICEF report, ‘A Threat to Progress’, which shows that climate change is impacting “almost every aspect of child health and well-being from pregnancy to adolescence.” It’s a fresh call to action for decision makers – they can and must act now so that children can realise their rights and inherit a planet where they can all flourish.  

Our Government has a critical opportunity to achieve this through the current development of the second emissions reduction plan. In our recent submission on the plan, UNICEF Aotearoa urged the Government to consider the impact of climate change and emissions reduction on children, young people and future generations, and embed their right to be part of decision-making that affects them.  

Why? Because the climate crisis is a children’s rights crisis: climate change is threatening progress made globally for children in all areas of their lives. We see this in Aotearoa, in the Pacific region and around the world. And decisions made today directly impact children’s ability to realise their rights and ensure that future generations inherit a liveable planet. 

Children and young people have been telling us to listen and act on climate change for years. From Severn Cullis-Suzuki in Rio De Janeiro in 1992, to Greta Thunberg at the UN in 2019, to Aniva Clarke in Samoa as a UNICEF Youth Advocate drafting General Comment 26, to the School Strikes for Climate movement in Aotearoa – children are speaking up. And adults are increasingly listening: A recent study shows that a majority of people in New Zealand and Australia is on board with including child and youth voice in climate policymaking.   

However, we don’t see this shift represented at all in this Government’s decision to scale back on climate action and reopen oil and gas exploration; and the impact on children’s fundamental rights is deeply concerning. Through lack of action, successive Governments in New Zealand have not been living up to their commitments as a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.  

Guterres also reminded us that, “The decisions world leaders take in the coming years will determine the fate, first of Pacific Islanders – but also of everyone else.” Through their urgent calls for climate action, children and young people have shown us they are the leaders of today. They must be part of these decisions so that they, and everyone else, can realise their right to a liveable planet. We have a moral imperative to protect children’s futures, and by calling on the Government to act, we have the power today to influence a tomorrow in which children get to thrive."