The pervasive nature of local environmental degradation poses additional health threats to those arising from Earth system changes, including climate change. Millions of child deaths can be prevented by action that improves the local environment, providing clean energy and access to safe water and sanitation.
The greatest burden of environment-related diseases falls on children in poor populations. National decision-making needs to take into account the real value of ecosystem and other environmental services, the likely costs of environmental externalities and the cobenefits of a low-carbon economy.
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