A/HRC/35/14 equality. Climate change, by aggravating existing inequalities in the use of and access to productive land and freshwater, could also contribute to violent conflicts, exploitation and large-scale migration or displacement. It posed an existential threat to indigenous children, due to their close relationship with the environment. A child rights-based approach to climate change was urgent and required that States take into account the rights and best interests of the child, especially the right to life, survival and development. 21. Relevant procedural rights affected by climate change included the rights to information, to environmental education and to participation. Children depended on information on climate change and its impacts to make choices and to exercise their rights to freedom of expression and to participation, in relation to environmental matters. Education played a significant role in empowering children to become actors of change and should include a clear, comprehensive and frequently updated climate change curriculum. That curriculum should reflect different local contexts, and should include information relevant to every child’s respective situation and, as appropriate, traditional knowledge. Target 4.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals offered guidance by calling upon States to ensure that all learners acquired the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including through education for human rights. 22. Particular regard should be given to children with disabilities, children from indigenous groups and other children in vulnerable situations, as they may be disproportionately impacted by climate change. It was important that they, like all children, be treated as agents of change and active participants in climate action. Target 13.B of the Sustainable Development Goals clearly indicated a need to “promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in least developed countries … including focusing on … youth”. In concluding, the Committee on the Rights of the Child rapporteur called for policies and mechanisms to be developed to involve children and young people in climate decision-making at the local, national and international levels. 23. The founder of the Green Hope Foundation described her work and her motivation, as an environmental activist at only 16 years of age. She observed that climate change added another dimension to human suffering and was the harshest reality of our time. Polar ice caps were melting, sea levels were rising, typhoons and hurricanes were wreaking havoc, forest fires were choking our skies and fossil fuel-driven economies were turning our cities into veritable gas chambers. Climate change impacted children’s rights to life, to health, to education, to food and to shelter. 24. Yet, many had sought to trivialize the issue and its importance, in spite of drastic changes including widespread climate-induced displacement. Millions of people, including many children, had been forced by floods, droughts and rising sea levels to migrate from their homes and countries under uncertain circumstances that increased their risk of exploitation. Climate change also contributed to the burden of disease among children. Its impacts were estimated to be responsible, worldwide, for approximately 2.4 per cent of cases of diarrhoea and 6 per cent of cases of malaria. The impacts on girls were even worse, as girls had to fight against the additional dimension of gender discrimination in the face of disasters. 25. The Green Hope Foundation founder indicated that such situations were inspiring young people such as herself to speak out. As citizens of tomorrow, children had a leadership role to play in shaping the future. The Green Hope Foundation provided a platform for young people to come together and take action on climate change. It had grown into a multiregional organization with a management team comprised solely of children and over a thousand active volunteers fighting to promote climate justice, protect biodiversity, stop land degradation, encourage sustainable consumption and achieve gender equality. The Foundation organized “environment academies”, which were tailor-made workshops and conferences conducted “by youth, for youth”. It had also established partnerships not just within civil society but also with government utility bodies and with corporates. The Green Hope Foundation founder recognized that climate change posed the greatest threat to children’s survival. For that reason, she was particularly grateful to have been given the opportunity to speak up for child rights in relation to climate change at the Human Rights Council. 6