Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989): “To combat disease and malnutrition, including within the framework of primary health care, through, inter alia, the application of readily available technology and through the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking-water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution” and “States Parties agree that the education of the child shall be directed to: … the development of respect for the natural environment.”

Plan of Action for Implementing the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children in the 1990s: “… to improve the environment by combating disease and malnutrition and promoting education. These contribute to lowering death rates as well as birth rates, improved social services, better use of natural resources and, ultimately, to the breaking of the vicious cycle of poverty and environmental degradation.”

Agenda 21 (1992): “The health of children is affected more severely than other population groups by malnutrition and adverse environmental factors.” and, “Children not only will inherit the responsibility of looking after the Earth, but in many developing countries they comprise nearly half the population…. Children in both developing and industrialized countries are highly vulnerable to the effects of environmental degradation… The specific interests of children need to be taken fully into account in the participatory process on environment and development.”

The Habitat Agenda (1996): “The needs of children and youth, particularly with regard to their living environment, have to be taken fully into account.”
Declaration of the Environment Leaders of the Eight on Children’s Environmental Health (1997): “We acknowledge that, throughout the world, children face significant threats to health from an array of environmental hazards. The protection of human health remains a fundamental objective of environmental policies to achieve sustainable development. We increasingly understand that the health and well-being of our families depend upon a clean and healthy environment. Nowhere is this more true than in the case of children, who are particularly vulnerable to pollution… We affirm that prevention of exposure is the single most effective means of protecting children against environmental threats.”

G8 Environment Ministers Communiqué (2001): “We are determined to develop policies and implement actions to provide children with a safe environment, including during prenatal and postnatal development, towards the highest attainable level of health.” and “We recognize that poverty and insufficient protection from environmental threats are often found in tandem. We will work together to address the most serious environmental health threats, including microbiological and chemical contaminants in drinking water, air pollution that exacerbates illness and death from asthma and other respiratory problems, polluted water, toxic substances and pesticides.”

The Berlin Commitment for Children of Europe and Central Asia (2001): “Protect all children, irrespective of the social and economic conditions they live in from environmental threats; create child-respecting urban and rural environments which enable all children to have access to a range of play and informal learning opportunities both at home and within their local communities.”

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