Title: Ecological Impacts of Climate Change on Children and Women

Abstract:

Children and women are the very important entities of our society so their health, growth and nourishment needs to be looked after and handled with proper care to protect them from the ripple effects of climate change influencing everything from air quality to water contamination and food safety. Children and women are highly vulnerable both to physical trauma, stress, drowning, displacement and infectious diseases due to extreme weather and climate events posing serious threats to their health and welfare as climate change has the potential to influence the earth's biological systems with rampant vector-borne, water-borne and food-borne diseases. Children are more vulnerable than adults in disaster situations because they rely on others to care for them and also need specialized medical care during and after disasters because of their size and their differences in bodily systems, immunity and psychology. Children are affected more by climate change than adults do as children breathe, eat, and drink more for their size compared to adults as children’s body systems are still developing, spend more time outdoors, play low to the ground and put objects in their mouths increasing their exposure to harmful chemicals and pollutants. Besides children, women are more vulnerable than men to climate change as women make up the majority of the worlds’ poor and are more dependent than men on natural resources for their livelihoods and survival because of their responsibility to secure water, food and energy for cooking and heating. In times of food shortage their health is more likely to suffer than their male counterparts because women are often the first to reduce how much they eat sacrificing their diets for other family members. Early childbearing, high fertility and the malnourishment are associated with poor health increases women's vulnerability to spread of diseases and infections to adapt to climate change.

Biography:

Ravi Sharma, studied at St. Vincent's School Agra (1954-1958 passed V Std.), M.D. Jain Inter College, Agra (1958-1963 did High School); St. John's College, Agra (1963-1967 passed Inter (1965), B.Sc. (1967)); Agra College, Agra (1967-1969 (Passed MSc Botany), 1982 completed PhD Botany) later taught Botany to College Students at Agra College, Agra (1969-1970); K.R. College Mathura (1970-2011); Worked as Principal/Director Ess Ess College of Education, Dayalbagh, Agra (1-7-2011 t0 15.4.2014) and produced 15 Ph.D. students on various aspects of Eco-physiology dealing with saltstress, air, water and soil pollution. At present busy in my D.Sc. work besides engaged in writing books on Cell and Molecular Biology of Plants; Plant Physiology and Metabolism and Nutritional Disorders in Plants. Associated with various National and International professional societies