Combating the impact of climate change is one of the biggest issues facing the global development community. But one nutrition expert at UNICEF has suggested a major and sustainable contribution could come from an unexpected source: promoting breast-feeding.
Identified as a key component of actualizing the Sustainable Development Goals, not only has breast-feeding reduced mortality and morbidity of newborns and infants, it is also able to address climate change, because producing it does not contribute to the depletion of natural resources, David Clark, a nutrition specialist at UNICEF, told Devex.
Breast-feeding cuts out numerous processes that contribute to global warming, whether that is by bypassing the activities of the global dairy industry — and its large transport networks — or avoiding the industrial processes that produce infant formula or prepare it for use at home, such as heating water and sterilizing bottles.
About the author
Jennifer Piettedisgeneration
Jennifer Ehidiamen is a Nigerian writer who is passionate about communications and journalism. She has worked as a reporter and communications consultant for different organizations in Nigeria and overseas. She has an undergraduate degree in mass communication from the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, and M.A. in business and economics from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, New York. In 2014, she founded Rural Reporters (www.ruralreporters.com) with the goal of amplifying underreported news and issues affecting rural communities.
