Children

Nepal’s experience illustrates both what is possible when policies, education and community programmes align, and how easily gains can bypass those who need them most.

Cherevko’s message was clear: the window for preventing a deeper emergency is closing. “We must act before winter, not after families have exhausted their options.”

South Asia’s lead crisis is not inevitable. Experience elsewhere demonstrates that decisive regulation, industrial formalisation and community-level interventions can sharply reduce exposure.

Climate pressures, irregular monsoon patterns and limited irrigation continue to constrain productivity for many smallholders.

For the international community, supporting South Asia’s efforts to build resilience is not only a humanitarian imperative but also a matter of global stability.

ASEAN foreign ministers are expected to discuss the transboundary haze at an upcoming meeting. The episode highlights longstanding regional tensions over the annual haze, which has strained diplomatic relations in previous severe seasons such as 2015.

Earlier assessments have similarly stressed that without accelerated action, high levels of hunger could persist for generations in the most affected regions.

The Tier 3 ranking places Afghanistan among a small group of countries where governments or de facto authorities demonstrate a policy or pattern of trafficking or related exploitation, including the recruitment of child soldiers.