A leading organization of American pediatricians declared Monday that children are “uniquely vulnerable” to the harmful impacts of human-made climate change—from natural disasters to food insecurity—and called for doctors to fulfill their duty by aggressively addressing the crisis.

In a policy statement entitled , published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)—an association of 64,000 pediatricians—noted, “Because of their physical, physiologic, and cognitive immaturity, children are often most vulnerable to adverse health effects from environmental hazards.”

“Children are uniquely at risk to the direct impacts of climate changes like climate-related disaster—including floods and storms—where they are exposed to increased risk of injury, death, loss of or separation from caregivers and mental health consequences,” explained Samantha Ahdoot, MD, lead author of the policy statement. “They are also more vulnerable to the secondary impacts of global warming, like disease.”

“For example, Lyme disease affects approximately 300,000 Americans each year, with boys, ages 5 to 9, at greatest risk,” Ahdoot continued. “Climate warming has been linked to northern expansion of Lyme disease in North America, putting more American children at risk of this disease.”

A technical report accompanying the policy statement notes numerous other disturbing developments, including high rates of post-traumatic stress among children as a result of climate related extreme weather, including hurricanes and floods.

In addition, children under the age of one are particularly vulnerable to heat-related deaths, which one study predicts will increase by 5.5 percent for females and 7.8 percent for males by the end of the century.