Interactive Session: Adapting Humanitarian Action to the Growing Climate Emergency

CONCEPT NOTE

Wednesday, 7 December 2022

The climate crisis is a humanitarian crisis. Alarming evidence from the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reveals that climate change is contributing to humanitarian crises worldwide and increasingly driving displacement in all regions. While the science of the climate crisis used to be about the future, the impacts of the crisis are now unfolding on the humanitarian frontlines around the world. Vulnerable people and communities are enduring these impacts daily, both in already-fragile contexts and new humanitarian hotspots.

The scale of the crisis is dramatic. In 2022, a record 274 million people require humanitarian assistance and protection. The climate crisis is adding exponential risks and stresses for people living in crises, who are among the most vulnerable and least ready to adapt to its impacts. Of the 15 countries most vulnerable and least ready to adapt to the climate crisis, 12 had a Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) in 2022. Most of these crises are protracted such that humanitarian workers have become a constant lifeline and presence for affected communities.
A 1.5°C-degree temperature increase would drive the current humanitarian system to its limits, and an increase of 2.4-2.7°C, the current trajectory, would lead to a runaway global humanitarian crisis that could trigger the system’s collapse. Left unabated, the climate crisis will result in millions of additional people at risk of death, disease and displacement from floods, storms, heatwaves, and more, and living in acute food and water insecurity or enduring exacerbated tensions due to shrinking resource availability.

The growing urgency of the climate crisis requires a new level of collective resolve to address growing and burgeoning humanitarian needs while helping communities prepare for, respond to, and adapt to cascading shocks. Organized as an interactive thematic session, the panel will consider how to best position humanitarian action to contribute to boosting the climate resilience and adaptative capacities of vulnerable groups and communities. Drawing from examples from the field, the panel will highlight practical opportunities to address current climate impacts and reduce future risks over the coming year in the lead-up to COP28 and beyond.