Climate Change and Humanitarian Assistance

Recent data predict a massive increase in humanitarian needs in a near future related to climate change. This is due to the fact that countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change are also those that have been impacted by decades of endemic humanitarian crises. Disaster events such as droughts, floods or storms have exacerbated conflict, migration and violence. The livelihood of millions of people is - and will be even more - at risk and food security has become a serious worldwide threat. It is expected that with the effects of climate, these humanitarian crises will become worse and more people will be in need of urgent assistance.

A second group of countries that is not currently affected by humanitarian crises, due to their vulnerability to climate change, most likely will increasingly become subject to disasters and humanitarian crises. Almost two thirds of the countries most exposed to climate change are classified as low income. In these countries, communities will not only be exposed to more disasters, but also because of climate, their capacity to cope with them will be destroyed or reduced. This will increase the load on humanitarian agencies to respond in new environments to this exponentially growing demand.