The rising instance of conflicts and natural disasters in recent years has driven up the need for humanitarian aid, but never before have provisions been so inadequate. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 125 million people require humanitarian assistance yet the funding gap looms at an estimated $15 billion and counting.
To address this critical issue, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon commissioned a high-level panel of experts who recently released their findings in a report titled, “Too important to fail — addressing the humanitarian financing gap,” in advance of the World Humanitarian Summit, which will take place next May in Istanbul, Turkey.
“We are living in the age of the megacrises,” Ban told reporters at a press conference. “But, as this report clearly demonstrates, the gap in funding is a solvable problem.”
About the author
Fatima Arkin@FatimaA8
Fatima Arkin is a Devex contributor specializing in climate change, human rights, and sustainable development. She has reported across Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America for Foreign Policy, SciDev.net, Maclean's, and many others. She holds a B.A. in international development and history from McGill University and a graduate diploma in journalism from Concordia University, both located in Montreal, Canada.
