Climate change is now the biggest driver of the increase in humanitarian crises. As reported in the Global Humanitarian Assistance Report 2022 extreme weather events in 2020 were eight times higher than 20 years ago. It is, directly and indirectly, impacting human health, ecosystem functioning, water, energy, food security, and livelihoods. Climate risks are growing rapidly as extreme weather-related hazards become more severe and spread across wider geographical areas. Disasters are becoming more complex and interconnected with multiple emergencies occurring in parallel. Now is the time for urgent change for all humanitarians.
Commissioned by Start Network, the report “Preparing for Climate Change Impacts on Small-Medium Scale Crises” explores the changes currently taking place in the humanitarian sector from climate change impacts through the lens of small- to medium-scale crises, particularly unpacking how to better adapt the Global Start Fund. The report calls for humanitarians to understand and recognize the scale and pace of change and for improved coordination and utilization of resources. The findings and recommendations captured in the report are essential for humanitarians to understand and, more importantly, to act.
Climate change impacts are rapidly exacerbating and driving additional humanitarian crises. According to the U.N. Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction, or GAR, the number of small-medium-scale, under-the-radar disasters has increased fivefold in the last 50 years and the scale of climate change disruption is projected to lead to a further massive rise. The GAR 2022 found that 99.7% of all disaster events between 1990 and 2013 were considered smaller disasters. The GAR 2022 also found that “Thousands of these smaller-scale events are unreported every year because they do not generate high impacts at the national or international levels; however, they do bring a constant stream of local losses.”
“The slow, reactive, and centralized nature of the humanitarian sector are barriers that need to be dismantled to overcome its siloed thinking, actions, and funding.”
—Climate change is significantly impacting humanitarian crises worldwide, driving or exacerbating more frequent and more intense floods, droughts, storms, cyclones, and heat waves. As the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ 2019 report concluded, the number of people in humanitarian need in 2019 could almost double by 2050 due to the climate emergency. If global emissions do not reduce drastically by 2040, heat waves alone will likely impact 3.9 billion people. Climate change is also having a profound impact on protracted, recurrent, and seasonal crises. Take for example Somalia, a country highly vulnerable to climate hazards that falls under the protracted crisis category, with over 6.5 million people affected by famine and a young population facing misery and loss of lives and livelihoods.
Compounding risks are increasing humanitarian crises and jeopardizing development gains
The multidimensional impacts of climate change in humanitarian crises are difficult to fully grasp as they reinforce a vicious cycle of vulnerabilities and exacerbate other non climate crisis drivers. Climate change is known for being a threat multiplier as it aggravates already complex emergencies and has compounding effects. For example, in Ethiopia, over 30 million people currently live in drought-affected areas and are facing the impacts of a sixth consecutive failed rainy season. These challenges are then exacerbated by conflict, migration, and instability. Ethiopia’s case is not an exception, unfortunately, and due to the size, magnitude, and indiscriminate global effects climate change represents, it generates a compounding systemic risk that particularly affects vulnerable countries and communities.
An increase in humanitarian needs will put countries’ poverty reduction plans into reverse. The cascading impacts range from food insecurity and loss of livelihoods to resource-related conflict, meaning at-risk populations will face an increase in global hunger, loss of means to subsist, and the inability to cope with these threats. The overwhelming effect of climate change on humanitarian crises cannot and should not be underestimated.
Climate emergencies will deplete already limited humanitarian funds. There is a growing funding gap for U.N. appeals. As of June 2023, there's a $43 billion funding deficit, which is more than twice the entire funding appeal in 2016, as U.N. OCHA Global Humanitarian Overview 2023 states. The reality is that the cost of loss and damage impacts in low-income countries is estimated to reach between $290 and $580 billion by 2030. Loss and damage normally refers to the destructive impacts of climate change that cannot be avoided by mitigation or adaptation. This reflects the fact that climate change is already having substantial negative effects on infrastructure and people’s health and livelihoods around the world.
Humanitarians are neither equipped nor effectively structured to respond
While the humanitarian aid system has a long history of responding to disasters, it remains a relatively new player in the climate arena and is not prepared for the full extent of climate impacts. The slow, reactive, and centralized nature of the humanitarian sector are barriers that need to be dismantled to overcome its siloed thinking, actions, and funding, and its large-scale orientation, driven by media or politics. Its inability or unwillingness to innovate and adapt to a risk-changing landscape where protracted crises and complex emergencies are becoming the norm makes it unfit for purpose to respond to compounding and cascading risks of climate change. And this is just the beginning.
Urgent need to act
If the humanitarian sector is going to effectively respond to climate-induced or exacerbated humanitarian crises and their compounding impacts on other crisis drivers it will need to adapt in the following ways:
1. Recognize the urgency. Climate change and its cascading effects are reducing community coping capacity and resilience. The humanitarian sector is already overstretched and needs to unify efforts at all levels to enhance effectiveness and efficiency by coordinating and collaborating more effectively. It also needs to recognize climate change’s role in humanitarian crises and inform itself of the complexity and compounding relationship between climate drivers and other risk drivers.
2. Promote locally led resilience. Local groups are already the first responders when a crisis occurs. They have a better understanding of the context, needs, and local environment, and have preexisting relationships with affected communities and local government. Accelerating progress toward localization by directly funding local organizations, handing over decision-making, and strengthening local capacities is essential to building local response and recovery capacity, and enhancing community resilience.
3. Scale up anticipatory action, early response, and early recovery. Forecasting and taking action before a hazard occurs strengthens early response and early recovery. Protecting people, livestock, and assets through anticipatory action ensures that affected communities can recover faster and are better able to absorb and adapt to future risks, including climate risks. The humanitarian sector should scale up and embed anticipatory action in its programming, making it the default response for recurrent, seasonal, and all predictable weather-related crises.
4. Green humanitarian response. Local humanitarian organizations, governments, and communities possess deep knowledge of their environment and the impact of humanitarian actions. Their insights into waste management, recycling potential, and local practices can offer effective solutions to reduce environmental impacts and enhance disaster resilience. Locally led, innovative, and contextualized greening, knowledge sharing, and collaboration are essential for more environmentally friendly humanitarian responses that build community resilience.
5. Optimize and stretch finance and resources. To cope with climate breakdown, low- and middle-income countries need an annual sum of about $2.4 trillion by 2030. Both national governments and the international humanitarian community are incapable of meeting this demand. To address the climate crises effectively, the humanitarian sector must make funds work harder and stretch further, enhance collaboration across local, national, and international organizations, and by default become locally led.
It is undeniable and a pressing reality that climate change is the primary driver of escalating humanitarian crises. The humanitarian sector as it stands faces a significant challenge in responding to these evolving risks. As a sector, we need to urgently act by increasing our knowledge and awareness of climate-related risks and improving our efficiency and effectiveness, where possible anticipating crises and expediting the shift to locally led action.
To find out more, read our report and visit https://startnetwork.org
About the authors
Christina Bennett
Christina Bennett is Start Network’s CEO. She has over 20 years of experience in humanitarian policy and practice and has worked in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and South Sudan. Before joining Start Network, Christina was head of the humanitarian policy group at the Overseas Development Institute. She also worked as the chief of policy analysis and innovation at the UNOCHA leading work on aid effectiveness, cash assistance, and the protection of civilians.
Myriam Castañeda Solares
Myriam Castañeda Solares is the external affairs and advocacy senior lead at Start Network, a global network of humanitarian NGOs. She has worked in public policy, political analysis, strategic communications, and advocacy campaigns across multidisciplinary fields. She holds a Master of Science in Social Policy and Development from the London School of Economics and a double Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and International Relations from Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala.
Max Wilder
Max Wilder is the evaluation and learning adviser at Start Network, working on the Global Start Fund. This fund offers rapid response funding to address under-the-radar, small-medium-scale crises, filling a critical gap in the humanitarian aid system. Max is a monitoring, evaluation, and learning professional within the humanitarian and international development sector. He holds a Master of Science in International Development from the University of Edinburgh and a Bachelor of Science in International Environment and Development from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
