Climate change transforming humanitarian work: survey
By AFP Staff
NAIROBI — Climate change is the leading cause of new challenges for the humanitarian community, a survey of G20 governments commissioned by the Red Cross revealed Tuesday.
As the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement gathered in Nairobi for their first ever global meeting in Africa, the “Believe in Humanity” survey warned that the humanitarian landscape was changing fast.
“World powers expect humanitarian actors to face continuing or increasing humanitarian needs driven by climate change-related natural disasters,” said the survey, released days ahead of key climate talks in Copenhagen.
The survey, conducted by research institutes, consulted the governments of the world’s 20 leading economies as well as that of host country Kenya.
“Global powers… have identified climate change as an important element that affects humanitarian work,” said Ibrahim Osman, deputy chairman of what is the world’s largest humanitarian network, which claims to have tens of millions of volunteers.
The report also highlighted that the world’s new economic powerhouses — such as China, India and Brazil — would play a growing role in international humanitarian action and bring with them a slightly different approach.
“Traditional powers see a growing political and financial role for emerging powers in the international humanitarian architecture. Some of the governments suggest that emerging powers have new and different roles to play in responding to international humanitarian crises,” the survey said.
Hundreds of delegates from the Red Cross/Red Crescent’s 186 national societies are gathered in Nairobi for a one-week meeting, which comes on the 60th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions and the 150th anniversary of the battle of Solferino, the movement’s founding moment.
The 1859 Austro-Sardinian war that left tens of thousands of soldiers dead prompted travelling Swiss businessman Henry Dunant to devote the rest of his life to advocating voluntary relief organisations and eventually led to the creation of the Red Cross.
