Key Messages:

One of the greatest challenges facing humanity is environmental degradation, including deforestation, desertification, pollution, and climate change – an issue of increasing concern for the international community.

The humanitarian consequences of these challenges are of particular and serious concern to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement because they will take a significant toll on the people it seeks to protect and assist.

Environmental degradation increases the vulnerability of the societies it affects and contributes to the scarcity of resources. It is also one of the many factors fuelling tensions and conflict.

The Movement is well-placed to address the humanitarian consequences of these global threats at the local and regional levels, thanks to its broad experience, expertise and resources, its unparalleled network of National Societies and its millions of community-based volunteers.

The Movement partners believe that their strength lies in working together, and with others, in order to make vulnerable communities stronger, safer and better prepared when it comes to facing environmental threats, such as prolonged drought causing food insecurity or heavy rainfall causing landslides.

Governments, international organizations and communities must work together – at all levels – to lessen the risks associated with environmental degradation and its contributing factors, such as climate change, and ensure that vulnerable people are prepared to survive and adapt. This will mean putting the humanitarian consequences of climate change much higher on the international agenda and investing more in preparedness and risk reduction.

Companies, organizations and individuals must also ensure that their work is environmentally friendly and sustainable. Within the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, there is growing understanding that humanitarian action must respect the environment. For example, many National Societies use, whenever possible and appropriate, locally sourced building materials, tools and techniques. The ICRC also encourages the use of solar power, sub-surface dams, reforestation, energy-saving ovens, biogas production and water treatment systems with very low chemical consumption.

Key facts on environmental degradation:

"Let me emphasize that adaptation alone will not do. We need to bring about mitigation actions to start in the short term, even when benefits may arrive in a few decades," – Rajendra Pachauri, IPPC Chairman, Nobel Peace Prize Winner.

Disasters

Climate change will lead to an increase in the intensity and frequency of weather extremes, such as heat waves, floods, droughts and tropical cyclones, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The International Federation has already noted a sharp increase in the number of climate-related disasters in recent years, including floods, which rose from 64 in 2004 to 140 in 2006. So far this year, the International Federation has responded to 143 floods.

The people hardest hit by climate change and environmental degradation are those living in the most vulnerable areas, including coastal communities, small island nations, Sub-Saharan Africa and Asian delta regions. It is the poorest of the poor, who lack the resources to prepare, adapt and rebuild, that are most affected.

This is why the International Federation is increasing its risk reduction programmes, in an effort to save lives and limit damage by strengthening the resilience of poor and vulnerable communities. An increasing number of National Societies, including those in Indonesia, Colombia, Nicaragua, Malawi, Mozambique and others from the Pacific Islands, are also boosting their mitigation activities and expertise in risk reduction.

Hunger and thirst

Environmental degradation can lead to a scarcity of resources, such as water and farmable, which can in turn, erode the resilience of communities and result in a heightened risk of competition and conflict. The IPCC predicts that up to 250 million people across Africa could face more severe water shortages by 2020.

Disease

Extreme weather events, such as severe flooding, increase the spread of waterborne diseases, such as malaria and diarrhoea. According to the World Health Organization, climate change contributes to 150,000 extra deaths and five million illnesses each year.

In addition, climate change can compound existing problems, such as poverty, social inequity, mass migration and demographic pressure.


For more information, please contact the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Change Centre in The Hague. Internet address: http://www.climatecentre.org