Climate
change is exacerbating extreme weather events and patterns around
the world, leading to more frequent and intense disasters. Sadly,
it is the poor, the elderly and the disabled who are bearing
the brunt of increasing floods and cyclones, relentless droughts
and rising sea levels. Ultimately they are the ones who are
paying the price with their homes, their crops and their lives.
The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) confirms our worst fears – that vulnerable
groups are at greatest risk when it comes to climate change.
It is time for the entire international community to understand
and accept that traditional ways of thinking about disaster
response no longer apply. Experts expect that there will be
more and more floods, droughts and heat waves, making it harder
for poor people to pick up the pieces and stretching the resources
of aid agencies further and further.
Now is the time to start preparing vulnerable communities for
the worst. Climate change is one of the main risks and challenges
facing humanity today. It’s already happening and it’s
going to get worse before it gets better, because of the longevity
of the greenhouse gasses already in the atmosphere.
For too many years, climate change has been regarded as a predominantly
scientific and environmental issue. However, the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has already
witnessed climate change strike at the very heart of its work,
supporting vulnerable people, particularly in times of disaster.
Our volunteers, staff and field delegates around the world are
dealing with this reality each day.
Since the start of 2007 alone, extreme flooding in Jakarta,
Mozambique and Bolivia has left hundreds of thousands of people
homeless, resulting in the large-scale mobilization of resources
and thousands of volunteers.
In the Pacific, slowly rising sea levels are starting to take
a heavy toll on the natural systems that islanders depend on
for their livelihoods and well-being. In many parts of Africa,
rising temperatures are resulting in malaria outbreaks at higher
and higher altitudes.
Even in rich countries, it is the elderly, the poor and the
sick, who are hardest hit by extreme weather events, such as
heat waves and hurricanes.
Wealthy nations are beginning to acknowledge that climate change
is real, and are looking to invest billions of dollars in flood
management, cooling systems, and desalination plants in order
to protect themselves against climate change. Sadly, far less
is being done for poorer countries.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
knows that tackling climate change is not just a question of
coming up with policies and funding mechanisms to reduce greenhouse
gases. As illustrated by the IPCC report, the international
community’s collective responsibilities must go beyond
reducing emissions – we must also do more to protect the
world’s most vulnerable people.
Early warning systems, typhoon resistant housing, planting trees
against storm surges and landslides, evacuation plans: these
are just some examples of how governments and aid agencies can
make communities better prepared and more resilient in the first
place.
It is clear that climate change is something that we can neither
escape from nor ignore. We need to pre-empt its impact and we
need to act now.
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Madeleen
Helmer, head of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center
in The Hague. (p15595)
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