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Aggravating factors: climate change

Climate change ranks amongst the greatest global problems of the 21st century. Scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) agree that our planet is warming up at an unprecedented rate, and that this global warming is largely due to the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Although research into the impacts of climate change is still in its infancy, a number of global developments are judged to be likely to happen by the scientific community:

  • An increase in extreme weather events: more droughts, floods, landslides, heat waves, and more intense storms;
  • The spreading of insect-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue to new places where people are less immune to them;
  • A decrease in crop yields in some areas due to extreme droughts or downpours and changes in timing and reliability of rainy seasons;
  • Global sea level rise of several cm per decade, which will affect coastal flooding, water supplies, tourism, fisheries etc. Tens of millions of people will be forced to move inland.
More climate change related Red Cross Red Crescent videos
Other Red Cross Red Crescent videos

Although climate change is a global issue with impacts all over the world, those people with the least resources have the least capacity to adapt and therefore are the most vulnerable. Developing countries, more particularly its poorest inhabitants, do not have the means to fend off floods and other natural disasters; to make matters worse, their economies tend to be based on climate/weather-sensitive sectors such as agriculture and fishery, which makes them all the more vulnerable.

The Maldives, a future victim of climate change? The Maldives consists of 1,190 islands stretched over a distance of 800 kilometres. The islands are very low-lying – the highest point being only 2.5 meters - and around 200 of them are inhabited. Photo: Ahmed Zahid/International Federation (p16983)


The Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre


A bridge between climate change and disaster risk reduction

In 2002 the Netherlands Red Cross together with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has established the Red Cross / Red Crescent Centre on Climate Change and Disaster Preparedness. In short: the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre.

The Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre brings together scientific data on climate change and operational knowledge from the humanitarian field. Its aim is to improve disaster risk reduction for people living in disaster-prone areas. The centre hopes that this will lead to a reduction of the amount of people affected by the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events.

The Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre is based in the Netherlands but serves the whole Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement, in particular in developing countries.

The activities of the centre are based on the ‘triple A’ principle:

  • Awareness: Implementing information and education activities about climate change and extreme weather events within the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement and among the general public;
  • Action: Supporting the development of concrete climate adaptation activities, within the existing context of disaster risk reduction programs;
  • Advocacy: Bringing concerns about the impacts of climate change on vulnerable people and experience with climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction programs to the places of policy development, both within the International Federation, as in other relevant international forums

In 2006 a ‘fourth A’ has been introduced:

  • Analyses: Analysing the climate change risk reduction issues at stake in the context of the Red Cross and Red Crescent and the first experiences. These analyses should lead to a stronger vision and positioning of the Red Cross / Red Crescent Climate Centre on climate change risk reduction approaches.

Find more information about the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre.

Kenya Red Cross floods assessment. Photo: Paul Rogers/The Times (p15177)

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