IFRC Statement in support of the CVF “Midnight Survival Deadline for the Climate” initiative

The climate crisis is a humanitarian emergency. Every day, we are seeing the growing impacts of climate change. In the last months alone, we have seen millions of people’s lives and livelihoods affected by hurricanes and typhoons in Central America and throughout South-East Asia.

Our recently published IFRC World Disasters Report “Come Heat or High Water: Tackling the Humanitarian Impacts of the Climate Crisis Together” found that, in 2019, 77% of all disasters that were triggered by natural hazards were classified as climate or weather related. In the future, we expect extreme climate and weather-related hazards to further increase in number, intensity and variability.

Though we are living in a climate crisis, we don’t have to accept that climate disasters are inevitable.  We can make a difference now, by scaling up climate action today and by becoming more “climate smart", meaning that we systematically use climate science and forecasts more intelligently to enable people to anticipate, absorb and adapt to climate shocks, and limit our climate and environmental impact.

This is why the IFRC supports the Climate Vulnerable Forum’s “Midnight Climate Survival Deadline for the Climate” initiative and its call for enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions under the UNFCCC mechanism. Only by scaling up our collective actions today can we reach the objectives of the Paris Agreement and reduce the humanitarian impacts of the climate crisis.

At the IFRC, our first priority is – and will always be – to support the communities that are most exposed and vulnerable to climate risks and who have the least capacity/ability to manage those risks.

The time to act is now. We look forward to working with partners to tackle the climate crisis together. Let us not miss our chance.

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