Nairobi, 19 November
2009 - Climate change is putting increasing
demands on the humanitarian community, the
International Federation of the Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said on
Wednesday at its first-ever global meeting
in Africa.
"World powers expect
humanitarian actors to face continuing or
increasing humanitarian needs driven by
climate change-related natural disasters,"
says the survey, which was released just
three weeks before the start of the crucial
UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen.
The IFRC-commissioned
survey, entitled 'Believe in Humanity',
was released as hundreds of delegates from
the 186 national societies of the Red Cross/Red
Crescent gathered for their week-long General
Assembly in the United Nations compound
in Nairobi, Kenya.
"Here in a country
like Kenya one can already see the signature
of climate change in terms of droughts and
most recently floods - challenges which
your organization has to respond to with
ever more frequency and urgency," said
Achim Steiner, Under-Secretary-General and
UNEP Executive Director, in his opening
remarks to the meeting on Wednesday. "Climate
change unchecked is likely to trigger increasing
tensions over scarce natural resources."
'Disasters and conflict'
is one of the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP)'s main priority areas,
and the organization has so far operated
in more than 40 countries, often in collaboration
with front-line organizations like the IFRC.
Through its Post Conflict and Disaster Management
Branch in Geneva, Switzerland, UNEP deploys
teams of experts using state-of-the-art
science and technology to assess environmental
damage and determine risks for human health,
livelihoods and security in post-conflict
and disaster situations.
Since 1999, UNEP has
responded to the environmental impacts of
conflicts and disasters in over 25 countries.
Most recently in its assessment of Sudan,
it linked environmental problems such as
land degradation, deforestation and the
impacts of climate change as threatening
the Sudanese people's prospect for long-term
peace, food security and sustainable development.
"There are many
other examples where, with environmental
planning, the situation might have been
sustained or improved, rather than having
declined," stressed Mr. Steiner.
The Nairobi meeting
is also marking the 60th anniversary of
the Geneva Conventions and the 150th anniversary
of the battle of Solferino that left tens
of thousands of soldiers dead and prompted
Swiss businessman, Henry Dunant, to found
the Red Cross movement, which today is the
world's largest humanitarian network with
millions of volunteers.
"No country has
barred IFRC staff from accessing victims
of war and disasters on account of sovereignty.
Such influence could be used to rally people
to care for the environment to prevent disasters,"
Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga told
delegates on Wednesday.
The meeting is taking
place as countries begin to prepare for
the historic climate talks next month that
will also define the future role of humanitarian
work. "In just a few weeks' time governments
will gather in Copenhagen, Denmark, for
the crucial UN climate convention meeting.
The decisions taken there may shape the
future of this century in terms of human
vulnerability and disaster management as
a result of the impacts of global warming,"
said Mr. Steiner.
