UNOCHA Pre-Conference Workshop – 2023

Background

With a different theme for DIHAD every year, it was agreed that a pre-DIHAD workshop would be organized in alignment with the main theme of the Conference to introduce participants to the topic from the perspective of the multilateral humanitarian system. As this year’s theme of DIHAD 2023: “Energy and Aid; capitalising on available resources”. With a focus on a number of topics including addressing the topic: “The impact of rapidly changing sources and costs of energy on humanitarian aid and development”.

This 19th edition of the pre-DIHAD workshop aims to discuss the “Climate Change: Time to Scale up Anticipatory Humanitarian Action” by bringing technical experts to share their experiences and lessons learned with the group of professional participants who would be interested in expanding their knowledge and engage in the discussion.

Thematic Overview

The Global Humanitarian Overview 2021 estimates that 235 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, with 160 million targeted for assistance in over 30 countries. This annual estimate is based on needs assessments that take place in humanitarian crises during the year, an often-challenging process that takes account of multiple sectors. Although Humanitarian Needs Overviews increasingly include scenarios and projections for potential shocks and hazards, the coexistence, correlation, and causality of needs is difficult to capture in complex humanitarian crises.

Half of the world’s population, up to 3.6 billion people already live in contexts highly vulnerable to climate change. By 2050, virtually every child on Earth – over 2 billion children – is forecast to face more frequent heatwaves and more people are now forced from their homes by extreme weather than by war.

Climate change is already driving major new emergency needs, stretching the humanitarian system to breaking point. The number of people impacted by climate-related disasters doubled in the first two decades of this century. As the planet warms, the gap between these growing needs and the resources available to build resilience and support emergency response (already at over $30 billion for this year) will continue to grow. Climate finance has the potential to help fill this gap, but it is not reaching the most vulnerable people and communities at either the scale or speed required.

The regional, national and local disaster management structures and international humanitarian systems will not be able to cope with the challenges posed by increased, prolonged and interacting climate-related disasters. In 103 countries, extreme heat accounted for an estimated 98 million more people reporting moderate to severe food insecurity in 2020 than the average number of people in 1981–2010. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, people who live in a climate crisis hotspot in the global south are 15 times more likely to die from a climate disaster.

The most vulnerable populations, such as elderly, women, children and people living in slums or rural areas, will be most affected, yet rich and poor countries alike are affected by climate change. It is worth noting that the G20 countries account for 80 per cent of global emissions. While developed nations agreed to provide $100 billion per year to help developing countries mitigate and adapt to climate change. This target has not been met. It reached only around $80 billion in 2019, mostly in the form of loans.

Financing of humanitarian assistance may decrease as traditional donors direct more resources towards adaptation to extreme weather in their own countries. Anticipatory financing and financing linked to the Loss and Damage workstream of the UNFCCC could address this gap but demands active engagement from the humanitarian system.

We all bear the brunt of inaction, while there is still hope, the UN and Partners need to rapidly engage in climate action, and adapt at several levels, including policy, advocacy, mitigation, preparedness/ readiness and early action. Our collective experience shows that we need to massively scale up investment in anticipatory approaches, and better engage the private sector to ensure access to early action for all.

Click here to register (882 AED)

Explore past pre-conference archives here.