The world is facing an existential threat - the climate crisis. The effects of climate change are already evident and have far-reaching consequences for our environment, ecosystems, societies, and people. But the climate crisis goes beyond mere environmental protection. It is closely linked to the increase and intensification of humanitarian crises affecting many millions of people worldwide and posing immense challenges to the world. Devastating storms, floods, historic droughts, and extreme heat waves are killing people, destroying their livelihoods, causing hunger crises, and spreading disease.
Natural disasters and their consequences
One of the most obvious links between the climate crisis and humanitarian crises is extreme weather events and increasing natural disasters. Hurricanes, floods, droughts, and wildfires are occurring more frequently and with greater intensity. Natural disasters can strike countries and regions of the world that have been largely spared from extreme weather. These events result in loss of life, destruction of communities, crops, infrastructure, livelihoods, and displacement of people. The consequences of these natural disasters are devastating and require humanitarian aid to assist those affected.
Examples of natural disasters related to the climate crisis
Drought in the Horn of Africa
Countries in the Horn of Africa continue to be hit by the longest and most severe drought on record, leaving millions at risk of starvation. The drought has particularly affected the countries of Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. In Somalia alone, more than 43,000 people, half of whom were children under 5, died from the drought in 2022, according to a study.
In the first half of 2023, the drought gave way to rains and flash floods. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced from their villages by flooding. Although the rains also brought some relief, it will take years to overcome the historic drought. Rain alone will not be enough to end the crisis.
Torrential floods in Pakistan in 2022.
Extreme rains and a combination of floods and flash floods led to an unprecedented humanitarian disaster in Pakistan that began in June 2022, killing more than 1700 people, killing livestock, and damaging and destroying public and private infrastructure across the country. The heavy rains and flooding affected some 33 million people, at least 7.9 million of whom became internally displaced.
Floods in Nigeria and neighboring countries in 2022
Nigeria experienced its worst floods in a decade in 2022, affecting more than 4.4 million people across the country. Hundreds of people were killed, millions displaced, and millions more affected by above-average rainfall and flooding in Nigeria and neighboring Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Cameroon.
Torrential rains and flooding in Africa over the past year have affected large parts of the continent. In addition to Nigeria and the countries of the Sahel, South Sudan, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, and the Central African Republic in particular were battered by the extreme weather events.
Cyclone Freddy 2023
In February and March of this year, one of the longest-lasting tropical cyclones since weather records began left devastation in Malawi, Mozambique, and Madagascar. More than 1,000 lives were lost to Cyclone Freddy; millions of people were made homeless and displaced. At least 3.8 million women, children, and men in the three countries were affected by the impacts - which included torrential rains and high winds. Mozambique was hit twice by Cyclone Freddy.
Cyclone Mocha 2023
Cyclone Mocha, the strongest storm to hit the Bay of Bengal in the last decade, hit Bangladesh and particularly Myanmar in May. Tropical Storm Mocha first made landfall about 30 km west-northwest of Sittwe in Myanmar and 150 km south-southeast of Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh. The tropical storm affected millions of people and left hundreds dead. The storm devastated the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in Rakhine State and northwestern Myanmar, two of the country's poorest regions, worsening an already dire situation there.
Floods in the Democratic Republic of Congo 2023
In May of this year, severe flooding affected people in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Hundreds of women, children and men lost their lives to flooding and mudslides. Earlier, the eastern part of the country, which borders Rwanda and Burundi, experienced unusually heavy rains that caused rivers to overflow and flash floods. The extreme weather event also affected Uganda and Rwanda, causing many casualties and severe damage.
Food security and hunger
Climate change is impacting agricultural production, thus threatening food security. Droughts, floods and changing weather patterns are causing crop failures and food shortages. Rising food prices can lead to hunger crises and further burden already vulnerable communities. This trend is particularly threatening given the current food insecurity around the world. Increases in malnutrition and hunger will especially affect the world's most vulnerable populations.
Although more than enough food is produced globally to feed the world's population, nearly ten percent of humanity goes hungry. According to the World Food Report 2023, 735 million were affected by hunger worldwide in 2022. Last year, more than a quarter of a billion people (258 million) in the world were in need of food assistance and livelihood support due to conflicts, economic shocks and weather extremes related to the climate crisis. Up to 50 million people are currently on the brink of famine. Hundreds of thousands are suffering from catastrophic hunger. Climate change is fueling food insecurity and hunger in the world's worst hot spots.
Water and resource scarcity
At the same time, the climate crisis is also affecting the availability of water. Water scarcity is becoming an increasing problem, contributing to conflict and exacerbating humanitarian crises. Climate change is affecting the water cycle and causing water shortages in many regions. This can lead to conflicts over limited water resources and exacerbate humanitarian crises. In addition, water deficiencies affect people's access to sanitation and basic hygiene.
Already, more than 2 billion people in the world lack access to safe drinking water. 3.6 billion people live without safe sanitation. Of these, 1.7 billion people lack basic sanitation, and half a billion people defecate in the open. 2.3 billion people lack access to basic hygiene measures such as hand washing with soap.
At least 1.4 million people already die each year from preventable causes related to unsafe water, waterborne diseases and poor sanitation. This includes about 446,000 children under the age of five who die from diarrheal diseases.
Climate change is exacerbating the world's water problem, contributing to both severe droughts and floods. Securing a sustainable water supply for humanity and climate action are two sides of the same coin to avert the growing global water crisis.
The climate crisis is also leading to an increase in conflicts between communities or an intensification of existing lines of conflict rooted in ethnic or religious conflicts. Resource scarcity - for example, the decline of arable land - caused by climate change creates tensions between people and communities. These tensions can lead to violence and, ultimately, war.
Health impacts
The climate crisis also poses significant health risks. The rise in average temperatures causes heat waves that can lead to heat stroke and dehydration. Hundreds of thousands of people die each year from preventable heat-related causes. The elderly and people with pre-existing conditions are particularly affected by heat waves.
While most media attention focuses on daily maximum temperatures, it is nighttime temperatures that pose the greatest health risks, especially for vulnerable populations. Elevated daily low temperatures are particularly dangerous to human health because the body cannot recover from hot days.
During the extreme summer of 2023, large parts of the Northern Hemisphere were hit by widespread and intense heat waves, including North America, Asia, North Africa, and the Mediterranean region. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the warmest average global temperature on record was recorded in June and, according to preliminary figures, continued into July, which will make July 2023 the warmest month ever recorded.
The recently declared El Niño - a natural climate phenomenon - is amplifying the occurrence and intensity of such extreme heat events and their impact on human health and livelihoods. The years 2023 and 2024 are expected to be dominated by El Niño events.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius instead of 2 degrees Celsius in the long term could result in approximately 420 million fewer people being exposed to extreme heat waves.
At the same time, climate change favors the spread of infectious diseases as the ranges of vectors such as mosquitoes and ticks expand. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), infectious diseases are expected to increase as extreme weather events become more frequent and intense.
These include a possible increase in waterborne diseases such as cholera due to water scarcity or flooded water and sanitation infrastructure. Especially in acute humanitarian crisis situations, a greater number of people could be affected by infectious diseases such as measles and meningitis.
Extreme weather events can also lead to disruption of health services due to lack of water supply in drought situations or damage to health infrastructure from floods and hurricanes, as well as extreme heat and increased risk of wildfires. Strains on the health system and increased vulnerability of communities further exacerbate existing humanitarian crises. These health risks may lead to new humanitarian emergencies, particularly in vulnerable communities.
Displacement and migration
One of the most tragic consequences of the climate crisis is the forced displacement and migration of people. Environmental changes, such as rising sea levels, loss of agricultural land, or droughts, force people to leave their homes. This leads to internal displacement, cross-border displacement or mass migration, and compounds existing humanitarian crises. Hosting and assisting people who have crossed an international state border, due to natural disasters linked to the climate crisis, and climate migrants is an enormous challenge for which adequate international mechanisms do not yet exist.
Most people affected by acute climate-related disasters currently seek refuge within their own countries. 32.6 million internal displacements occurred last year due to natural disasters, more than half of all such displacements worldwide. Many people were forced to flee multiple times within their own countries. The countries most affected were Pakistan (25 percent of internal displacement), the Philippines, China, India and Nigeria. The most common cause of displacement last year was flooding, followed by storms and droughts.
At the end of 2022, 8.7 million people (12 percent of all IDPs) were internally displaced as a result of natural disasters. Most people at that time were affected in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Somalia, Ethiopia and South Sudan. Currently, 1.7 million people alone have fled their homes due to the drought in Somalia.
The number of people globally who have crossed an international state border, due to natural disasters linked to the climate crisis, is not known. It is expected that the number of people forced to flee will increase due to the climate emergency, especially if no action or effective measures are taken to slow climate change and improve adaptation to its consequences.
Examples of countries and regions at high risk
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa - including the countries of Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, and Somalia - is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to the impacts of climate change and is currently experiencing one of the worst situations of food insecurity due to extreme climate events such as drought and floods, as well as conflict. The Horn of Africa is the epicenter of one of the world's worst climate disasters. Rains in 2023 are beginning to alleviate the effects of historic drought, but they also bring new risks and challenges. Floods have already caused widespread damage and affected more than a million people. Meanwhile, neighboring South Sudan is also affected by recurring natural disasters, in addition to conflicts.
Sahel and West Africa
West Africa, including the Sahel, is among the regions of the world most affected by water insecurity and climate impacts. Many of the most affected countries, particularly in the Sahel, also face instability and armed conflict. In addition to droughts, people face the risks of extreme high-rainfall events and flooding.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is one of the states bordering the Sahel that is at the forefront of the climate crisis. However, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and Cameroon are also at risk. Many countries in the Sahel are among the poorest and least developed in the world. The effects of the climate crisis and global food shortages are further exacerbating the emergency. Rapid climate changes are causing natural disasters to become more frequent and severe.
Southern East Africa
Malawi, Madagascar, and Mozambique are three countries in southern East Africa that are particularly vulnerable to climate shocks and frequent natural disasters such as drought, floods, and tropical storms. However, neighboring Zambia and Zimbabwe are also vulnerable to climate-related extreme weather events.
South Asia and Southeast Asia
On the Asian continent, the risk is currently estimated to be greatest for South and Southeast Asia, including the populous countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and the Philippines, which regularly face natural disasters. Heat events, heavy rainfall and flash floods, and cyclones are the greatest natural hazards occurring there in connection with the climate crisis.
Latin America
In Latin America, the exposure to risk is considered high, especially for several countries in Central America. El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua are additionally plagued by violence, insecurity, hunger, poverty and human rights violations. People in the dry corridor of Central America in particular, which stretches from the Pacific coast through Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, are severely feeling the effects of climate change and are at risk of drought.
The countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua are vulnerable to a variety of natural disasters such as floods, landslides, and hurricanes during the Atlantic hurricane season from June to November. In addition, some of these countries are threatened by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
In the Caribbean, Haiti is particularly vulnerable. Already at extreme risk of earthquakes and dominated by gang violence, the country faces the dangers of tropical storms and flooding.
Complex emergencies
Extreme weather events further exacerbate existing situations, especially in protracted complex emergencies related to armed conflict, displacement, hunger, poverty, and economic crises. It is the world's most vulnerable people who are most at risk from the climate crisis, although they have contributed least to its emergence.
Possible solutions
The climate crisis is a global challenge that requires global solutions. All countries and continents must work together to combat climate change and mitigate its effects. Key approaches to solving the problem include:
- Reducing greenhouse gas emissions
- Providing acute humanitarian aid in affected countries
- Investing in and switching to renewable energy sources
- Building global early warning systems for extreme weather events
- Increasing energy efficiency
- Reforestation and forest protection
- Adaptation assistance to the effects of climate change
- Promoting sustainable economies and modes of transportation
- Establishment of a global climate catastrophe insurance
What can every individual do?
The climate crisis is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today. Each individual can help mitigate the effects of the climate crisis by making small changes in their lives. There are many things we can do to combat the climate crisis and mitigate its effects. Here are some examples of what each of us can do to fight the climate crisis:
- We can reduce our energy use by using less electricity, water, gasoline, and other resources.
- We can switch to renewable energy sources like solar and wind power.
- We can make our lifestyles more sustainable by eating less meat, producing less waste, and recycling more - making our lifestyles more resource efficient in general.
- We can call on our governments and businesses to do more to protect the climate, and use our votes to put pressure on politicians.
- We can support humanitarian aid through donations while urging governments to fund the majority of necessary humanitarian needs around the world.
- We can support organizations and movements that are working on climate change mitigation and adaptation.
In conclusion
The climate crisis and humanitarian crises are inextricably linked. The impacts of climate change are already having dramatic consequences for people around the world. A coordinated global response is needed to address these challenges. Action to mitigate climate change, adapt to changes already underway, support those affected, and build resilient communities is critical.
To mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis, all countries must work together. Taking decisive action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, invest in renewable energy, and adapt to the impacts of climate change is urgently needed.
The impacts of climate change on social, economic, and environmental stability are diverse and complex. Meeting these challenges requires a holistic approach that includes both climate mitigation and adaptation to the changes already underway.
Only through collective efforts can we contain the climate crisis while addressing humanitarian crises to ensure a sustainable and equitable future for generations to come. Every individual can play a part in this effort. Time is running out to contain the climate crisis.
Further information
For the latest news on humanitarian emergencies, see Climate Crisis. The DONARE Climate Crisis and Climate Change page provides an overview of key organizations, movements and institutions. Donation opportunities can be also explored on the following pages: Humanitarian Crisis Relief, Refugees and IDPs, Children in Need, Hunger and Food Insecurity, Medical Humanitarian Aid, Vulnerable Groups, Faith-Based Humanitarian Organizations, and Human Rights Organizations.