This open access articles focusses on climate change relevant humanitarian programming in South Sudan and Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia and Syria.
Abstract
Climate change is increasing the severity and frequency of natural hazards and associated disasters worldwide, yet there is little data tracking how and whether it is being addressed by humanitarian assistance programs. Using publicly available United Nations program data and vulnerability indexes, this study pilots a novel approach for identifying and quantifying the prevalence of climate change- related humanitarian programs from 2016– 2018 in five disaster-affected countries. Funding levels of proposed and undertaken interventions were analyzed within specific programmatic sub-areas and across clusters. We found that 1.8% (99 / 5558) of projects included in humanitarian proposals reviewed by the study have a climate change-related component. Of 1361 funded projects, 40 of these projects were climate related and received funding. Methodologies piloted here for assessing and classifying climate change-related humanitarian programs could be expanded to support further tracking of humanitarian responses to climate change across operational contexts.