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Advocacy

The Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement never works in isolation. But partnerships, one of its strategic directions, are more important than ever in the context of global warming. Around the world, as national societies have taken on climate change programmes they have sought dialogue with government and local authority, with meteorological offices, universities and other centres of knowledge, and with NGOs, civil society. By reaching out to others they have extended their networks and continued to advocate for the needs of the most vulnerable in accordance with their fundamental principles.

“This isn’t something you do on your own. It is very important stakeholders work hand in hand. Together we can do a lot more.” Tataua Pese, Tuvalu.

The Red Cross and Red Crescent also needs to speak out for the most vulnerable, those who have contributed least to the problem but will suffer most. Measures to reduce the impacts of climate change are being implemented in the richest countries that can afford to do so, rather than for those people that need them most. These imbalance need to be addressed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In that context 2009 was a crucial year for negotiations to arrive at a successor to the Kyoto protocol, which has to enter into force in 2012. This agreement needs to include clear mechanisms to provide resources to reduce the risks facing the most vulnerable people.

UNFCCC climate change negotiations: click here for more information about Red Cross/ Red Crescent involvement at the COP

National dialogue

Policies and actions to support developing countries to adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change have been developing in the last years, and accelerating since 2007. One of the (few) achievements at the Climate Summit in Copenhagen was the commitment in the Copenhagen Accord by industrialized countries to support developing countries in 2010-2012 with $30 billion, to be divided in a balanced way between mitigation and adaptation. In addition it was agreed that by 2020 $100 billion should be mobilised annually in support of climate actions in developing countries. In many developing countries climate change adaptation (CCA) programmes and policies have already been set in motion, often supported by UN agencies, bilateral donors or the World Bank. Civil society organisations are also increasingly developing and implementing CCA programmes and projects. Climate change will likely lead to more, and more intense, weather extremes, resulting in disasters. Humanitarian actors have much experience to address and reduce these risks. Yet, in many countries humanitarian actors are not fully aware of, or engaged in, climate change adaptation policies and programme development. Establishing the first steps of a dialogue with your government on the topic can be a bit challenging.

We produced a document file (pdf, 69 kB) at the request of National Societies and Federation staff world-wide. It aims to help get that dialogue started. Download here an overview of a number of CCA and DRR related initiatives in developing countries (Excel).

Climate-related stakeholders and questions to ask them

In case you would like to have some guidance in your approach to different stakeholders, please click here for a set of questions you could ask them. Click here for the Spanish version.

In November 2007, the International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent expressed a clear concern about the humanitarian impacts of climate change, and a strong commitment to address them. Download here file (pdf, 115 kB) the conference declaration Together for Humanity.

Inter-Agency Standing Committee

The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) is a unique inter-agency forum for coordination, policy development and decision-making involving the key UN and non-UN humanitarian partners. The IASC was established in June 1992 in response to United Nations General Assembly Resolution 46/182 on the strengthening of humanitarian assistance. General Assembly Resolution 48/57 affirmed its role as the primary mechanism for inter-agency coordination of humanitarian assistance.

Under the leadership of the Emergency Relief Coordinator, the IASC develops humanitarian policies, agrees on a clear division of responsibility for the various aspects of humanitarian assistance, identifies and addresses gaps in response, and advocates for effective application of humanitarian principles. Together with Executive Committee for Humanitarian Affairs (ECHA), the IASC forms the key strategic coordination mechanism among major humanitarian actors. Go here external to visit the IASC's website.

Advocacy in Asia Pacific

The Asia Pacific zone covers 45 countries and experiences 79% of the world’s disaster related fatalities. Increasing climate risk threatens hardearned development gains. A strategy for dealing with this is to better understand and pre-empt climate related hazards through systematic use of climate information available for early warning. This can occur on timescales of hours, days, weeks, months and even years ahead of time. Download here the complete Case Study.