Best practices

The Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre supports several programmes in cooperation with the Netherlands Red Cross or the IFRC. They are implemented together with the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies of the countries involved. The Climate Centre contributes to the activities by providing knowledge, advice and support in obtaining financial means.

Programmes in developing countries aim to reducing climate risks in poor areas facing multiple natural hazards. Here, underdevelopment and disasters intertwine: poor people are rendered acutely vulnerable to disasters and disaster victims are trapped in chronic poverty.

For more country information, visit the worldmap.

Information on programmes and Climate Centre support in 2006 and 2007

Viet Nam

What does a changing climate mean for vulnerable people in Viet Nam, and how could the Red Cross help enhance their resilience? The Viet Nam Red Cross has been learning by doing since 2003. By understanding the projected impact of global warming on the occurrence of extreme weather events, and adjusting disaster management programmes accordingly, the Viet Nam Red Cross aims to contribute to safer communities for people living in disaster prone areas. Read more:
Preparing for climate change in Viet Nam_February (pdf, 179 kB).
Viet Nam programme and Climate Centre support (pdf, 229 kB).

Indonesia

In the context of a changing climate, rainfall in Indonesia is projected to increase in some regions and decrease in others. The wet season will probably get wetter, the dry season drier, and extreme events such as floods and droughts are expected to multiply.
Palang Merah Indonesia (PMI – the Indonesian Red Cross) has increasingly invested in disaster risk reduction over the past years, in particular through an integrated community-based risk reduction strategy (ICBRR). ICBRR’s objective is to strengthen the capacities of vulnerable at risk communities to cope with disasters and to reduce their vulnerabilities to natural and man-made hazards. Read more:
Palang Merah Indonesia and integrated community based risk reduction (pdf, 218 kB).
Indonesian programme and Climate Centre support (pdf, 26 kB).|
YouTube: Beyond Response-Adapting to Climate Change at the Indonesian Red Cross .

Mozambique

Mozambique, on the east coast of Southern Africa, is economically very vulnerable to climate variability: about 75 per cent of its population depends on rain-fed agriculture. Hazards vary, depending on the geographical location of the provinces. Mostly, disasters are caused by phenomena or events with a social, economic, environmental, meteorological or hydrological touch. Drought, floods, cyclones, plagues, pests, burnings, landslides, epidemics (including HIV and aids) and in February a severe earthquake: the occurrence of disasters and emergency situations in Mozambique is on the increase. Read more:
Pilot in Mozambique: dealing with climate change (pdf, 130 kB).
Mozambique programme and Climate Centre support (pdf, 30 kB).

Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Colombia

Latin America is visited by floods, hurricanes and droughts on a regular basis. When disaster strikes, the poor especially have little or nothing with which to protect themselves – and here “the poor” make up more than half the population. Funded by the ´Dutch National Lottery´, the National Red Cross Societies of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Columbia and Guatemala work to strengthen the resilience of people most at risk of the adverse effects of climate change. They face floods, hurricanes, droughts and often massive deforestation, making them vulnerable to natural disasters. Red Cross efforts to help them include raising awareness on the risks of climate change. Read more: 
Preparing for climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean (pdf, 696 kB).
Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Colombia programme and Climate Centre support (pdf, 41 kB).

Pacific

The Pacific climate change programme, which kicked off in late 2005, has been funded with assistance from the Canada Fund1, Japanese Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (The Federation) and the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre. The project began with a capacity building component: increasing knowledge and interpretation of climate change science within National Societies. Rather than presenting climate change as a stand alone scientific issue, it was discussed in the context of regular regional Red Cross meetings, relating to topics such as health and disaster management. By discussing climate change from a Red Cross perspective, the mystery could be taken out of scientific language that can sometimes be daunting. Read more:
Tuvalu: Joining forces to tackle climate change (pdf, 1 MB).
Pacific Red Cross Societies: Preparing for a changing climate (pdf, 270 kB).
Tuvalu and Samoa programme and Climate Centre support (pdf, 23 kB).

Netherlands climate change programme

A national heat plan for the Netherlands, a country with grey skies and lots of rain? Yes, indeed. Climate change has its warming effects also here. The summer of 2006, the country experienced two heatwaves (in some regions even three) with the longest lasting sixteen consecutive days. July was the hottest month ever recorded in Holland's meteorological history, going back to 1706. Read more:
Climate change in the Netherlands, awareness and heatwave projects (pdf, 95 kB).

Information on programmes supported by the Climate Centre in 2003-2005

Nicaragua pilot programme 2003-2005

One of the first international pilot projects of the Climate Centre, in cooperation with the Netherlands Red Cross, was the ‘climate change and disaster preparedness’ programme on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragu. Read more (pdf, 21 kB).
Also: Summary final narrative report Nicaragua_March 2005 (pdf, 17 kB).

Disaster preparedness/climate change programme Viet Nam 2003-2005

In Viet Nam the Netherlands Red Cross completed the first stage of the ‘climate change and disaster preparedness’ programme by the end of 2005. Read more (pdf, 18 kB).
Also: Finalizing Viet Nam´s ´Preparedness for disasters to climate change´ programme 2006 (pdf, 186 kB).

Netherlands Education Campaign for local branches and Climate Beach Campaign

In 2004-2005 the Climate Centre, in cooperation with the Netherlands Red Cross and supported by the Netherlands National Committee for Sustainable Development, implemented the programme: ‘The humanitarian consequences of a few degrees more’. Aim of this programme was to inform the 339 branches of the Netherlands Red Cross about the negative impacts of climate change. Read more (pdf, 29 kB).

Co-organizing the preparations for the ‘HIER’ climate campaign of 45 NGOs in the Netherlands

This was a very exciting and successful project of the Climate Centre in 2005. Not the least because it is in itself unique that 45 NGOs are interested to work together on a new theme: climate change. Read more (pdf, 21 kB).