How climate change affects disasters
Climate change is a humanitarian crisis. Find out key stats about climate change, how it affects disasters and people, and what we're doing about it.
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The global climate is changing at an unprecedented rate. And it’s having dramatic effects on people around the world.
Through our work supporting vulnerable communities, we are seeing increasingly devastating floods. Shifting weather patterns are also affecting food production and making some disasters more extreme. As a result, vital infrastructures are under threat, like water resources, energy, transportation, agriculture and health, as well as local ecosystems and wildlife.
Climate change is a humanitarian crisis.
We see this when we work with communities who have lost homes, livelihoods or loved ones to tropical storms, flooding and drought. Our changing climate is making it harder to live in many parts of the world and issues continue to build for people who play the smallest part in creating them.
Vulnerable families are on the front line of the climate crisis, forced to leave their homes to survive – either because of these disasters, or to find food, water or to make a living.
It is estimated that 1.2 billion people could be displaced by the climate crisis by 2050.
Key stats about climate change
Global temperatures increasing
The earth has warmed by an average of 1°C in the last century.
Highest greenhouse gas levels*
Greenhouse gas levels in our atmosphere reached a record high in 2018, well above the levels observed in nature (*over the last 800,000 years).
Sea levels rising
Sea levels will continue to rise well beyond 2100. The extent of the rise will depend on whether we are all able to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.
Stronger storms
Climate change is leading to an increasing number of very strong storms in categories 4 and 5.
How climate change affects disasters
Our changing climate is making large weather events like droughts, hurricanes, floods and wildfires worse
Droughts
Droughts are a natural part of our climate. They are influenced by moving weather patterns, high temperatures and lack of rain.
However, the climate crisis is increasing the severity of extreme drought in some regions around the world. Somaliland, the Lake Chad Basin, and the Eastern Mediterranean have all seen the devastating effects in recent years.
Increasing temperatures, more extreme changes in rainfall patterns and less snowfall are contributing to worsening drought conditions.
Even regions that may not see changes in rainfall are feeling the impact. Warmer temperatures lead to higher demand for water and more surface evaporation, putting greater stress on water supplies.
One of the most devastating effects of droughts is the strain they can put on food supplies. In countries where communities don’t have reliable sources of nutritious food, droughts can cause food prices to go up, leading to social unrest, famine and migration.
Floods
As temperatures rise, the warmth can lead to more extreme rainfall in some regions.
At the same time, the sea level rises predicted for the coming years will cause increased flooding in coastal and low-lying areas. Coastal erosion will also increase.
Flood risks are also increasing across many urban and rural areas because of the changing landscape. Natural flood barriers like forests are being cut down and expanding cities create huge areas of impermeable land where high levels of water are not easily drained away. (source: IPCC)
Tropical storms
Tropical storms like hurricanes and cyclones are a natural part of our climate.
Whilst climate change is not increasing the number of tropical storms we see, the rising temperatures are causing the storms to become much more intense and have a far more devastating impact. In recent years, we have seen far more of the highest possible categories of storms – Categories 4 and 5.
Research also suggests that the climate crisis is influencing the speed of tropical storms, causing them to move more slowly, leading to greater destruction.
Wildfires
Rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns will lead to more extreme drought.
Drought conditions can fuel deadly wildfires, with areas such as the US and Australia particularly susceptible.
Deforestation and farming techniques such as slash and burn are also a large contributor to wildfires. In 2019 fires ravaged the Amazon Basin, destroying more than 2 million acres of rainforest.
As well as huge areas of forest, thousands of homes have been lost globally over the past decade due to wildfires.
(source: Center for Climate and Energy Solutions)
“I'm tired of always having to move each time there are floods, but we don't have another option. We simply can't afford to buy a home out of the flood-affected areas.” – Mirta, Paraguay
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How does climate change affect people?
Extreme weather events often happen in countries where many people live in poverty. We help vulnerable communities recover after disaster, but the climate crisis is making challenging situations worse.
The climate crisis is having a huge impact on people who depend on the weather for their livelihoods. People who farm, rear livestock, or live a nomadic lifestyle are struggling to feed their families. Climate shocks bring devastating and long-term effects, often forcing them to move away into cities.
This brings a new set of challenging circumstances such as overcrowding, food scarcity and vulnerability to diseases like coronavirus.
For people living through war, the climate crisis makes their already overwhelmingly difficult situation worse.
Floods, droughts, depletion of water sources, shortage of food and often having nowhere to live add to the complexities of war.
With no essential services like health or social care, damaged economies, the constant threat of violence, and the lack of robust shelter, people’s ability to cope can be entirely compromised.
How we manage our environmental impact
We know that by working to support disaster-affected communities we also have an impact on the environment.
Our use of air freight and energy contributes to climate change; the waste we produce contributes to landfill, and any single-use plastics will stay on the planet for many lifetimes.
If not properly managed, our impact could contribute to increasing the vulnerability of communities to disaster.
That’s why we are committed to understanding our impact on the environment and finding ways to avoid or reduce these effects.
We’re taking action towards reducing our carbon footprint in a number of ways, including:
- Prepositioning our aid in storage hubs around the globe.
- Establishing ShelterBox Operations Philippines so we can respond there more efficiently.
- Looking for ways to reduce the number of times we move aid items – particularly for longer-term responses like complex conflicts.
- Collecting carbon emissions data to understand how we can reduce our impact.
- Identifying and eliminating non-essential single-use plastics in our supply chain.
- Creating environmental assessment criteria for suppliers.
Severe drought has forced thousands of families to flee their homes in the Horn of Africa. We have been supporting people in Somalia, including Mohamed and his daughter
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Why are we talking about climate change?
Supporting communities who have lost their homes to extreme weather events has been a significant part of our work for the last 20 years.
We are on the front line, helping communities in the immediate aftermath of disasters, which are becoming more severe because of our warming climate.
Right now, the climate crisis is destroying homes and livelihoods. With help from our partners, we work to reach some of the world’s most vulnerable people. People who are bearing the brunt of the increase in extreme weather and the ravages of conflict.
Climate change is irreversibly changing the lives of the communities we support and that means we are already active players in the climate crisis conversation.
Our priority is helping vulnerable people feel more in control of their futures – they know what they’re facing better than we ever could. Through listening to the communities we serve, our work can help with climate change adaption.
For example…
Water filters can help families clean contaminated water when climate shocks increase water scarcity.
Training ensures people can make the best use of the aid. That includes simple tips for securing a tarpaulin or creating drainage channels.
Where families are at risk of being displaced several times, aid packages are designed to be mobile and flexible.
Robust tents that can withstand strong winds and vents that help with ventilation in hotter climates.
