GENEVA, Switzerland
25.02.2021.
The LWF and partners issue a call to accelerate adaptation to climate change
Together with the UN and international humanitarian organisations, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is calling for accelerated adaptation to climate change in order to reduce and prevent disaster risk, which disproportionately affects the most vulnerable populations.
The call was made in a video for the Climate Adaptation Summit (CAS) 2021, which was held online on 25 and 26 January at the 2021 summit meeting on climate change.
The video depicts the impact of climate-driven disasters and shows how they can be controlled and reduced.
LWF and partners call for accelerated climate adaptation from Lutheran World Federation on Vimeo.
The impact of climate-driven events
Over the past ten years, climate- and weather-related disasters have claimed more than 400,000 lives, affected 1.7 billion people and displaced an average of 25 million people a year. These risks are growing, as more frequent and far more devastating events are forecast for the future. By 2050, climate disasters could require humanitarian assistance for 200 million people each year.
Although the climate crisis affects everyone, it has a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable people. They face many other threats, including conflict, violence and poverty. According to the ND-Gain index, of the 20 countries considered most vulnerable to climate change, 12 are affected by conflict. Many displaced people live in climate hotspots, where they are regularly hit by major floods, heatwaves and drought.
Marginalised groups suffer the most — women, children, the poor and those who cannot afford food on a regular basis. A large proportion of those displaced by climate change are women. Older people, too, suffer disproportionately from disasters.
Adaptation to climate change is essential
Yet climate- and weather-related disasters are not inevitable. There are tools to control and reduce climate risks and to adapt to them.
By using scientific data to avert disaster in time and working with local communities and partners, the consequences of disasters can be limited.
Funding is needed to install systems that warn of approaching disaster. This can prevent catastrophe and save lives.
Global climate action must first and foremost support the least protected countries and communities, in order to prevent, prepare for and adapt to the current climate crisis.
The LWF’s involvement
“The LWF works actively with its member churches and through its country programmes to help vulnerable communities adapt, as well as to reduce disaster risk,” explains Isaiah Toroitich, head of the LWF’s global advocacy office.
“Climate protection and humanitarian action are closely linked, and that is why the international community must redouble its efforts to achieve ambitious adaptation and mitigation measures.”
The LWF World Service programme in Ethiopia is one example of the LWF’s involvement in this regard. It is engaged in agricultural development and ensuring water sustainability in local communities. It also supports tens of thousands of refugees with water and sanitation programmes, education, psychosocial support, livelihood development and environmental protection.
Another example is Central America, one of the most vulnerable regions in the world. Here the LWF World Service runs projects on environmental sustainability, the management of local natural resources and food security in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
The call to action issued in connection with the CAS 2021 programme includes one of the action themes of the summit, jointly developed by the LWF and the following organisations: Concern Worldwide, Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Norwegian Refugee Council, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Save the Children, Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and UN World Food Programme (WFP).
Submitted by LWF/A.Weyermüller
LWF ACTION FOR JUSTICE (resource in English)
Source: The Lutheran World Federation
Photo: Sean Hawkey