Climate Change as a Driver of Humanitarian Crises and Response

Feinstein International Center has published Climate Change as a Driver of Humanitarian Crises and Response, which explores the relationships between climate change, humanitarian crises, and humanitarian response through a review of published and grey literature. The paper examines the historical evidence for associations between climate change and humanitarian crises, and then moves on to a brief review of present humanitarian crises directly attributable to disasters triggered by climatological events. The report concludes with some thoughts on the policy and practical implications for the aid community, academia, and donor and crisis-affected states, emphasizing the need to shift from a mind-set in which crisis response is exceptional and interventionist to one in which managing crises is seen as the norm, part of sovereignty, and internalized within more formal international and national arrangements.