Tools and practice
The Red Cross / Red Crescent climate guide
How should humanitarian organisations integrate increased climate risk into their work?
Authors:
Publisher:
Red Cross/ Red Crescent Centre on Climate Change and Disaster Preparedness, 2007
Climate change presents additional challenges for humanitarian organisations responding to disasters and complex emergencies. This guide provides a basic overview of climate change science and its implications for the work of Red Cross / Red Crescent Societies.
This Guide is broken down into two main components:
- the basics about climate change including the scientific consensus, the humanitarian consequences and the general implications for the Red Cross and Red Crescent
- six thematic modules including: getting started, dialogues, communications, disaster management, community risk reduction and health and care
Each module begins with a background section with real-life Red Cross/Red Crescent experiences and perspectives, followed by a "how to" section with specific step-by-step guidance. The Guide identifies six main things that regions Red Cross / Red Crescent Societies can do in order to respond to climate change:
- increased climate risk should be accounted for in programme design, the prioritization of activities and the allocation of resources
- climate change should be integrated into programme areas that are most affected: disaster management, community risk reduction, health and care, food security, water and sanitation, and migration and conflict
- greater institutional and public education on the humanitarian costs of climate change
- establish greater partnerships with governments, business and civil society in order to enhance risk assessment and risk reduction
- at the international level, the Red Cross / Red Crescent Societies must speak up on behalf of those who are most vulnerable
- societies should document their experiences in dealing with the risks associated with climate change
