Humanitarians & the climate crisis

As the climate crisis intensifies, the impacts on women, girls and the most vulnerable are increasingly cause for alarm. 

Climate-related disasters are eroding the hard-fought progress on health and gender equality and stretching already under-funded health services in developing countries. The climate crisis affects the social and environmental determinants of health – safe and clean water, clean air, sanitation and sufficient food. Without these essentials, achieving sexual and reproductive health and rights becomes impossible. 

As we brace for cycles of disaster and displacement, we can anticipate an increase in poverty along with spikes in gender-based violence and harmful practices like child-marriage.

To meet the multiple challenges of this crisis, UNFPA plays a critical role in emergency responses through the United Nations cluster system. By ensuring access to basic services in disasters, humanitarian workers are supporting the most vulnerable and protecting human rights. This collection of stories and portraits celebrates some of the humanitarian workers coping with the impacts of climate change in the world's most disaster-prone region. 

Bangladesh: Rumana Khan is the Gender-Based Violence Sub-Cluster Coordinator with UNFPA in Bangladesh. She works in emergencies in one of the most flood-prone countries in the world and is part of a community of humanitarians who are innovating to anticipate the needs of the most vulnerable and support them during climate disasters.  READ MORE

“The intense floods from climate change impact women and girls especially hard. Every year there are all kinds of floods and we have to look at how this affects the lives of the vulnerable or marginalized groups.”

-Rumana Khan

Bangladesh: Kameena Islam blames extreme weather for the death of her infant son, Shahnawaz. When her baby fell ill with a fever, she wrapped him in a plastic sheet and travelled through a torrential downpour to the local hospital in Umedpur in northern Bangladesh. When she arrived over an hour later, she discovered her son had died in her arms. Islam and her family still do not know what caused the child’s death, but they say the extreme weather conditions made it harder to get support and this delay played a part in his death. ©UN0286423/Jhantu Chakma

Solomon Islands: Cathy is from the island of Santa Catalina in Makira province. The low-lying atoll is eroding as a result of sea-level rise and the community is facing hard choices trying to feed a growing population with reduced arable land. Her father is a fisherman who goes out to sea in a traditional canoe to catch enough fish for the family. Changing weather patterns have resulted in unpredictable storms that have claimed the lives of many fishermen. Cathy says her father nearly drowned last year when his boat was smashed on a rock in a storm. While he managed to swim to safety and goes fishing every day, Cathy worries when he heads out in rough seas. ©UNFPA/Rose

The climate crisis is projected to double the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance globally by 2050, with devastating impacts projected in Asia and the Pacific as the world’s most disaster prone region

Fiji: Tropical Cyclone Yasa made landfall on 17 December 2020 in Bua province on the island of Vanua Levu. While it weakened as it neared Fiji, it was still a category 5 cyclone with wind speeds of 250 kph when it hit Bua. The Northern Division, which is one of the most impoverished regions in the country, bore the brunt of the cyclone. ©UN0400168/Stehpen

Fiji: Susan Grey is the Executive Director of femLINKpacific, a Pacific feminist media organization that supports a network of rural women in Fiji as communities brace for more extreme storms from climate change. “Some women don't feel comfortable in the evacuation centers,” Susan says. “There is the issue of everyone being stuck together in an evacuation center. Is there proper lighting? Do they have proper restrooms, or do they have to go outside to a separate building?”   READ MORE

"We have a climate crisis; we have more severe and frequent disasters and we know that women are increasingly worried about food security. These are all data points that should be raising alarms.” 

-Susan Grey, femLINKpacific

Marshall Islands: Improvised sea wall in the capital of Majuro. ©UNFPA/Rose

Marshall Islands: “A lot of the young mothers are from the remote outer atolls,” says Dr Mary Jane Gancia. “I try to teach them ways to look after their babies and stay healthy with good nutrition.”

Majuro Hospital is the focal point for antenatal and pediatric care covering hundreds of islands and thousands of square kilometers of ocean. When tenuous transport links between the islands are threatened by extreme weather, entire communities including individual households need to have coping techniques. Dr Gancia teaches mothers breastfeeding tips and healthy life skills.

“Disaster planning starts with that first discussion I have with these moms,” she says. “I ask them about their food sources, the water reserves and how they need to plan to have extra on hand in case of storms.”

“Disaster planning starts with that first discussion I have with these moms. I ask them about their food sources, the water reserves and how they need to plan to have extra on hand in case of storms.”

-Dr Mary Jane Gancia, Marshall Islands