N°21 umanitarianMARCH 2020 Aid on the move ©Liza Shoning-Young/EU/ECHO

CLIMATE CHANGE, MULTIPLE CRISES AND THE RISK OF COLLAPSE table of contents

2 What can the aid sector do to anticipate and adapt to the major changes ahead? Véronique de Geoffroy & Lisa Daoud

10 Current scientific projections regarding global warming and rising sea levels Dominique Raynaud 36 Towards a territorial approach to resilience and vulnerability: 2011 Tsunami, Kamaishi 12 interview with Bruno Jochum, Diane Alalouf-Hall Fellow of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy 47 Collapse scenarios: degraded contexts and degraded mode Reducing the ecological 20 François Grünewald footprint of the international aid sector: ethical and The ‘Low-tech with Refugees’ practical issues 53 Aurélie Ceinos & François Delfosse project: aid in a degraded context Marjolaine Bert 28 The Drastic Changes Facing Food Systems Philippe Thomas 58 interview with Pablo Servigne independent researcher, author and speaker 34 point of view So far so good… by Michaël Carrier 66 bibliography

N 21 / h umanitarian Aid on the move editorial SPECIAL ISSUE by Véronique de Geoffroy

The aid sector’s role faced with climate change, multiple crises and the risk of collapse

The aid sector faced with climate but also in terms of organisation, action change, multiple crises and the and behaviour. risk of collapse”: this subject, which was “not dealt with at the major conferences eyond the current health crisis, there on climate change and international aid, B is a need to prepare for the response was the focus of the 12th Autumn School to the challenge of climate change and a on Humanitarian Aid, organised by growing number of crises. It is high time that Groupe URD on 25-27 September 2019, we took action: climate change is already where 70 people took part. This special affecting the lives of millions of human issue of Humanitarian Aid on the Move beings, and particularly the most vulnerable explores some of the issues that emerged people in the most exposed regions: Africa, during this particularly stimulating event. Asia, Oceania and Latin America. We are also beginning to feel its impact in Europe ust as we were about to publish, (drought, heatwaves, torrential rain, etc.). J we have been caught up by current Scientific projections say that there will be events. Will the aid sector be capable warming of between 2 and 7°C and a rise of managing a global and systemic in sea levels of between 40 and 110 cm by crisis such as the coronavirus crisis? 2100. Biodiversity loss, and the peak in fossil Humanitarian actors are used to working fuels and many other raw materials, such as in degraded contexts, but from a stable phosphate, make the situation even worse, home base, with considerable financial with a real risk of global food crises and an and logistical resources. Will they be increase in the number of conflicts related to able to adapt? With staff no longer able access to increasingly scarce resources… to travel, and the risk of an economic crisis, there is a need to adapt and hat if sombre collapse scenarios innovate, not only in technological terms, W were to come true?

1 h umanitarian Aid on the move / N 21 according to the International What can the aid sector Energy Agency1, and it is do to anticipate and estimated that there will be 9.8 billion human beings in 2050. adapt to the major What is more, many prospective changes ahead? analysis reports predict that by Véronique de Geoffroy and Lisa Daoud crises related to failed states, the persecution of minorities and epidemics will get worse. It is in Many scientists agree that we have reached a this context that a science has critical phase in human history: human activity emerged – collapsology (from is modifying the global environment, and the latin collapsus meaning ‘to the resources that we need for our industrial collapse’) – although this is not and technological development are running a completely new discipline. out at an alarming rate. According to certain Indeed, it is the continuation of ‘collapsologists’, the reduction of fossil fuel the collapse theory which was reserves combined with climate change will first mentioned in the 1972 lead to profound systemic crises of an economic, report commissioned by the Club political, social and cultural nature. Will the aid of Rome, The Limits to Growth, sector be capable of fulfilling its responsibilities? which focuses on a subject that What roles could it play in relation to the risk humanity is loath to face up to: of profound societal upheaval and how can it the imminent collapse of our prepare for this? These are the questions that the thermo-industrial civilisation. participants of the 12th edition of the Autumn Having witnessed the terrible School on Humanitarian Aid were asked to impact of disasters caused by discuss. This article summarises the topic nature’s wrath and the destitution overview document which was prepared and distributed before the event, which took place of people caught up in conflicts, at Groupe URD’s headquarters in Plaisians on poverty and political crises, the 25-27 September 2019. aid sector will be in the frontline of the response if global systems collapse. Within a few decades, all environmental indicators have turned to red (rise in temperature and sea levels, OUR PRINCIPLE SCENARIOS pollution, the mass extinction of F FOR THE FUTURE species, soil degradation, water The following theoretical scenarios were shortages, deforestation, the melting developed based on the work of David of the polar ice caps, of permafrost, Holmgren and Pablo Servigne2. These etc.). Peak oil was reached in 2008 authors have developed different ideas

N 21 / h umanitarian Aid on the move 2 about how our societies will evolve, whether at the planetary, regional or The self-organisation scenario city level, due to the effects of climate Following the depletion of the world’s change, biodiversity loss and declining oil resources, globalised economies fossil fuel reserves. The timescale and collapse. This has a domino effect: location of these scenarios therefore the economic crisis leads to the change depending on geographical breakdown of supply chains which areas and their exposure to climatic in turn leads to serious political crises risks, as well as the population’s and drastically weakens the role of level of resilience. Looking at these state authorities who, eventually, are different scenarios is neither an no longer able to fulfil their functions exercise in science fiction, nor an and lose their legitimacy to govern attempt to tell the future: it is a way so that their countries become of identifying certain trends that are chronically unstable. In this fragile already underway and looking ahead context, it is societies that are the most in order to develop the right approach dependent on the thermo-industrial to these possible changes. system that are affected. Urban societies reorganise themselves to The green utopia scenario form autonomous local communities while rural societies reinforce the The slow decline of oil reserves traditional village system. and changes in mentality allow societies to improve the way they manage ecosystems and to The climate apartheid scenario gradually pursue their transition Here, climate change is sudden, towards renewable energy, which leading to numerous natural limits global warming and reduces disasters: major droughts, violent pollution. In this first scenario, hurricanes and floods caused by modern societies succeed in carrying rising sea levels. These phenomena out their energy transition, but also, are made worse by the devastating more globally, their environmental effects of contaminated soil, air transition (waste management, the pollution and accelerated biodiversity development of organic farming, loss. Governments continue to changes in consumer behaviour, etc.) exploit resources and attempt to while maintaining a certain level of gain as many as possible, leading to prosperity and material comfort3. tension between states, weakened The main characteristics of the green global governance and the rise of utopia scenario are the transition nationalism. Tensions lead to spatial to renewables, the re-localisation segregation between the elites and of economies, the development of the rest of the population. Islands of resilience and the preservation of a opulence are formed in parallel to the stable global governance system. development of slums; governments

3 h umanitarian Aid on the move / N 21 become authoritarian and restrict freedoms in order to protect the Consequences for aid policies and interests of a minority. the international aid sector Adaptation and preparation: new The planetary chaos scenario strategic (and policy) priorities for the aid sector? A succession of disasters, feedback In order to meet current challenges and loops, black-outs…: terms that describe anticipate future risks, whether we are the world as it might be in a scenario heading for a favourable scenario or we that would resemble an apocalyptic have to prepare for the worst, it seems Hollywood film. The planetary chaos urgent to re-orientate aid policies scenario involves genuine climatic and funding towards climate change cataclysms that destroy a large part mitigation and adaptation strategies, of the resources and infrastructures as well as disaster preparedness. that are necessary to the survival As such, aid actors need to start of modern man. In this scenario, the thinking about their responsibilities, as collapse is not caused by the end of Médecins Sans Frontières has begun fossil fuels but rather by the scale and to do with the Lancet, for example, continuous nature of natural disasters. in conducting prospective analysis In this hypothesis, there is a drastic about the impact of climate change reduction in the world population in relation to future health risks4. which is unable to survive major What roles will humanitarians have climatic disruption and the spreading in these areas, whether of a technical of epidemics and famine. Only a few nature (supporting adaptation and clans manage to organise themselves preparation), or a political nature in a world that has become very hostile (denouncing the political and economic to human and animal life. causes of what is happening)?

HAT IMPACT COULD THIS The rise of identity politics and nationa- lism: the end of solidarity as we know HAVE ON THE PRACTICES, W it? STRATEGIES AND POLICIES OF THE Pessimistic scenarios question the very AID SECTOR? principle of international solidarity and its future. Hans Morgenthau5 suggests These scenarios imply changes at that international relations will different levels for aid sector practices, deteriorate and the interests of states strategies and policies, which may will take precedence over any other be considered necessary in the long form of action. What is more, within term, but could also involve more these same states, the struggle to take short-term changes. In the following control of the remaining resources paragraphs we look at what these will take precedence over solidarity. changes might be. In the IARAN report, ‘The Future of

N 21 / h umanitarian Aid on the move 4 Aid: INGOs in 2030’, the ‘Narrow Not everyone shares this vision of Gate’ scenario is characterized by the future. In their book, ‘L’entraide, the rise of nationalism, leading ou l’autre loi de la jungle’7 (Mutual to a decline in the relevance of Assistance, or the Other Law of the global governance institutions, and Jungle), Pablo Servigne and Gauthier where the humanitarian ecosystem Chapelle underline the fact that there is challenged by the politicisation is both competition and cooperation of crises, particularly those in within the living world. Indeed, ‘when a areas of chronic fragility6’. Are the sudden disaster takes place, individuals reduction of humanitarian space who are stressed or in a state of shock and the criminalisation of those look for security first and foremost; they 8 providing assistance to migrants in therefore do not tend to be violent’ . the Mediterranean and in a variety of This phenomenon explains why it is European countries not already signs rare for people to panic when disasters of such changes? How should we take place: on the contrary, mutual therefore organise ourselves to assert assistance appears to be common the principle of humanity and the (spontaneous assistance, support for central importance of human dignity the weakest, cooperation for access to in such contexts in the face of such food and energy…). By reducing inequality of wealth, this changes? scenario opens the door to greater 9 The power of mutual assistance and the solidarity , but the sudden decline in mutations of aid architecture: the need petrol reserves makes exchanges over for localisation? long distances more complicated (in- kind assistance, sending expatriates). As a result, the central factor of resilience is the reinforcement of societies’ ability to self-organise with regard to energy “ and food, and also politically10. This In their book, ‘L’entraide, perspective would accelerate the localisation of international aid via the ou l’autre loi de la jungle’ emergence of new local actors, the re- (Mutual Assistance, or the localisation of decision-making, and the Other Law of the Jungle), reinforcement of collaboration between local and international organisations. Pablo Servigne and Gauthier Chapelle underline the fact that there is both The consequences for aid competition and cooperation strategies within the living world. Restoration and preservation of the environment: a central aspect ” of resilience?

5 h umanitarian Aid on the move / N 21 For a number of years, there has that are being forecast. It is therefore been widespread acceptance that necessary to invest massively in food- reinforcing resilience is a way of producing agriculture, urban or peri- tackling both disaster risks and urban agriculture, the preservation or poverty, which are intimately linked, restoration of ecosystems, etc. in an integrated manner11. Working on resilience therefore brings together Local assistance: more than ever at the actors with a variety of mandates, heart of risk management and, as such, it can be a useful The survivors of a disaster have a concept, even though it is difficult to central role as humanitarian actors can testify12. In the initial stages of operationalise. a disaster, before the initial relief What the ‘collapse’ concept brings effort arrives, individuals take action: to the ‘resilience’ approach, due to inhabitants, elected representatives, the systemic risks that it introduces, teachers, doctors from the local is the central strategic importance health centre… According to Fernando of preserving and restoring the Briones, Ryan Vachon and Michael environment. Systems whose resilience Glantz13, these ‘zero-order responders’ depends on external actors and make crucial decisions based on mechanisms, such as social security their own resources and skills. The nets, appear vulnerable to the shocks work of these researchers highlights behaviour and considerations that could provide aid actors with useful lessons14. For example: in at-risk “ situations, individuals make decisions that take into account both immediate What the ‘collapse’ and long-term needs; social concept brings to the cohesion and organisation15 are the foundations of resource management ‘resilience’ approach, and the distribution of roles; and, lastly, individuals use improvisation, due to the systemic innovation and creativity to meet their risks that it introduces, primary basic needs16. As mutual assistance within a group relies on is the central a fragile balance which can change strategic importance radically in an instant, what are the conditions that are necessary and the of preserving organisational principles that should be encouraged to promote solidarity and restoring the between individuals and groups, environment. if, as Servigne and Stevens argue, ” cooperative groups survive better?

N 21 / h umanitarian Aid on the move 6 practices from the perspective of The consequences for aid practices their environmental impact and their sobriety in relation to the consumption Degraded mode: adopting a low-tech approach of natural resources. Should reducing The aid sector is not immune to the the environmental footprint of aid not mutations of the hyper-industrial be seen as a veritable cross-cutting society that the majority of aid issue and the concrete application of 18 organisations come from. For about the principle of ‘doing no harm’ ? In ten years now, new technologies17 order to be coherent between what have entered the day-to-day lives of humanitarian actors promote among humanitarian workers and the idea crisis-affected populations and their of innovation has almost become own internal practices with regard synonymous with new technologies to climate change adaptation, the . Different sections of the aid sector humanitarian sector needs to look have become increasingly dependent at its operational methods (travel, on technology, and therefore on partnerships, types of programme, energy and materials that include etc.). Current efforts to reduce the a lot of rare-earth elements impact of humanitarian operations (spreadsheets and word processing need to be further developed: the tools; the collection, management use of green energy to run offices, and use of data on mobiles; emails, local purchases without packaging, Skype and webinars; electronic cards carbon off-setting for emissions for beneficiaries; medical imaging…). that cannot be reduced, etc. Is it not How can this model be revised in the role of humanitarian actors to the context of a climate emergency be exemplary in this area, to adopt where any energy that is used green practices and minimise their contributes to the carbon footprint environmental impacts, whether of our civilization, and where there visible, invisible, observable in the is a danger that dependence on short- or long-term, directly linked tools that use rare-earth elements to their operations or attributable to will make access to technology their partners and service providers? prohibitive? What would a ‘degraded mode’ of assistance look like? That is ONCLUSION to say, assistance that only used the most efficient and environmentally- C It seems more and more evident adapted techniques or technologies? that preserving the environment and How would the high-tech practices reducing poverty are two sides of described above evolve? the same commitment to reduce the dangers facing the Earth. Therefore, Genuinely ‘green’ aid practices in order to avoid getting bogged Faced with these prospects, there down in pessimistic visions without is an urgent need to review aid solutions, we need to explore the

7 h umanitarian Aid on the move / N 21 opportunities that will come from the depletion of fossil fuel reserves and the growing awareness of our dependence on the environment. Are the risks of collapse not a unique chance to reconcile Humanity and Nature? We are convinced that new priorities are going to emerge, and that it is therefore essential and urgent to continue to discuss our doubts and our visions for the future in order to establish strategies that will allow us to prepare for the risks ahead.

Véronique de Geoffroy Groupe URD’s Executive Director

Lisa Daoud Researcher at Groupe URD

With the contribution of Romane Vilain (trainee at Groupe URD)

N 21 / h umanitarian Aid on the move 8 1 - https://www.lemonde.fr/blog/petrole/2019/02/04/pic-petrolier-probable-dici-a-2025-selon-lagence- internationale-de-lenergie/ 2 - Future Scenarios: How communities can adapt to peak oil and climate change, David Holmgren, Chelsea Green, 2009 and Imaginer l’avenir des villes, Pablo Servigne, 2017. 3 - See, for example, the work of Mark Jacobson from Stanford University (Wind, Water and Sun scenario). 4 - See, for example: Climate Change and Health: an urgent new frontier for humanitarianism, MSF and the Lancet, November 2018. 5 - Morgenthau, H. Politics Among Nations: The struggle for Power and Peace, 1948. 6 - IARAN, IRIS, Action contre la faim, Centre for Humanitarian Leadership, Futuribles, The Future of Aid: INGOs in 2030, 2017. 7 - Servigne, P. Chapelle, G., L’entraide, ou l’autre loi de la jungle, 2019. 8 - Ibid., p. 49. 9 - A study by the universities of Berkeley and Toronto showed that people from lower social classes are more prone to generosity and mutual assistance than those from higher classes. Inequalities also tend to reduce the level of solidarity. (In Servigne, P. and Chapelle, G., L’entraide, ou l’autre loi de la jungle, 2019, p. 86). 10 - According to Servigne and Chapelle, ‘decentralised, horizontal, changing and organic’ in nature, p. 159. 11 - See the special issue of our review, Humanitarian Aid on the move, on ‘Resilience’ (n°11, 2013). 12 - See the real-time evaluations carried out by Groupe URD in numerous disaster contexts: Hurricane Mitch 1998, Tsunami 2004, Haiti 2010, etc. 13 - Briones, F. Vachon, R. Glantz, M., Local responses to disasters: recent lessons from zero-order responders, 2019. 14 - Lessons from the El Niño Costero (2017) and hurricanes Irma and Maria (2017). 15 - Particularly the existence of a feeling of equality, according to Pablo Servigne and Gauthier Chapelle. 16 - Briones, F. Vachon, R. Glantz, M., Local responses to disasters: recent lessons from zero-order responders, 2019. According to the article, coping with disasters could even help to develop societal skills. 17 - Groupe URD, ‘Innovation in the Humanitarian Sector’, Humanitarian Aid on the move, Bibliography, November 2016. See also ‘Humanitarian Technology’, IRIN, 21 March 2018. 18 - See, for example, Groupe URD’s work on this issue online and the special issue of the review, Humanitarian Aid on the move, on the aid sector’s approach to the environment (n°12, 2013).

9 h umanitarian Aid on the move / N 21 CURRENT SCIENTIFIC PROJECTIONS REGARDING GLOBAL WARMING AND RISING SEA LEVELS by Dominique Raynaud

BACKGROUND

The 2013 IPCC report estimated that human activity had caused global warming of 1°C compared to pre-industrial levels and that average sea levels had risen 19 (17-21) cm between 1901 and 2010.

At the end of 2015, the 21st Conference of the Parties (or COP21) established the objective of reducing man-made greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit global warming to 2°C or less compared to pre-industrial levels by the end of this century.

PROJECTIONS FOR THE MIDDLE AND THE END OF THE 21ST CENTURY

These projections are based on trajectories of greenhouse gas, ozone and aerosol concentrations: Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP). Climatologists use these trajectories as entry data for models that simulate the future climate, which makes it possible, for example, to simulate global warming and sea levels at the end of the century.

By the middle of the century, it is probable that global warming (average temperature at the earth’s surface) will reach +1.5°C compared to pre- industrial levels (IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, 2019).

By the end of the century, if we take two ‘extreme’ trajectories – the first pessimistic (RCP 8.5) which represents a high level of emissions and is commonly referred to as ‘business as usual’, and the other (RCP 2.6)

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 10 involving the reduction in emissions needed to limit global warming to 2°C – we get the following simulations by 2100 (IPCC report 2013):

• global warming of between +2 and +6°C compared to the pre-industrial period (1850-1900); • rising sea levels of between 30 and 80 cm compared to the period 1986-2005.

THE LATEST DATA

Since the 2013 IPCC report, a study carried out using French models (Climeri-France, 2019) shows that the higher trajectory of 6°C of global warming by the end of the century could be one degree higher (around 7°C).

Regarding sea levels, given recent data on the loss of mass of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets (IPCC, Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate, 2019), sea levels could increase by over a metre (110 cm) by the end of the century compared to the period 1986-2005 if emissions are high (RCP 8.5).

Dominique Raynaud Emeritus Director of Research at the CNRS Institute of Environmental Geosciences (IGE), at Grenoble Alpes University Former member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) created by the UN in 1988

11 h umanitarian aid on the move / N 21 interview health consequences. For example, with take the example of air pollution Bruno Jochum related to greenhouse gas emissions or other particles: by reducing them drastically in the transport sector, Bruno Jochum is the we mechanically reduce the harmful former General Director effects on people’s health that are of Médecins sans currently very significant in big cities. Frontières Switzerland’s Climate change is principally a form of Operational Centre and environmental degradation resulting is currently a Fellow from atmospheric pollution on a of the Geneva Centre massive scale, even though farming for Security Policy. systems and deforestation also play He currently works a role. By taking action on fossil fuels with intermediate-sized organisations, to stabilize the climate, we also tackle particulary in the Health, International one of the major causes of respiratory Aid and Education sectors, to help them infections or other pathologies related increase their measures to combat climate to the main forms of environmental change. pollution, whether in Paris, New Delhi or Lagos. This is why the Lancet says Climate change is also a public that it is both the biggest threat and health issue (due to its impact on the biggest opportunity in terms population displacement, air quality, of global health. On the one hand, heatwaves, etc.). In the face of such allowing the causes to increase and concerns, the medical journal, The the situation to get worse would lead Lancet, declared that “Combatting to significant impacts for the health climate change could be the greatest of the most exposed populations. global health opportunity of the On the other hand, stabilizing the 21st century” (2015). How do you climate, by stopping certain forms understand such a statement? of atmospheric pollution or by transforming the farming system, Bruno Jochum : The main idea would help to resolve certain critical behind this statement is that many public health issues. And this climate change solutions, or factors reasoning can be extended to food that could stabilize the climate in issues as there are extremely strong the coming decades also have very links between diet and a whole series significant impacts on the health of chronic illnesses that are currently of populations, and vice versa. The becoming more prevalent around the different forms of pollution that come world, whether it is different forms from the production and consumption of cancer, cardio-vascular diseases, of energy, and from industrial and obesity, etc. Adopting sustainable agricultural products, have direct diets that are compatible with the

N 21 / h umanitarian Aid on the move 12 stabilization of the climate, with less regions that are repeatedly subject to meat, more vegetables and vegetable extreme weather events, are affected protein, is a way of preventing a by disturbed water cycles or by the whole series of chronic diseases. A increase in temperatures). They can change of trajectory would therefore easily act as a relay to describe the be very beneficial. Thirdly, we can human impacts of climate change; mention improved access for women the way that the climate issue is to education and reproductive health, perceived needs to evolve by putting which has a significant impact on the the accent more on the serious climate due to its effect in stabilizing risk faced by human populations. population growth. We know that NGOs therefore have legitimacy population growth along with the and credibility on this issue, perhaps emergence of a large middle class even more than medical NGOs. But at the global level, increases land establishing links of this kind is not use and the consumption of natural always easy. It is easier in some cases, resources and, as a consequence, but this generally implies having greenhouse gas emissions. In this partnerships and collaborating with area, contrary to what we sometimes research institutes who are able to hear, the solution is not birth control, describe long-term developments, but ambitious policies that promote whereas humanitarian organisations equal rights, access to education, and tend to observe short- and medium- access to health. These are levers term impacts. I feel that, working to that are altogether more powerful increase understanding of impacts, and respectful of liberties. In the end, and their visibility, showing that it is there are numerous shared benefits a problem now, and not just in thirty between climate action, health, years’ time, is an essential role to play. education, rights and respect for the The second responsibility is to take a environment. political stance by coming back to basic principles. Humanitarian organisations have a legitimate role to play in denouncing blatant and completely In this context of climate change and cynical negligence with regard to public health, what role do you see populations whose vulnerability is for NGOs? going to deteriorate significantly in B. J. : They have a number of key the years ahead, and despite the responsibilities: beyond providing fact that alternative policies exist. It assistance to adapt, the first of is definitely not up to humanitarian these is to bear witness about the organisations to recommend such and impacts of the climate emergency such a specific solution to stabilize on vulnerable people because, very the climate, that is not their area of often, NGOs are on the frontline in the expertise, but they can advocate in most affected contexts (tropical areas, favour of what is called ‘duty of care’

13 h umanitarian Aid on the move / N 21 interview with Bruno Jochum

in the medical sector, and denounce the methodologies used need to be the fact that whole populations will be critically reviewed on a regular basis. sacrificed. In Bangladesh, for example, This should not detract from the most scientists are convinced that 10-20% important issue: there is no doubt that of its territory will be under water the increase in temperature – which by the middle of the century, which is an established fact, the unknown means that millions of people will be being how high it will rise – will displaced. In Sub-Saharan Africa, have massive negative impacts on even though regional predictions are numerous vulnerable populations. not precise in terms of the water cycle, the increase in temperatures will have What alternative policies are you very harmful consequences. Though thinking of? there is no shortage of examples, it is important that humanitarian B. J. : Numerous solutions exist today, organisations are prudent about and organisations and territories, scenarios and do not fall into the trap though marginal in number, have of quantitative forecasts announcing made huge progress. Certain local precise numbers of people who will governments and businesses have be affected, in millions or hundreds reduced their emissions by 50%, and of millions. Though this may be useful even 80%. Possible ways forward are for institutions to engage in long-term therefore relatively well known and can planning, or to grasp the scale of risks, be implemented. Continuing with the same energy and farming models will lead to a world that is 3 or 4 degrees warmer than the pre-industrial period. There is also the question of using “ resources sparingly. There is significant It is definitely not up to debate about access to resources humanitarian organisations in the near or distant future and the to recommend such and long-term sustainability of a system based on economic growth. Will the such a specific solution to resources be available to establish stabilize the climate, that is renewable energy on a very large scale not their area of expertise, within 20 to 30 years? But this is not where humanitarian organisations’ but they can advocate in added value, foundations or legitimacy favour of what is called resides. ‘duty of care’ in the medical sector, and denounce the To achieve carbon neutrality fact that whole populations by 2050, as recommended by will be sacrificed. numerous institutions, you suggest ” that we should proceed in stages

N 21 / h umanitarian Aid on the move 14 and establish realistic, shorter- In the end, humanitarian organisations term objectives, such as reducing are not so different from other kinds greenhouse gas emissions by 50% in of actors. Concretely, a collective the next ten years. Can you describe roadmap for reducing greenhouse gas what this would involve concretely emissions needs to be implemented by for relief NGOs, particularly medical every organisation in a society. As such, NGOs as we know that they have the responsibility of a humanitarian a number of specific characteristics organization is the same as that of a (such as the crucial role of supplying hospital in France, or the fire service or medicine and equipment)? any other public service that is subject B. J. : First of all, we have to be careful to certain constraints. Humanitarians with the term ‘carbon neutral’ because cannot use their social mission as a it can be understood to mean different reason to avoid a responsibility that things. For some, this corresponds everyone has to fulfil. How could we to emissions minus compensations, justify that humanitarian associations, which means that we can emit as much who are on the frontline in addressing as before by buying compensations. vulnerabilities, could be less ambitious But the aim really should be to reduce than states on measures to stabilize emissions to as close as possible to the climate? The question, rather, is zero by the middle of the century. ‘how’? Humanitarian organisations This roadmap is based on the IPCC’s work internationally, with a number of scientific consensus, which is behind big blocks of emissions: transportation the Paris Agreement, and has inspired (staff and supplies), which, of course, states to fix objectives to reduce involves a lot of planes, but not only; emissions. To stabilize the climate at food distributed (to staff in cantines and +1.5 or 2 degrees, there is no other to beneficiaries during distributions); choice but to reduce emissions to energy for buildings (heating, air- almost zero within twenty to thirty conditioning, building materials), years, and achieve negative emissions which is an issue where there is a lot after 2050. Any additional emissions of leverage; IT, which is more complex, will contribute to a higher level of but which is a crucial area; and, lastly, warming. More and more states are the whole supply chain which is often integrating this roadmap into their specific to different organisations. legislation, but the problem is that it is Certain municipalities – including state not just a final objective. The trajectory capitals – are heading for ‘net zero’ by is just as crucial. Emissions need to be 2030 despite having to deal with much divided at least by two each decade in more complex supply chains than order to start an exponential reduction. those of humanitarian organisations. I That is why the countries that are the think that it is extremely important for most advanced on the subject are humanitarians to adopt the right long- aiming for reductions of between 40 term objective, but especially to have and 60% by 2030. a demanding intermediate target for

15 h umanitarian Aid on the move / N 21 interview with Bruno Jochum

in five or ten years, such as reducing a year… Our relationship with travel emissions by half by 2030, by working is not at all the same as it was fifteen on what is known as ‘low-hanging or twenty years ago. Imposing much fruit’. Though it is difficult to achieve a more restrictive travel policies would 100% reduction, it is relatively simple not affect operational effectiveness. As to reduce emissions by 30 to 40%, then for energy and buildings, we could, for 50%. That is the first lever of action example, rapidly end the use of fuel- to activate: short- and medium-term powered generators in the majority of victories, while, in parallel, working on contexts. By replacing them with better more complex areas, that is to say, the solutions, we will very quickly be able operational model that will need to be to see the local advantages in terms of adopted. sustainability and even sometimes in Air travel has increased enormously in terms of cost effectiveness. The most the last fifteen years, as it has throughout complicated area is the supply chain the world, due to lower prices and the because it requires more technical arrival of ‘low cost’ airlines. People now approaches to identify where potential travel non-stop to go to meetings, some gains are and to apply environmental expatriates go home four or five times purchasing criteria. We have to find

Kathmandu (Nepal) after the 2015 earthquake © Groupe URD

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 16 a way out of the intellectual impasse expertise and support should be according to which it is not worth taking shared between humanitarian actors in action on the first level of reductions as communities of practice. Humanitarian long as we have not found a systemic organisations, like many companies solution to completely reduce our and local governments who do not carbon emissions. This would be a have a critical mass, do not all have the strategic error: on the contrary, we means to have internal technical teams should tackle the first level very quickly and sustainability experts. As many while giving ourselves the time to think countries have not yet created agencies about operational models that produce to provide operational support for the fewer greenhouse gas emissions. transition, it would probably be useful to pool operational support and to establish networks. Inspiration can also What do you mean by the be drawn from other fields. In the health need to examine humanitarian sector, there is the very impressive organisations’ operational model in example of the National Health Service detail? (NHS) in England which has just B. J. : Our operational model uses a lot announced a ‘net zero’ roadmap, that of energy because of long-distance is to say, reducing greenhouse gas deployments, notably for emergency emissions as completely as possible. relief organisations who have very There is no reason why humanitarians centralized supply chains, and all the cannot be similarly ambitious. more so in the medical field in order to have quality medicines and medical equipment. The question is therefore: What do you mean by lack of how can we change the model while expertise within the humanitarian maintaining a high level of quality community, and how do you think and reactivity? This requires more this can be resolved? decentralised approaches that require less transport, staff training in the field, B. J. : There are two issues here: on the and the empowerment of national staff one hand, reducing emissions and good (still insufficient). This cannot be done practices in terms of sustainability; on from one day to the next, but over a the other, the question of programme number of years and in stages, while expertise, for example, in the medical taking care not to implement ideas that field, with environmental pollution and initially seem to be solutions but, in the the health crises it can cause. I think end, are not. IT solutions, for example, these are issues where humanitarian have often been presented as a way to medical organisations can reinforce reduce our consumption of resources, their capacities. Regarding climate but we now know that they sometimes change, many consequences are the lead to more energy being used. result of a range of classic activities Positive and negative experiences, where the aid sector knows what

17 h umanitarian aid on the move / N 21 interview with Bruno Jochum

to do, the issue being volume rather our eyes. Faced with this situation, than of a technical nature, such as every organization in society should be malnutrition and displacements. But questioning its actions and assessing in other fields, such as extreme air its own sphere of responsibility, and pollution in vulnerable countries, these everything that it controls. And for the are new operational areas. We need areas that it doesn’t control, it should try to integrate the environment and the to influence others through its example, climate into our contextual analysis. high standards and the domino effect. Many development NGOs already The spheres that we control are often do this, but it is very rare among relief much larger than we think. We quite organisations. Factors related to simply cannot wait for the macro conflicts, violence, lack of access to policies which, of course, will eventually food or water are very quickly taken be adopted due to the pressure of into account in field assessments, but events, but we don’t know if this will this is rarely the case for more complex be in ten or fifteen years. We are all environmental issues. Analytical taking the risk of wasting precious time frameworks need to evolve and staff because there is a considerable delay need to be given the right tools – which between the moment that the political often already exist – to do their work. decision is made, its implementation, They need to appropriate them. its concrete effects and its impact on To conclude, I would say that the emissions. tragedy of the response to the climate crisis is the failure to take responsibility. People tend to think that it is too huge, too global and too technical, and that, in the end, it should be dealt with at the macro level: government, finance and industry. And it is true that political, normative and financial levers are the most powerful mechanisms. But it will take some time before they are able to meet the challenges at hand and even longer before they have an impact. Given the seriousness of the situation, we are now beyond the stage when we can wait for everything to come from above; we have to take direct action. There is a major risk that the tragedy will accelerate if each of us stays confined to their role, their social mission, and doesn’t adapt despite the systemic crisis unfolding before

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 18 Kathmandu (Nepal), 2015 © Groupe URD

19 h umanitarian aid on the move / N 21 the obligation to ‘do no harm’ Reducing the ecological and the need for coherence footprint of the between our international aid projects and our practices, international aid sector: which are sometimes potentially ethical and practical harmful for the environment. The environmental footprint of issues the aid sector should thus be by Aurélie Ceinos and François Delfosse considered as a symptom of our dependence on thermo- Environmental degradation and the climate industrial production methods, emergency are the major issues of our time, and which we currently need to the international aid sector cannot ignore the implement our social mission1, challenges involved. This article briefly covers but which are responsible to a the dilemmas and opportunities that these great extent for our greenhouse issues bring. It is based on discussions that took gas emissions. Reducing our place at Groupe URD’s 2019 Autumn School on ecological footprint, over and Humanitarian Aid involving representatives of above the imperative of doing NGOs, United Nations agencies and donors. no harm, is a way of preparing for a possible future when our operational models will need to be revised. As such, reducing the T IS ESSENTIAL THAT THE sector’s footprint with a view to INTERNATIONAL AID SECTOR I a transition or a collapse scenario – REDUCES ITS ECOLOGICAL for example, material and energetic FOOTPRINT decline as described by Arthur The issue of the international aid Keller2 – will lead to a virtuous circle sector’s environmental and climatic where new operational methods, footprint may seem marginal new forms of solidarity, and ways of because of the minimal responsibility functioning in degraded mode, which of the sector compared to other are less dependent on fossil fuels economic sectors, and also because and thermo-industrial production of our social mission, particularly systems, will be able to be developed. the imperative to save lives, here Reducing our footprint is therefore and now. It can also seem marginal an imperative that needs to be in relation to the numerous risks considered in parallel to collapse of collapse. However, there are scenarios in order to help to limit – several reasons for the sector as a at our level – the probability of the whole to be more exemplary. Firstly, worst scenarios.

N 21 / h umanitarian Aid on the move 20 DRASTIC REDUCTION IS taken action as of 2010, and all the NECESSARY A more difficult as emissions have risen Though it is necessary to reduce both an average of 1.5% over the last the aid system’s carbon footprint, decade. If current practices continue, and more widely, its environmental the increase in the average global footprint (waste, the use of water, temperature will be over 4°C by the timber, cement, and its material end of the century. footprint in a broad sense taking into Thus, in addition to the physical risk account the lifecycle of goods and the that comes from the growing number material resources needed to produce of extraordinary natural phenomena, them, particularly in connection climatic risk also includes a ‘transition with extractive/mining industries…), risk’ which comes from the need to this article focuses on reducing the limit greenhouse gas emissions, a sector’s carbon footprint given the risk that is principally linked to our urgent nature of the situation but also use of energy. Energy has been and the overall impact of decarbonising all continues to be an essential factor the sector’s activities. in the development of societies, but it is also a crucial issue in terms of reducing the environmental footprint Massive, urgent and long-lasting of all the functions of societies. reductions Massively reducing global emissions Despite the climate negotiations that of greenhouse gases in order to have taken place in recent years, contain the climate crisis therefore greenhouse gas concentrations means proportionately reducing the in the atmosphere reached a new consumption of fossil fuels, while it record in 2018 according to the is important to underline that such World Meteorological Organisation3. a reduction is complex due to its The climate crisis is already upon systemic and multi-sectoral nature us. The United Nations speaks of ‘a (we will return to this below). lost decade’4 (2009-2019) and this inaction has major consequences for the efforts that are necessary to Global accumulation respect the objective that was fixed Another reason to single out by the Paris Agreement to limit global greenhouse gas emissions in terms warming to 1.5°C. To reach this goal, of reducing the aid sector’s ecological countries have to reduce their carbon footprint has to do with their physical emissions by 7.6% each year between properties. Indeed, regardless of their 2020 and 2030 – or a reduction of origins, their nature and the geographic more than half in ten years – and location of the emitters on the planet, pursue their efforts to achieve carbon all emissions become part of the global neutrality by 20505. Twice the effort accumulation of greenhouse gases in is therefore needed than if they had the atmosphere, thus contributing to

21 h umanitarian Aid on the move / N 21 systemic climatic risk. In other words, Drastically reducing the sector’s all the activities of the aid sector carbon footprint is both a huge, are concerned and their direct and systemic challenge and a source indirect environmental and carbon of opportunity, including in terms impact at all levels need to be taken of leverage with other sectors (for into account. This therefore concerns: example, in terms of the capacity to means of transport – from home to negotiate with suppliers, as the ICRC headquarters, from headquarters to does6). Without forgetting the other the field - , the supply chain and the forms of local environmental pollution, life cycle of products, waste production such as the production of non- and management, the construction, recycled plastic waste or untreated rehabilitation and use of buildings, food waste water. and non-food item production and use, medicines and medical equipment, TEPS TOWARDS AN water management, energy generation S EXEMPLARY AID SECTOR and use for operational purposes, and, Different areas of action are listed lastly, information and communication below: these should not be tackled in technology use… a linear way, but in interaction with each other, in the hope that this will generate positive feedback loops. Moreover, some of the proposed areas of action are inter-dependent CHOICES WILL BE NECESSARY and/or implemented at the same time.

A drastic reduction will have an Build awareness-raising narratives impact on the quantity of aid and will and tools require widespread debate among aid While numerous aid organisations are organisations to decide what is feasible beginning to commit themselves, or and ethical. However, it is important to have already committed themselves underline that part of the reduction of to reducing their ecological footprint, emissions could be implemented without there is an urgent need to build a compromising the quality and quantity of common narrative in order to bring the aid, particularly in relation to air transport: whole sector on board and convince banning short-haul flights when there all organisations to go further given is an alternative by train, giving priority the nature of the emergency. The to direct flights, improved management reticence that exists in the sector needs to be deconstructed. Ethical of supplies in order to limit air freight issues related to the imperative to (better planning, pre-positioning, local reduce emissions and the choices purchasing…). that will have to be made need to be discussed. This can be done by

N 21 / h umanitarian aidAid onon thethe movemove 22 developing awareness-raising tools, This lesson-sharing should allow writing articles and developing case case studies to be produced to studies that show the relevance and document and show the feasibility feasibility of new approaches with of tried and tested approaches, so as a reduced environmental footprint. not to re-invent the wheel or conduct It should be pointed out that this a lot of separate pilot projects. The internal awareness-raising effort also objective is to deconstruct arguments concerns donors. regarding technical complexity and the idea that certain environmentally- friendly options are incompatible Reinforcing and then extending with an emergency response, and the community of action, also, if required, to explain the return structuring and systematising the on investment (of energy efficiency sharing of information, expertise, measures, in particular). Even though resources and tools to help actors this may be derisory compared to take the leap the challenges ahead, it is often a Numerous organisations are already necessary step within organisations taking action. The aim should therefore in order to introduce changes, and be to capture, map and document the it is necessary to be pragmatic in good practices already taking place, order to be efficient. This could also but also to build bridges and dialogue be a way to establish a catalogue between actors. Lesson learning and of good practices (BEPO: Best sharing has begun between French- Environmental Practical Options) speaking organisations via the that take into account financial, Humanitarian Environment Network7 and Coordination Sud’s Climate and Development Commission. At the international level, there is the ALREADY MOBILISED OCHA/UNEP Joint Environment Unit8. However, this effort to create synergy needs to accelerate and needs to Handicap International has developed include actors from the private and a ‘Guide to Eco-friendly Practices for public sector, at the international, Field Workers’. regional and local levels, and, of course, environmental organisations, CARE France and Christian Aid have universities and research centres. For set themselves objectives to reduce example, medical sector NGOs could greenhouse gas emissions. learn from initiatives such as the UNOCHA also has tools to evaluate Global Green and Healthy Hospital the environmental impacts of relief network and Health Care Without operations. Harm, which are important sources of know-how, and can be replicated.

23 hhumanitarianumanitarian Aidaid on the move / N 21 Donors have a crucial role to play in terms of ensuring that such criteria REGARDING ‘DIGITAL OBESITY’ are taken into account, suggesting incentives (for example, making funding available for structural costs) “Digital technologies now emit 4% of or encouraging and/or funding these greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), that experience-sharing exercises. is to say more than civil aviation. This In order to act quickly and reduce share could double from now to 2025 to emissions significantly, this reach 8% of all GHG emissions, i.e. the community of actors should consider current share of car emissions. Reducing pooling financial, logistical and the threat of climate change requires human resources. This will involve discussing improvements together in drastically reducing global greenhouse order not to duplicate efforts and to gas emissions in the next few years; coordinate and carry out joint actions however, the energy consumption to limit our impact. For example, a joint required for digital technologies is supply system that aims to limit the increasing by 9% a year […]”. (Source: impacts related to the transportation The Shift Project, 2018) The so-called of merchandise, the development of «dematerialisation» of practices and joint projects to reduce waste and the growing use of new information and improve its management, or the communication technologies (NICTs) thus sharing of human resource practices has a material and energy impact, and in order to share good practices… therefore a «carbon» impact that must be taken into account in the alternatives Drawing up an environmental proposed for the sector. charter with concrete objectives It is crucial that a group of international aid organisations makes a clear technical and environmental criteria. commitment in the form of an The notion of residual environmental environmental charter, which other risk could be included, that is to organisations could then sign up to. say the environmental risk that The aim would be to build momentum cannot be reduced in relation to the within the sector, without waiting humanitarian imperative, but which, until every actor was ready to commit in order to be acceptable, needs to be themselves. Signing up to the charter measured, analysed, documented and would be based on commitments from integrated, and then compensated, each actor, and eventually this charter if possible. The principle of ‘apply or could become restrictive. explain’ could be introduced to tackle In this regard, we could refer to the environmental risk and the impact Global Green & Healthy Hospital that we do or do not choose to avoid. network and how organisations sign

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 24 up to it: any medical organisation or environmental impacts), and also to body can join the GGHH by sending be accountable to donors, partners, a letter of intention stating the employees and affected people. organisation’s support for the GGHH It will also be necessary to define the programme and/or its commitment to boundaries of the sector’s carbon meet at least two of its sustainability footprint, and relatively quickly extend 9 goals . Signing up gives access this to indirect emissions. These are to a documentary and technical the emissions indirectly produced database, as well as a platform by an organisation’s activities, to discuss good practices with the including the complete value chain other members of the network. These of its activities, before and after. This commitments should lead to proactive represents a significant percentage communication in order to encourage of the sector’s footprint as it includes, the rest of the sector to do the same for example, suppliers. It could follow and to show other sectors that an the example of the ICRC, which ‘alternative’ model is possible. has negotiated with its suppliers to This charter should also include clear reduce the use of palm oil, reduce its objectives and a trajectory for reducing footprint in terms of raw materials, the carbon footprint in keeping with and ban the distribution of GM seeds the scientific consensus. To do this, or products. By making a commitment it is necessary to have guidelines for to environmentally- (and socially-) measuring the main environmental friendly production and supply impacts of the sector. Indeed, actors chains and taking the whole lifecycle need to identify the main areas to work of products into consideration, the on and actions that can be put in place impact could be systemic and global, quickly and will produce a significant extending beyond exemplarity and impact, or ‘quick wins’, in order to beyond the sector. prioritise actions. This framework Lastly, the charter could include should also make it possible to a commitment to compensate for control the evolution of practices and incompressible emissions via a measure the effectiveness of reduction compensation programme based measures. This point is all the more on recognised standards10 or via important because once the ‘quick the payment of a carbon tax, while wins’ have been dealt with (such as recognizing the risks involved in the reduction of unnecessary flights, such practices, which should be a to take the simplest example), the last resort and not seen as a way of actions needed will be more and more avoiding a genuine reduction in the complex to implement and will require sector’s environmental footprint. Why greater effort and reform. The capacity not consider, as CARE has done, to measure progress is important to instigating a carbon tax system within raise awareness internally (so that the sector that would allow mitigation people are really conscious of the activities to be funded?

25 h umanitarian aid on the move / N 21 ONCLUSION: ESTABLISHING increase significantly if a carbon tax A QUANTIFIED ROADMAP C is implemented. WITH DEDICATED RESOURCES Lastly, the roadmap will be based on all the case studies and good The points presented above should practices that have been shared. feed into an environmental, global Drafting and implementing it will and cross-sector roadmap that aims, require everyone’s support and it is principally, to organize the energy only by working together that we will transition, promote and implement be able to make the sector exemplary. the best environmental practices, and In any case, if we wait any longer, reflect on operational approaches. we will fail to meet the challenge A roadmap is a framework for action facing us. Establishing an ambitious and should describe concrete actions objective (and fulfilling it) as of 2020 as well as the resources needed to is therefore the only option available implement them. It will complement if we want to stay below +1.5°C. the charter, and should define the main areas of action identified as priorities Aurélie Ceinos (CARE), for the sector, such as: managing Resilience & Climate Change Specialist energy and carbon, supply chains and waste, life cycles, transporting François Delfosse (MSF-Suisse), people and merchandise, managing ‘Environmental Roadmap’ water, managing waste, construction Project Manager and renovation project design, organisational development, the NB : The opinions expressed in this management of staff, partnerships article are those of the authors and do and networks, or even governance not necessarily reflect those of CARE and finances. International or MSF. Above all, this roadmap will help to highlight opportunities and coordinate activities so that a transition plan can be implemented at the local, regional, national and international levels. Many of the proposed measures will result in a more efficient use of the organisation’s human and financial resources. The investment needed for the transition could therefore be partially compensated by significant savings in terms of transport or fossil fuel costs. And, of course, the cost of certain products could

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 26 1 - In their text, Humanitarianism in the Anthropocene, Sverre Molland and Darryl Stellmach describe “humanitarian action [as] an industrialized response to suffering. The same tools and techniques that power global capitalism also enable humanitarian action: transnational supply chains, administration, media and communications mobilize personnel and materials to faraway places.” Available at the following address: http://somatosphere.net/2016/08/humanitarianism-in-the-anthropocene.html 2 - Arthur Keller trained as an aerospace engineer and now specialises in societal vulnerabilities, and ecological transition and resilience strategies. 3 - They continue to rise: greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere reached new heights in 2018. Cf. https://public.wmo.int/fr/medias/communiqu%C3%A9s-de-presse/la-tendance-%C3%A0-la- hausse-se-poursuit-les-concentrations-de-gaz-%C3%A0-effet (published 25 November 2019). 4 - https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/lost-decade-climate-action-hope-emerges 5 - Emissions Gap Report 2019 Global progress report on climate action, UNEP, 26 November 2019 (available at: https://www.unenvironment.org/interactive/emissions-gap-report/2019/index.php). See also the IPCC Press Release, 8 October 2018 : https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/11/ pr_181008_P48_spm_en.pdf 6 - https://www.icrc.org/en/document/sustainable-development-icrc 7 - www.reseauenvironnementhumanitaire.org 8 - www.ehaconnect.org 9 - The ten goals are as follows: 1. LEADERSHIP: Prioritize environmental health; 2. CHEMICALS: Substitute harmful chemicals with safer alternatives; 3. WASTE: Reduce, treat and safely dispose of healthcare waste; 4. ENERGY: Implement energy efficiency and clean, renewable energy generation; 5. WATER: Reduce hospital water consumption and supply potable water; 6 TRANSPORTATION: Improve transportation strategies for patients and staff; 7. FOOD: Purchase and serve sustainably grown, healthy food; 8. PHARMACEUTICALS: Safely manage and dispose of pharmaceuticals; 9. BUILDINGS: Support green and healthy hospital design and construction; 10. PURCHASING: Buy safer and more sustainable products and materials. (See: https://www.greenhospitals.net/sustainability-goals/) 10 - United Nations-Carbon offset platform, UN certification of emission reductions, https://offset. climateneutralnow.org/uncertification

Renewable Energy Skills Development project, Somalia. ©Care Somalia

27 h umanitarian aid on the move / N 21 but that is not all: the prospects The Drastic Changes for the future are that these Facing Food Systems systems will face unprecedented by Philippe Thomas challenges, with 2.5 billion extra people to feed by 2050, as well as the potential impacts of The debate between the ‘doom-mongers/ climate change and biodiversity collapsologists’ and the ‘optimists’ is a red herring loss, including those directly that is distracting us from the real issues: globally, related to the intensification, and scientific evidence shows that agricultural and artificialisation, of agricultural food systems are not sustainable, are faced with production. unprecedented risks and will need to go through Indeed, food systems are faced a transition towards systems that are capable of with several simultaneous sustainably meeting the nutritional needs of a threats that could lead to an growing population, despite the fact that natural increased number of food crises: capital is steadily deteriorating. The only relevant question concerns the nature of this transition • The soaring population and its feasibility. The European Commission’s growth in certain countries is Green Deal aims to meet this challenge. going to increase the demand for food and lead to added pressure on the earth. This HE LACK OF growth will be particularly high T SUSTAINABILITY in low income countries, notably in OF FOOD SYSTEMS Sub-Saharan Africa. Agricultural production has • Changing diets, and particularly continually increased since the 1960s, the increasing demand for meat in to such an extent that there is enough growing urban contexts, mean that food available to meet the needs the triple burden of malnutrition of the global population. And yet, (under-nutrition, deficiencies and undernutrition has been increasing diseases caused by excess) will regularly since 2015, whereas it had need to be managed, as well as been falling continuously for decades. new (microbiological and chemical) Around 820 million people went health risks. hungry in 2018, one in three people • The increasing demand for work, suffered from malnutrition, 600 particularly in rural parts of low- million people were considered obese income countries, is a major issue at and annual food waste represented a stake for food security. On the one third of global production. The current hand, food systems, and notably structural imbalances of global agri- processing, are a significant food systems are increasingly obvious, potential source of jobs and income,

N 21 / h umanitarian Aid on the move 28 particularly for women. On the other emergence of new diseases and hand, there is frustration among their increased geographic mobility; young people in rural areas due to vi) the increased frequency and the lack of jobs available, which intensity of extreme weather, and, leads to socio-political instability. consequently, the greater impact of • Environmental degradation is natural disasters. accelerating, is being made worse • There is a risk that international by climate change, and is affecting markets will be under greater all countries. This is threatening stress, and, above all, more volatile agricultural production via several in the future due to changes factors that are contributing to lower in farming conditions and the yields and a drop in global productive increased demand for products, and potential: i) the loss of soil fertility due also due to the effects of financial to its rapid degradation; ii) the loss of mechanisms as was seen during agricultural land due to the expansion the 2008-2011 food price crisis. of urban and industrial areas, and • Man-made disasters (conflicts, the flooding of areas due to rising violence, insecurity…), which destroy sea levels; iii) the rapid decline in food markets, reverse development the number of pollinators and other gains and lead to displacement aspects of biological diversity; iv) the and migration, are the main reason reduced availability of water that can that food insecurity has begun to be used for agricultural production rise again. Displacements threaten due to changes in water systems the security and socio-economic and rainfall, the over-exploitation of stability of host areas, with a water basins, pollution, etc.; v) the negative impact on food systems,

Diagram 1 : peak Phosphorus curve (SOurce: Cordell at al., 2009)

29 h umanitarian Aid on the move / N 21 which can cause a domino effect no return has been reached in some and further crises. fields, such as biodiversity”. • The predictable depletion of non- renewable natural resources, notably mineral phosphate, also EYOND IRREFUTABLE shows that the current agri-food B FACTS, THE FUTURE system is not sustainable. According REMAINS TO BE BUILT to experts, the exploitation of Even those who are the most sceptical mineral phosphate could peak about climate change cannot deny around 2030-2040. In concrete that agricultural and food systems terms, this means that, to increase will need to adapt to all these current food production, it will be necessary and future changes. to find other sources of phosphate, A consensus is therefore beginning for example, by returning to the to take shape based on two major increased use of organic fertilizer. strategic areas:

• First of all, by being more attentive All these things are contributing to to resilience trajectories and change at the global level, but which local/territorial solutions: many nevertheless takes different forms populations already live with from one region to the next. Within these constraints and we therefore the same country, there are agri-food need to be more attentive to their systems that are affected by different resilience capacity because they kinds of constraints. Generally are inventing new solutions and speaking, countries in the Global South applying existing ones. In the face need to increase their production of global risks, solutions cannot be in order to meet the challenges limited to the universal and general of population growth (there is level. They also depend on local agreement among experts that food situations, both in the North and needs will increase by 50% by 2050), South, and should recognize the whereas regions like Europe need to manage excessive intensification importance of local actors. As such, which, though it has helped to avert the circular economy brings obvious the threat of shortages, has brought environmental and social added major negative externalities, notably value. of an environmental nature. • The other area is the systemic As underlined by Sandrine Dury (co- approach: whereas, up till now, author of the joint CIRAD-EU-FAO we have dealt with sector-based report, ‘Food systems at risk: trends risks individually, we are now and challenges): “This combination facing systemic risks which, though of risks puts us in an unprecedented they are concentrated in certain situation in which snowball effects areas that are already fragile, they have been observed and the point of increasingly affect the rest of the

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 30 Map 1 : projected impact of climate change on agricultural yields.

world: Europe, the United States, research and innovation. The private Canada, Australia, and the most sector will have an essential role to developed countries in Asia are play, but only those who are ‘blissfully also beginning to be concerned. The optimistic’ continue to consider (or accumulated effects of the different want us to believe) that the current combinations of these risks and system – and particularly ‘economic the way that they are evolving, liberalism’ – is the solution to meet the the speed of the changes taking challenges ahead, without needing place, which are always worse to make any major changes in terms than researchers’ most pessimistic of policies or public investments. predictions, with thresholds being Another myth is that we can return to passed, and the emergence of a golden age (which perhaps never complex negative chain reactions existed), as if the solutions of the past increasing the risk of more serious could solve the problems of the future. crises. It is therefore urgent that we Conscious of these challenges, the mitigate these risks, insofar as it is Secretary-General of the United still possible to do so… Nations has called for a World Food Systems Summit to be held, which Carrying out this transition towards should take place in September 2021, sustainable systems will require during the United Nations General major investment, notably in terms of Assembly. Only the future will tell

31 h umanitarian aid on the move / N 21 if this summit will really be able to Numerous studies, such as those create a new global dynamic. carried out by the Global Network Against Food Crises (a network that HE EUROPEAN UNION’S was launched by the EU, with FAO T RESPONSE and WFP, and which has been joined by numerous other partners), are key For its part, the European Union references that help to clarify the did not wait for this evidence to be challenges ahead and also to define established before acting. It has made and implement the approaches that food and nutritional security and need to be developed urgently. The sustainable agriculture the main focus DeSIRA initiative - ‘Generating and of its development aid by raising more exchanging knowledge and fostering than 8 billion euros over the period innovation-support to climate relevant 2014-2020. Four complementary Development-Smart Innovation areas help to accompany agri- through Research in Agriculture’ – is food systems towards greater another flagship project that aims to sustainability: i) innovation and overcome environmental and climatic research, ii) inclusive investment, iii) challenges and establish global food food crisis prevention and response, and nutritional security. and iv) the fight against malnutrition, notably stunting. Nevertheless, more needs to be done, and faster: the proposal drafted for the Commission’s next financial framework is even more ambitious, with the ‘European Green Deal’, “ which aims to meet the challenges of the ‘Sustainable Development Though the European Goals’. This approach aims to improve Commission has shared assets related to the stability and resilience of global food systems, shown that it has beginning with the revision of internal policies, for example, by pursuing woken up to the the reforms that have begun of the dangers of climate Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), to make Europe the first climate change, the change of neutral continent by 2050. The CAP has evolved a great deal in the last paradigm will still need decade and the ‘Farm to Fork’ section to be ambitious and it of the Green Deal will accentuate these changes. will need to be put into Though the European Commission place rapidly. has shown that it has woken up to ” the dangers of climate change, the

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 32 change of paradigm will still need References : to be ambitious and it will need to be put into place rapidly. This would mean not only that the Member Dury, S., Bendjebbar, P., Hainzelin, States of the European Union were E., Giordano, T. and Bricas, N. (2019), prepared to follow this political Food Systems at risk: new trends impetus and that they provide it with and challenges, Rome, Montpellier, the necessary means, but also that Brussels, FAO, CIRAD and the Europe is followed by other regions European Commission. and continents. The clock is ticking https://europa.eu/capacity4dev/hunger- and the risk of a major crisis – in foodsecurity-nutrition/documents/food- the form of ‘systemic collapse’ – is systems-risk becoming more and more real: pack ice and glaciers are melting more and more quickly, there are more and more mega fires, pollinating insects are disappearing, earthworm and soil arthropod populations are rapidly becoming smaller… Collapse is not inevitable, but the longer we fail to take action, the more probable it becomes.

Philippe THOMAS, European Commission, Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development, December 2019

N.B. : The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Commission or its General-Directorate for International Cooperation and Development, and are those of the author alone.

33 h umanitarian aid on the move / N 21 point of view So far so good… by Michaël Carrier

The thoughts of an aid worker who began working in the sector at the end of the 1990s, when there was a sense that anything was possible (the end of the war in the Balkans, the end of the conflict in Northern Ireland, the emergence of a strong, solidarity-based Europe, the Global Justice movement, etc.), and who is still committed today. A lot of things may be collapsing, but not the mobilisation of citizens from all kinds of backgrounds in favour of a fairer and more sustainable world.

“Heard about the guy who fell off a be open to the world, but borders are skyscraper? On his way down past closing and there are more and more each floor, he kept saying to reassure walls. I want to live responsibly, but himself, ‘so far so good’, ‘so far so different lobbies (energy, agriculture, good’… How you fall doesn’t matter, politics, etc.) encourage me not to it’s how you land.” (introduction to the produce and consume differently, not to film, La Haine, by Mathieu Kassovitz – change anything. 1995) I am the humanitarian who sees more and more people and societies caught up in violence, extreme poverty and I am the person who is falling but doesn’t chaos, but this has no – or hardly any change – or very little – because I think, - effect on my loved ones and my ‘little “so far so good”. I am the European who world’. I help to build the capacity of has never experienced the violence of these people and societies to recover war. I hear talk about ‘global warming’ and cope with future crises, but I don’t but the area where I live has not been do this at home – or hardly at all. I see affected (yet). I live ‘above my means’, other forms of solidarity emerging here but my standard of living and my but I continue to take action elsewhere, personal freedom are important to me. I without changing the way I work in any see the crises in Europe and elsewhere, way. but those in charge ask me to continue I am humanity, which ‘lands’ and producing and consuming, and not to finds itself at the crossroads, having change anything. thought “so far so good”. With the I am the citizen who helps migrants gradual destruction of the different and ends up on trial for the ‘crime of lifeforms on earth, climate change, solidarity’. I demand more justice (social, economic fragility, the financial bubble economic, and environmental), but my that has not been resolved since 2008, demands fall on deaf ears. I want to natural resource depletion, pollution,

N 21 / h umanitarian Aid on the move 34 the proliferation of arms, the increase to influence my leaders so that “major in the number and intensity of conflicts, societal and economic transformations the rise of extremism… the world is not […] take place in the next decade to going through a temporary crisis but a make up for the inaction of the past.”1 transformation that will have a major I take part in political debate to defend impact on the daily lives of the whole the values of peace and democracy. of humanity. We will have to adopt Through my actions and my new practices because access to basic commitments, I promote the law of needs such as water, food, housing, mutual assistance rather than the law energy, mobility, health and security will of the jungle2, and though I might lose be increasingly difficult. certain advantages, I gain in terms of I can refuse to see what is happening solidarity, security and proximity. around me and take advantage of the I am the aid worker who changes so progress that was made in the last that future generations will also be century (in agriculture, economics, social able to say, “so far so good”. Current issues, health, etc.) until I ‘crash land’ forms of solidarity, like the ‘international when resources run out or a disaster aid sector’, need to contribute to this takes place. transformation, while transforming I can hide behind my borders, my themselves at the same time. The beliefs or my fears, and let authoritarian hostile reactions to Greta Thunberg’s regimes decide how I live, or take refuge speeches by certain world leaders in a ‘survivalist quest’ to prepare for the show us that these changes will not chaos of a ‘Mad Max’ future. happen without conflict or the testing I can also decide to act now with others, of power relations. But faced with the because “we must take change by the law of the jungle promoted by state hand, before it takes us by the throat” or private lobbies, only engagement (Churchill). We can try to ensure that and mutual assistance can help us to change takes place on our terms, so stop the pointless and endless forces that a future becomes possible. of violence in order to overcome a I am the 21st century woman or problem that defies intelligence. As the man who changes so that they can spontaneous mobilisation of European continue to say “so far so good”. I citizens to assist migrants showed, it is limit my comfort to contribute to the engagement and imagination that lead survival of the earth. I take action with to active reflection and solutions. other citizens of the world so that the “The greatest glory in living lies interests of individual nations or lobbies not in never falling, but in rising every time do not override the general interest. I we fall.” Nelson Mandela get involved in reducing inequalities. I produce and consume differently to Michaël Carrier reinforce local resources and wealth. I try Researcher at Groupe URD

1 - United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Emissions Gap Report 2019, 26 November 2019. 2 - See L’entraide, l’autre loi de la jungle by Pablo Servigne and Gautier Chapelle (Les Liens qui Libèrent, 2017).

35 h umanitarian Aid on the move / N 21 severely hit, from New Zealand to Towards a territorial Japan, by way of Australia2.” approach to resilience Natural disasters are increasingly intense and frequent in Japan. and vulnerability: 2011 The last thirty years have Tsunami, Kamaishi been difficult for the country, by Diane Alalouf-Hall with a succession of typhoons and torrential rains that have caused numerous victims Many of the urban areas along Japan’s east coast and considerable damage. In were hit by the 2011 tsunami’s deadly waves. In addition, the Japanese population Kamaishi, one of the cities located in this area, a ‘miracle’ took place which was the result of is highly concentrated in coastal common sense and the way young people had and riverside areas, half its been educated. The lessons from Kamaishi inhabitants (126 million people) 3 provide food for thought regarding the territorial living on 10% of the territory . It approach to resilience and vulnerability. is important to point out here that certain coastal cities are partially built below sea level. Therefore, Climate change has an impact on for all these reasons, although the lives of millions of human beings, tsunamis are not directly related to particularly the most vulnerable climate change, the inhabitants of populations and the most exposed coastal areas are more vulnerable to territories. The most recent projections these geological events. say that there will be global warming of between 2 and 7°C and a rise in This article focuses on the disaster sea levels of between 40 and 110 that struck Japan in 2011, and more cm by 21001. These projections specifically on the city of Kamaishi4, will inevitably affect the security of which was badly affected by the the populations of countries that tsunami. We will analyse this natural are considered to be economically disaster in connection with the and politically strong. Already in initial results of a PhD project on the 2012, Margareta Wahlström, the territorial nature of resilience and UN Secretary-General’s Special vulnerability. Firstly, we will look at Representative for Disaster Risk the evolving nature of the concepts of Reduction pointed out that affluent vulnerability and resilience. Secondly, countries were not immune to this we will present an analysis grid that situation: “Certain very rich, highly aims to establish the characteristics developed countries, with economies of territorial resilience based on the that are entirely interdependent with national and regional context in which the world economy, have been very a natural disaster takes place. Finally,

N 21 / h umanitarian Aid on the move 36 we will look at the approach that was at a great disadvantage to recover adopted to manage the post-disaster following a disaster. Territories situation in Kamaishi, an economically are therefore not equal in relation and politically strong area where local to disasters, which adds a further disaster prevention initiatives were dimension to the vulnerability factors given priority. that already exist. And on the other hand, this leads to a definition of vulnerability related to the issue of HE EVOLVING NATURE climate change. As such, vulnerability T OF THE CONCEPTS is, ‘The degree to which a system is OF VULNERABILITY AND susceptible to, or unable to cope with, RESILIENCE adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and Given the combination of natural extremes. Vulnerability is a function disasters related to the natural of the character, magnitude, and life of the earth5 and those related rate of climate variation to which to imposed changes (climate a system is exposed, its sensitivity, change)6, human populations have and its adaptive capacity’ (IPCC, no choice other than to adapt and 2001). This definition has the merit take action. This can take the form of establishing three factors that of an emergency response to a characterize vulnerability: character, humanitarian crisis or a programme scale and rhythm. In the current to increase resilience which aims to context, vulnerability is no longer ‘increase resistance to shocks and static, but of an evolving nature. constraints as well as recovery and reconstruction capacities’, (Sendai Finally, though the notions of Conference, 2015)7. resilience and vulnerability are not exchangeable – because they do not It is worth pointing out two essential involve the same factors and do not points here. Firstly, an event is only a have the same semantic roots - they ‘disaster’ if the affected community are nevertheless interconnected. has difficulty in ‘coping’ with it. Indeed, the two notions are strongly Secondly, the ability of a community interdependent in terms of recovering to cope with a situation obviously from a crisis: a population will be all depends on its exposure to a hazard the more resilient if they have learned and its economic and social capacity from a crisis that has affected them to deal with the shock. The weaker the and, at the same time, the worse resilience of a territory to the effects the consequences of a disaster, the of a natural disaster, the greater the more it will challenge the resilience negative impacts will be. of a population by requiring more Two conclusions emerge from this: resources to be mobilized to cope on the one hand, territories with with it. Resilience and vulnerability low socio-territorial capital will be therefore tend to evolve together.

37 h umanitarian Aid on the move / N 21 If resilience is understood as a it takes place due to the prevention response to fragility that is perceived measures that have been taken. There to be real, awareness of this fragility are many examples of cities that were has an effect both on the desire highly exposed to risks and were hit and the capacity to rebuild after by disasters, and then managed to the disaster and on the capacity to bounce back, recover, rebuild and re- prevent future disasters. Theoretically, establish stability. This is notably the rebuilding exactly what existed case of Kobé after the earthquake of before is problematic as it shows 1995 (Menoni, 2001) and Kamaishi in that the disaster has not been taken 2011 (Alalouf-Hall, 2019). into account. On the other hand, a In contrast to the concept of reconstruction that integrates lessons, vulnerability, which is passive, the or that adapts to disasters, is not an concept of resilience encourages optimal solution either. Indeed, this action as it provides a vision or a project only attempts to reduce the impact that is both consensual and inclusive of vulnerability factors. But when (Lallau, 2011) for different levels of vulnerability is of an evolving nature, government or of the international so is resilience. aid sector, which explains why it is This leads to an evolving, more or so successful. Even though it can be less zero-sum, situation where it is defined in various ways, the concept possible to be both vulnerable to a is tangible and quantifiable, and is shock and perfectly resilient when therefore reassuring (Djament-Tran

Otsuchi Bay Dyke, 2017 © Diane Alalouf-Hall

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 38 et al., 2011). Thus, resilience has 2005, where it took a long time to been incorporated into the fields of revitalize the territory. Five years after evaluation and risk management the disaster event, only 20% of the through the creation of indicators, city of New Orleans was considered the development of ‘good practice’ to have recovered (Hernandez, 2010 guides, and the development of and Huret, 2010). And yet, these two standards that aim to objectivize it8. events affected the same country, Lastly, resilience focuses on the thus raising the question of how we individual responsibility of affected define ‘fragile’ and ‘strong’ areas. people. As such, increasing resilience Given that there are still doubts is merely a case of monitoring the about the relevance of tools that relevant indicators. Thomas (2010) measure the capacity of a system argues that crisis management to adapt (Dauphiné, 2004), how can policies see vulnerable people as the general intervention capacity of a citizens who are individually affected territory be evaluated? This focuses by disaster events; citizens who are less on the state in which the people expected to take part in their own affected by a disaster event find rehabilitation. Unfortunately, this themselves than on the processes vision does not take into account the that lead to this state in different forces that have already been in place types of territory. for several decades – local standards According to Villar and Guézo and practices – as if risk and disaster (2017), territorial resilience to natural management practices were applied disasters comes from a territory’s in ‘virgin’ territory. capacity to adapt and organize, which allows the territory to overcome PROPOSED COLOUR damaging events. Territorial resilience A CHART FOR TERRITORIAL means that the relevant regulatory RESILIENCE frameworks are in place allowing In analysing vulnerability, we might collaboration, bringing together expect a strong state to be more expertise and know-how, and resilient. In reality, the level of resilience allowing differences to be overcome. within any state is not uniform. The territory integrates these Within each state, there are different regulatory frameworks and reflects levels of resilience: certain regions, different types of capital, as well as towns, neighbourhoods and activities weaknesses and shortcomings in recover more quickly than others. We terms of the capacity to take action. saw this recently in the United States In order to identify differences in the following the major fires in California capacity to cope with a large-scale that destroyed rich, inhabited areas, disaster, we have developed a colour and which were quickly rebuilt. chart that allows us to determine The situation was quite different in what a territory’s resilience might Louisiana after hurricane Katrina in be. We have given an example of a

39 h umanitarian aid on the move / N 21 Table 1: Territorial resilience colour chart (simplified version)

major event to illustrate each type of run initiatives have a greater impact situation and territory. here than initiatives run by foreign A very resilient territory (++) is capable powers. of anticipating upheaval, whether In contrast, in the case of territories sudden or slow-onset, thanks to with low or no resilience (--), it will monitoring and planning ahead, and of be more difficult to have programmes mitigating its effects if it takes place. If designed by the international aid an unpredictable disaster event were system alongside those implemented to take place, this type of territory is by local organisations. A territory with capable of recovering and bouncing low or no resilience will have great back, learning from and adapting difficulty anticipating upheavals, to the situation, through innovation, whether sudden or slow-onset, or to thus increasing its resilience and correct or mitigate their effects. The decreasing its vulnerability. Villar crisis linked to the disaster event will and Guézo (2017) describe them also last a long time. The relation as ‘territories on the move’. In other to nature will not be a priority and terms, the more a territory is resilient, community networks will be under the more the actions of competent stress. organisations will be adaptable The objective of the colour chart is and malleable. What is more, the to allow preventive assessments to relation to nature will be conserved be carried out in order to calibrate more, as the inhabitants of such a the actions to be deployed. Such territory are used to the vagaries of calibration means that we can adopt nature. And community ties, which a ‘listening’ position rather than are well established and operational, a ‘bureaucratic’ one: the aim is to encourage acts of solidarity. Locally combine the capacity to take action

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 40 ‘based on the territorial reality’ and to 6 000 injured. Half a million people take into account ‘the disaster-related found themselves without shelter. reality’ or the scale of the disaster. Explosions and radioactive leaks led Universal operational guides, based to the closure of Fukushima Daichi on the scale of a disaster, can be and Fukushima Daini nuclear plants. improved. It is a case of coordinating This disaster produced a veritable different actors, while taking into reversal of roles in terms of account their respective strengths international humanitarian aid. and weaknesses. Indeed, more used to being a donor, Japan found itself in a sufficiently critical position to appeal for international help. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Financial Tracking Service, Japan received more than 735 million dollars in donations, the highest post-disaster amount of 2011 apart from the donations assigned to the food crisis in the Horn of Africa9. In 2005, the coastal regions had been warned that a mega tsunami would happen within the next thirty years, and Kamaishi was directly concerned by these projections. In this region, it is said that each generation will witness a significant disaster. Map 2 : Kamaishi localisation. Kamaishi’s history has been linked Source : The Economist (2015) to natural hazards for a long time: the Meiji Sanriku earthquake (1896) caused the deaths of around 60% of the population of the city and the HE CASE OF A DISASTER Showa Sanriku earthquake (1933) IN A HIGHLY RESILIENT T caused the death of 164 people and TERRITORY (++): KAMAISHI (2011) the disappearance of 240 others10. On 11 March 2011, an earthquake The memory of these disaster events of magnitude 9 hit the north-east of is ever present in the city of Kamaishi. Honshu, the largest island of Japan. There are plaques that show the level This earthquake caused a tsunami reached by the waves and memorials with waves of up to 40 metres. in various neighbourhoods invite Following the tsunami, the Japanese the inhabitants and people passing authorities counted 19 000 dead and through to remember what happened.

41 h umanitarian aid on the move / N 21 Table 2: The history of tsunamis in the region and the damage that resulted

With such a history, a high level of based on local knowledge, ‘Tsunami resilience has been established due Tendenko’11. to the lessons learned and prevention The disaster of 11 March 2011 was measures taken after each disaster. much worse than anything that had Like other towns in Japan, Kamaishi been predicted: a large part of the invested in technological prevention seawall collapsed when it was hit by and awareness-raising: the the first wave, which was 20 metres construction of dykes and shelters, the high, leaving the city defenceless. distribution of maps showing at-risk There were 1064 deaths and a third areas (Suppasri et al. 2013). Among of the 5000 houses were partly or these projects was the construction of completely destroyed. The fishing a seawall that is so big that it is in the industry was also very badly affected Guinness Book of Records (Trucker, with more than 97% of fishing boats 2013). damaged. To complement these prevention A distinctive characteristic of the projects, the town also decided disaster that took place in Kamaishi to raise awareness among young is that there were very few deaths people. Thus, in 2005, Toshitaka among the young, the city stating that Katada, a Civil Engineering Professor 99.8% of minors survived. People talk at Gunma University and Disaster of ‘the Kamaishi miracle’. According Prevention specialist, conducted an to the local teachers and the city’s initial class at the Kamaishi Higashi Educational Council, this is due to the Junior High School at the request of disaster prevention programme that Kamaishi Educational Council. This was launched a few years before led to the creation of a complete (Birmingham & McNeill, 2012). training programme in 2008, which is In 2011, pupils received at least

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 42 three years of training in prevention certain signs of underdevelopment, and were better prepared than older there was significant mobilization by people to deal with such a disaster. the state, the population, civil society The region’s natural hazards are and businesses. Furthermore, the studied in history, geography and recurrence of ‘tsunami’-type events in physics programmes. ‘Survival’ the past, and subsequent reflection, classes are also given, the aim of the meant that there was understanding city and the teachers being to try to of the behaviour to adopt in the event improve understanding of the region’s of a disaster. Local lessons led to natural hazards and their effects so low-cost behavioral standards that that they are no longer feared and can proved to be effective and superior be lived with. The ‘miracle’ thus led to to cutting-edge technological widespread recognition and praise solutions. This specific case therefore for the Tsunami Tendenko (Kodama, shows the importance of taking 2015) and the school programmes. into account local knowledge and The Great Tohoku showed that major the witness accounts of those who earthquakes can still take place and have experienced a natural disaster, that the Japanese coast is a vulnerable and of looking for simple, affordable urban area. In December 2013, the and realistic solutions. Reproducing Basic Act for National Resilience12 the Kamaishi model is nevertheless was adopted and its first article a challenge, particularly in very clearly states that its objective is to disadvantaged or un-resilient regions. build Japan’s resilience nationally in Looking at the events of 11 March terms of disaster preparedness13. For 2011 at different levels (regional its part, Kamaishi municipal authority or local), helps us to understand has also reviewed its prevention the nature of the disaster, and measures: reinforcing the resistance certain urban development, risk of infrastructure, raising the ground management and protection issues. level, transferring junior high schools Based on observation in the field, we to higher ground, and increasing food are also able to see that with each stocks and emergency blankets. The disaster, the Kamaishi region has city even hosted some matches at increased its expertise in terms of risk the Rugby World Cup in a brand new management, recovery and resilience. stadium with a capacity of 16 000 Though they are used to natural spectators in September 2019. disasters, its inhabitants are aware that natural hazards are not one-off ONCLUSION disturbances: they reveal flaws in the C The ‘Kamaishi miracle’ is not in development model. any way miraculous: it shows that In a context where there is a lot of there is a need for reflection before potential to create wealth, and where and after a disaster. Admittedly, it there are significant natural risks, the took place in a region where, despite existing model is essentially based

43 h umanitarian aid on the move / N 21 on technological innovation and pays Bibliography: no heed to natural realities. It leaves Alalouf-Hall, D. (2019), « ‘’Le miracle little room for resilience to evolve. The de Kamaishi’’ : les enseignements region of Tohoku would have been du tsunami de 2011 au Japon », very badly affected if the reactors of Alternatives Humanitaires, March the two nuclear plants had exploded. 2019, n°10, p.148-161. Some situations, which are the result of human decisions, lead to absolute Audet, F. (2014), Développer les vulnerability… capacités locales ou faire survivre le To conclude, let us stress that régime? L’approche bureaucratique territorial resilience raises the question pour comprendre les organisations of the relationship between disaster humanitaires (PhD Thesis), Montreal: events, national and international l’École Nationale d’Administration institutions and the civilian population publique. in an affected area. It is achieved by Birmingham. L and D. McNeill (2012), reconnecting with local knowledge Strong in the Rain: Surviving Japan’s from both the past and the present, Earthquake, Tsunami, and Fukushima and by changing the ‘spirit of the Nuclear Disaster, Palgrave times’ based on the pursuit of wealth Macmillan. through economic growth for the sake Dauphiné A., (2004). Risques et of economic growth. catastrophes. Observer, spatialiser, comprendre, gérer, Armand Colin Diane Alalouf-Hall, (Coll. “U – Géographie”), Paris. PhD student at the Université du Québec Dauphiné A., Provitolo D., (2007), à Montréal (UQAM) « La résilience : un concept pour la Associate Researcher at the Canadian gestion des risques », Annales de Research Institute on Humanitarian Géographie, n°654, p. 115-125. Crisis and Aid (OCCAH) Djament-Tran, G., et al. (2011), Ce que la résilience n’est pas, ce qu’on veut lui faire dire. Farber, D. (2013), Catastrophic Risk, Climate Change, and Disaster Law, 16 Asia Pac. J. Envtl. L. 37. Hernandez J. (2010), ReNew Orleans ? Résilience urbaine, mobilisation civique et création d’un «capital de reconstruction» à la Nouvelle-Orléans après Katrina (PhD Thesis), Université Paris X – Nanterre.

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 44 Huret, R. (2010), Katrina, 2005. Lallau B., (2011), « La résilience, moyen L’ouragan, l’Etat et les pauvres aux et fin d’un développement durable ? », Etats-Unis, EHESS, Éthique et économique, Vol. 8, n°1. coll. « Cas de figure ». Menoni S. (2001), « Chains of damages Kamaishi City Reconstruction and failures in a metropolitan Promotion Headquarters, Meeting on environment: some observations on the 20 July 2018 in the city of Kamaishi. Kobe earthquake in 1995 », Klein, J.L., Fontan, J.M. et al. (2010), Journal Hazardous Materials, vol. 86, « Les conditions de réussite des p. 101-119. initiatives locales de lutte contre la Suppasri, A. Shuto, N., Imamura, pauvreté et l’exclusion qui mobilisent F. et al. (2013), « Lessons learned des ressources de l’économie sociale », from the 2011 Great East Japan Cahier du Crises, Montréal. Tsunami: Performance of Tsunami Kodama, S. (2015), « Tsunami- countermeasures, coastal Buildings tendenko and morality in disasters », and Tsunami evacuation in Japan », Journal of Medical Ethics, Pure and applied Geophysics, pp. 361-363. Vol. 170 (6-8), pp. 993-1018.

Memorial in Kamaishi © Diane Alalouf-Hall

45 h umanitarian aid on the move / N 21 Thomas H. (2010), Les vulnérables. La démocratie contre les pauvres, Éditions du Croquant, Paris. Trucker, J. (2013), « The Failure of the Kamaishi Tsunami Protection Breakwater », Journal of undergraduate engineering research and scholarship, Memorial University: Canada. Villar, C & B. Guézo, (2017), La résilience des territoires aux catastrophes, Commissariat général au développement durable - Direction de la recherche et de l’innovation.

1 - Projections for the end of the century from IPCC and Climeri-France reports (2019) compared to the pre-industrial period (1850) referred to in ‘International aid and humanitarian action: what can be done in the face of impending catastrophe?’, Médiapart, October 2019. 2 - Press conference to mark the first anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, March 2012. 3 - ‘Les défis du Japon à la remorque des changements climatiques’,Le Devoir, 8 April 2019. 4 - I am conscious of the repetition in writing ‘city of Kamaishi’ as the ideogram ‘shi’, included here as a suffix, means ‘city’ in Japanese. We should really say, ‘the city of Kama’, but this would not respect the Japanese toponym. 5 - Geological events, for example, are to some extent natural manifestations located at the surface of the globe. Their connection to climate change has not been proven. 6 - According to the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), climate change is increasing the number of extreme meteorological, hydrological and climatic events: cyclones, hurricanes, droughts, heatwaves, torrential rains, storms, etc. 7 - https://www.unops.org/fr/news-and-stories/news/strengthening-resilience-building-back-better 8 - Examples of this are: insurance law which determines the resources available for the recovery, international law which influences the reaction to major disasters, and theHyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters. 9 - https://fts.unocha.org/global-funding/countries/2011?order=total_funding&sort=desc 10 - Second Regional Japan Coast Guard Headquarters 11 - Tendenko in the local dialect means ‘each one’ or ‘individually’ (Yamori, 2014). This local prevention measure, passed from generation to generation, encourages people to protect their own lives by immediately going to a place that has been previously identified within their family. People do not look for each other, they meet directly at this meeting place. 12 - To read the whole Act: http://extwprlegs1.fao.org/docs/pdf/jap158113.pdf. 13 - The Japanese office for resilience building, which the Prime Minister leads, was created based on the law of December 2013.

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 46 In particular, the resilience Collapse scenarios: that they aim to establish is degraded contexts and necessarily based on three key concepts: robustness, degraded mode having backup options, by François Grünewald and the ability to work in degraded mode. Faced with the increasingly realistic possibility of For our part, during our collapse, the humanitarian sector is not starting numerous missions in from scratch. It can rely on years of experience in the field, we have seen difficult contexts with a wide variety of causes. how little resilience the However, an additional risk has recently been humanitarian system has: added: the belief that technology can provide all without communication, the answers during the response to crises. the essential functions of modern data collection, coordination and accountability become paralysed. Without energy, A number of actors have developed the basic tools for sending people specific approaches to difficult contexts and goods to emergency areas, the where there are severe constraints in evacuation of those who need to be terms of temperature and humidity, resettled, the provision of emergency and where there is a limited supply of healthcare (managing poly-traumatised energy, spare parts and maintenance patients and using medical imaging), support. These variously are ‘systems’ and the supply of clean water become engineers, prospecting geologists in impossible or unusable. deserts or ice-covered areas, special operation military forces (who need to survive and operate without drawing HREE KEY ISSUES : attention to themselves) and health T ROBUSTNESS, REDUNDANCY sector organisations in extremely poor AND A THE CAPACITY TO countries where there is no infrastructure FUNCTION IN DEGRADED MODE (energy, evacuation systems, etc.). The aim for these actors is to increase the resilience of their teams and their Robustness, so that the system does not break and put the operation and equipment in contexts that are durably the survival of the victims in danger. complex. Though each has developed their approach separately, they share Anyone who has worked in a a number of common characteristics. developing country, without even

47 h umanitarian aid on the move / N 21 speaking of crisis contexts, will have seen cemeteries of farming Redundancy, or the ability to have equipment, biomedical equipment backup solutions or computers in ministry courtyards Port-au-Prince (Haiti), January 2010: or the warehouses of too many a few days after the earthquake, a UN projects. Unfortunately, there are staff walking in the MINUSTAH’s car many examples of this kind: fragile park at the airport heard the following equipment requiring sophisticated call coming from a car radio: “Hello maintenance and costly spare Port-au-Prince, this is Jacmel, do you parts, etc.; second-hand hospital receive me? What is happening over equipment that cannot be repaired there? There’s quite a bit of damage without well-equipped biomedical here!” This was the first time that engineers; vehicles propped up on contact had been made between the supports because there are no spare two sides of the Mornes. For a number tyres, etc. Humanitarian actors of years, everyone in Haiti had begun to themselves often use sophisticated use mobile phones and high frequency equipment that is difficult to repair radio was only used for certain security in the field due to the short duration procedures during displacements. of their operations (the durability As would be the case a few years of the equipment is not necessarily later following hurricane Matthew in seen as an important factor as Jérémie, the telecom system was wiped there are lives to save in the short out by the 2010 earthquake. It was a term) and the significant resources fragile system, without the possibility at their disposal (when something of redundancy (no plan B if the breaks down a replacement can communication plan A did not work, be ordered). This equipment is and without a high frequency radio generally left behind when the communication system using solar operation ends, leaving local actors panels, as had existed in the past), with the hope that they will be able as well as problems operating in a to reuse it, but above all, with the reduced function mode. After the 2010 responsibility of dealing with this earthquake, there was no organised broken equipment that is sometimes capacity to manage extreme situations: dangerous to store. Robustness is the Haitian Civil Protection force was rarely the main criteria for choosing very weak at the time, without the equipment, other than for 4-wheel capacity to engage in triage of the drive vehicles, which are essential casualties around the healthcare to move around in the field and for facilities, and the state hospital system which humanitarians there often was in a very degraded state and had have very precise criteria in terms been replaced by a private system of robustness (others, such as those that only the elite could afford. After who are based in capital cities, tend hurricane Matthew, several days were to give priority to comfort). needed before the affected area was

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 48 able to communicate with the capital, multiple functions, it shuts down what the DIGICEL aerials having been is not essential when it is under stress. blown over, the bridges destroyed, Thus, when immersed in cold water, and high frequency radio still not in the human body will use all its energy working order. Luckily, the prevention to save its brain, heart and liver, but will message got through before the consider all the rest to be superfluous. hurricane arrived, often via national We can also learn from surgery in radio and television channels, telling disaster contexts, which has been the population to store water, food and influenced by surgery in war contexts, tarpaulins to protect them from the rain, and has become very sophisticated. and, above all, to make their way to For today’s armies, every person should protected sites before the hurricane hit be saved. On the battlefield, where it is (but not to move once it had). not really possible to treat a patient, the objective of modern medicine is therefore to stabilize the injured The ability to operate person, to prepare them so that they in degraded mode can be transported, and then to send The human body provides us with the them to a ‘state of the art’ technical perfect example of what a backup mode platform where they can be treated is. As a very complex biological system with all the sophistication of modern with internal mechanisms regulating its surgery. Mass Casualty Management

Refugee camp in Somalia © Groupe URD

49 h umanitarian aid on the move / N 21 techniques are therefore taught less In this context, the different collapse and less in medical schools in developed scenarios raise a certain number of countries. As a result, when the military questions for humanitarian actors. or NGOs deploy young surgeons, they have difficulty working without all the observation equipment (medical ECHNOLOGICAL’ imaging) and parameter sensors that HUMANITARIAN AID AND they are used to. In contrast, NGOs T COLLAPSE SCENARIOS who employ surgeons who are older or who are from Africa and who are Technology and connectivity have used to working in these conditions allowed a whole range of data are relatively effective. These surgeons collection and processing tools to know how to examine a patient without emerge, such as tablets equipped the expensive, fragile and sophisticated with KoBo or other similar software. medical imaging equipment that does Whereas in the past, priority was not last long in humid, dusty contexts given to experience, analysis and with an irregular electrical current: dialogue, today the aim is to be ‘data equipment is damaged when the driven’. Now, all major NGOs have current is too high or too low, or when systems that can transfer data in real it alternates between too high and too time (if connected by telecoms) or in low, and images are distorted when delayed mode (as soon as staff return there is insufficient current, making the to the ‘base’ and its Wi-Fi connection) information they contain inaccurate. as if transmission speed, in itself, was We have also seen in many contexts a guarantee of quality. We often forget that designing tools that are capable of that these tools have biases (such working in backup mode depends to a as the fact that the quality of what great extent on developing modularity they produce depends essentially on which allows a tool to be adapted the quality of the information and the on a case by case basis depending instructions that they receive), and as on the tasks to be carried out, and a result we overlook the need to screen the constraints and risks involved. the reliability of our information. What Emergency hospitals provide some is more, these technologies contribute interesting lessons in this respect. Is it to de-humanising the sector: affected really necessary to have all the possible people have reported to us on several functions, which, in turn, requires the occasions that those who collect data capacity to generate energy, fluids, and no longer look at the people that they are analyses to be transported in and out, questioning, and they no longer speak as well as the means of securing all this to them, simply asking questions and in the field? Or is it possible to decide, on entering the data on their tablets. Forty a case by case basis, the minimum that years ago already, in his wonderful is needed and that can be integrated book, ‘Farmer First’, which was one into existing bodies? of the first to explore participatory

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 50 approaches, Robert Chambers The increase in the amount of introduced two key principles: optimal technology in the aid sector comes from ignorance (what really needs to be the search for greater effectiveness known to make the right decisions), and accountability. If systems were to and appropriate imprecision (it is better collapse, it would very quickly affect to be 80% right on time than 100% too two important new humanitarian late). The sector has clearly forgotten sectors: cash transfer mechanisms and the first principle by building what biometric recording systems. The first often turns out to be data cemeteries, of these is developing quickly thanks and does not apply the second, often to mobile banks and their multiple cash holding up decision-making because transfer options, both in their ‘routine’ the analysis takes longer than planned. mode (social security nets) and in But, above all, the sector places itself emergency contexts (cash transfers), in a position of complete dependency including via mixed tools (social vis-à-vis data transfer and processing security nets that are reactive to shocks systems which are actually extremely that allow transfers to be increased to fragile: data centres, web hosts, data previously identified vulnerable people banks and clouds will no doubt be the if there is a food crisis). Cash transfers first to be affected if there is an energy are also becoming more common due crisis as they are so dependent on it! to vouchers, including e-vouchers, which are almost bank cards with accounts set up by aid agencies for each beneficiary. These systems “ require effective control mechanisms These technologies which increasingly use bio-data (iris contribute to de- recognition, fingerprints, etc.). As such, the humanitarian sector is venturing humanising the sector: into a very sensitive area regarding affected people have the protection of privacy (particularly reported to us on several as these operations generally take place in contexts where there are crises occasions that those who or very poor governance), as well as collect data no longer look placing itself in a position of complete dependency with regard to energy and at the people that they communication flows, and these would are questioning, and they very quickly be affected if systems were no longer speak to them, to collapse. simply asking questions All the points covered above therefore raise the issue of the simplicity and the and entering the data on robustness of aid methods as an area their tablets. to explore or even as an essential path ” to take for the future. An interesting

51 h umanitarian aid on the move / N 21 sector to analyse is search and rescue complex, digital and connected trends? in damaged urban environments Will they find a route towards resilient (bombed cities, urban areas affected systems: robustness, the development by disasters such as earthquakes or of redundancy options and the ability hurricanes). Indeed, technological to work in degraded mode? innovations have been developed All this might seem a question of which can save a great deal of lives common sense, including for those thanks to the use of video probes, infra- who work on a daily basis in and on red radars and sonars to find pockets crisis situations, that is to say, very where there might be survivors. But the fragile and degraded environments, key to rescuing people often remains but alas, this is far from being the the capacity to clear rubble block after case. The siren song of technological block, often with the help of ‘human innovation is often louder than that chains’. Sophisticated equipment can of social innovation. There are now a be deployed, but the key to saving lives great number of ‘innovation labs’ and remains the capacity of teams to work organisations who produce software at night, in the rain, in extremely difficult and applications for the humanitarian and trying conditions, with crowbars, sector. The wakeup call could be wheelbarrows and struts. As such, brutal! the organisation the women and men working in rotation, the intelligence of the leadership per zone, the supply of François Grünewald, water and food, and the establishment Director of Strategic Foresight, of minimal infrastructure allowing the Groupe URD rescuers to rest a little, are as important – if not more – than sophisticated body detection technology. And these measures will continue to function without the complex contribution from drones, connectivity and energy flows: in short, they are collapse-compatible.

ONCLUSION C No one knows how global systems will collapse, nor even if they will collapse. Will human beings find an energy-based solution that will allow them to overcome the dangers and risks presented above so that they do not need to take the ‘frugal’ route? Or will they be forced to emancipate themselves from these ever more

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 52 there is tension between The ‘Low-tech with the communities2. Refugees’ project: aid Given the humanitarian emergency, aid in a degraded context organisations provide by Marjolaine Bert assistance that often creates aid dependency The ‘Low-tech with Refugees’ project, which (the importing and is run by EKO!, is implemented in the refugee distribution of food, camps of Lesbos, on the border between the clothes, etc.). What can be European Union and Turkey. This project has done, in such a situation, shown how useful and relevant appropriable to preserve the dignity technologies that are adapted to degraded and autonomy of asylum contexts can be. It explores the issues at stake seekers and to make the in implementing a low-tech approach in an aid most of their skills and context. the time that they have on their hands? Could low- tech know-how, frugal Refugee camps are often typical innovation (also known examples of complex and degraded as ‘juggad’) and the frugal economy contexts. The Greek island of Lesbos, reverse the positions of ‘beneficiary’ near the border with Turkey, is one of and ‘saviour’, ‘learner’ and ‘teacher’ the European Union’s hotspots1. In and the relations between North and 2019, 27 000 migrants arrived from South? different Asian and African countries. Conventional humanitarian action The island, which was already facing does not take environmental issues a major economic recession, currently into consideration a great deal has almost 16 000 asylum seekers on (the daily distribution of tens of it, even though the main camp, Moria, thousands of plastic water bottles was built for a maximum of 2500 and containers, blankets that are people. Each year, the delay before burned after being used, latrines set asylum applications are assessed up over septic tanks that are emptied gets longer, so that it now takes by a continuous flow of trucks, three years to get a first appointment. etc.). In an interconnected, inter- During that time, the migrants live in dependent world, the environment, extremely crowded and unhealthy the climate, and limited resources conditions; there is no heating in contribute significantly to the causes winter, it is difficult to keep clean, there of migration: wars related to geo- is physical and sexual violence, and strategic questions of access to oil,

53 h umanitarian aid on the move / N 21 the desertification and loss of fertility as possible to those most concerned of farmland, political instability linked (applying the principle of subsidiarity), to the extraction of non-renewable and the wide dissemination of these metals that are needed to produce solutions can contribute to the nuclear power, make telephones, etc. economic development of an area. What can we do to make our actions In addition, these solutions are effective and coherent, while limiting ecological/sustainable, that is to say, negative externalities? sober (in line with the Negawatt In a context where resources are scenario5, and the 5Rs6), solid, very limited, particularly financial long-lasting, repairable, adjustable resources, it is important to consider and evolving, with a low carbon the efficiency of solutions, and not footprint and low energy use over only their effectiveness. For example, their lifecycle. What is more, they are distributing small electric radiators made of renewable and recycled local is effective to heat tents… except if materials, they produce little waste or electricity is only available four hours pollution, can be recycled, etc. per day, they break down very quickly Each technology is adapted to its and they cannot be repaired in situ. context, both in terms of needs, material and human resources available and socio-cultural contexts. HAT ARE ‘LOW-TECH’ In Lesbos, the members of ‘Low-tech SOLUTIONS? with Refugees’ make, for example, W insulating mattresses for the tents Low-tech solutions are simple made with foam from life-jackets technical systems that meet basic washed up on the beaches, external needs: housing, access to energy and batteries to recharge phones made water, production and conservation with old computer batteries, desert of food, etc. A low-tech approach fridges made with buckets and analyses needs, focuses on what recovered material that allow food is essential and discards what is and medicine to be kept cool without superfluous. A low-tech solution, for electricity. example, could be a multi-function pedalboard, a solar cooker, or a small These accessible, reproducible and Piggott wind turbine, etc.3 They need often self-built technologies can to be accessible, both economically be appropriated by the affected (cost of purchase, running costs, etc.), people. They use their know-how, and in terms of skills (the ability to empowering them and contributing self-build and repair them, their ease to greater individual and collective of use, the availability of information resilience. ‘Low-tech with Refugees’ in open source formats4, etc.). As has shown how important low- a result, needs (whether latent or tech solutions are, not only to meet expressed) can be dealt with as closely psychological needs, but also to

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 54 increase dignity, reinforce self- • Step 5: Sharing lessons using an confidence, provide a way to be open source format. socially useful to the community and Thus, for the ‘Low-tech with Refugees’ use/develop know-how that could be project, low-tech solutions and useful to find work in the future. resilience are both the ends and the ‘Low-tech’ is not just a way of means of the project. Technological qualifying technical systems and sobriety encourages us to focus know-how: it is a philosophy, a on what is essential by coherently way of life and an approach. In the integrating the complexity and inter- field, the relevance of a solution dependence of societal issues in a is only 30% based on the quality single action. of the technical solution itself: it is essential to adapt and integrate it to the context, to needs, to the locally HE ISSUES AT STAKE IN A available resources and to the specific ‘LOW-TECH’ APPROACH features of the culture. The way that T the technical solution is deployed also The migrants coming to Europe needs to be as integrated, holistic and generally expect more material appropriate as possible. comfort. As technological sobriety To implement a low-tech solution, is caused by the degraded context the Low-tech with Refugees project and limited resources, it is endured follows a five-step method: rather than chosen. For example, the upcycled ‘desert fridge’, inspired by • Step 1: Collaborative design and traditional conservation techniques, development of prototypes based is used in the Moria camp, in the on needs (the majority of the team absence of a better option due to the members are beneficiaries/users lack of electric fridges. Sometimes, a themselves) and by analysing technological preference is only due the locally available resources to the social image of the low-tech (materials, skills) to ensure that the object, so there is a need to promote solution is really adapted and not this image. just copied. Beneficiaries are often focused on • Step 2: Preparation of materials, the response to their needs, and are including the organisation of ‘waste not very interested in environmental hunts’. issues. It is therefore not useful to • Step 3: Collaborative workshops promote these aspects, unless they facilitated by members of the lead to direct improvements in living community to make low-tech conditions in the very short term. So, objects and learn how to use them. it is not important, for example, that • Step 4: Using the solution and efficient wood-burning cookers limit gathering feedback to contribute to the cutting of olive trees in the groves continuous improvement. around the camps; the advantage for

55 h umanitarian aid on the move / N 21 the beneficiaries is that they have less sustainably’. Awareness-raising and wood to carry and that it improves information should help to accompany their relations with the neighbouring a project and make it understandable. Greek farmers. In emergency situations, it is always A low-tech approach means that simpler to make similar decisions you have to take numerous issues to those already made in the past, and factors into account, prepare the action, adjust it incrementally and to stick to familiar territory, and collaborate with the ecosystem of local reproduce conventional solutions actors. Cost is not the only criterion to and ways of functioning. In order to influence a purchase or a choice of introduce low-tech solutions and a means of transport. As a result, the low-tech approach, support is needed implementation of simple solutions to accompany change and overcome and the related communication, can be different barriers, including those temporarily more complex: the general of a psychological and institutional public will more easily understand nature. It may be useful to promote why we should ‘save a refugee from the organisational opportunities a drowning’ or ‘plant a tree’ than why we should ‘use low-tech solutions low-tech approach brings in terms in camps’ or ‘manage the forest of agility, the implication of different sectors, limited costs in the short and long term, and in terms of fundraising, by meeting the requirements of donors EKO! who are sensitive to environmental issues and long-term impact, etc. Regardless of an aid organisation’s ‘EKO!’ is a state-approved charity (association reconnue d’intérêt général) field of activity, a low-tech approach that runs positive and innovative projects helps to address societal issues and in favour of sustainable and solidarity- specific local characteristics through based development7. It promotes a simple, impactful action. individual and collective fulfilment and resilience that is respectful of nature Marjolaine Bert, and cultures. It runs the ‘Low-tech Founder and President of the association, with Refugees’ project in the camps in EKO!, and the ‘Low-tech with Refugees’ Lesbos which has led to the creation project. She facilitates projects as part of a ‘Low-tech Makerspace’, training in of the ‘Low-tech Lab’ collective, is a permaculture and bicycle repair, and social entrepreneur and sustainable low-tech workshops. development project coordinator.

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 56 1 - Reception and selection centre where migrants are registered to request entry to the European Union 2 - For more information about the context of the ‘Low-tech with Refugees’ project: https://medium.com/ low-tech-lab-les-news/low-tech-%C3%A0-lesbos-des-solutions-simples-et-durables-aux-mains-des- migrants-1f6c276650c0 3 - For more examples of low-tech solutions, see the platform of tutorials by the ‘Low-tech Lab’ association: www.lowtechlab.org 4 - Open source is used to qualify a software, a work or content, which is copyright free and free to be redistributed, under Creative Commons licenses, for example. As the source code and the initial work can be improved by anyone, open source not only facilitates dissemination, but also collaboration. 5 - First issued in 2003, and updated several times since then, the négaWatt 2050 energy scenario for France is now a well acknowledged and recognised thorough piece of work to discuss the country’s energy future, and options to engage in a sustainable energy transition. 6 - The 5 Rs are: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair and Recycle 7 - For more information about EKO!, visit: www.asso-eko.org

Life jackets in Lesbos, Greece © Low-tech Lab

57 h umanitarian aid on the move / N 21 interview whether local or civilisational (empires), with and in the present (Syria and Libya, Pablo Servigne for example), but also the collapse of stock exchanges, of animal species, of ecosystems, of climatic patterns, etc. Pablo Servigne is an These are the types of collapse that independent researcher, concern the past and the present. author and speaker. As for the future, not only are the risks He has a scientific of short-term, local and partial collapse background, and, along becoming more severe, the risks of with Raphaël Stevens, he systemic collapse are also increasing, invented ‘collapsology’, that is to say, collapse that would affect which they define as ‘the cross-sector study of the non-humans, the poorest social classes, collapse of industrial civilisation and what and also rich countries. Humanitarian might replace it, based on reason, intuition action is therefore useful, first of all and recognised scientific research’. Since because there will be even more to do 2019, he is also involved in producing the in the countries where there is already quarterly magazine, Yggdrasil. a lot to be done (poor, fragile, war-torn countries, etc.), but also because it will be needed in rich countries because of the destabilisation due to climatic and What, in your opinion, can environmental disasters of all kinds! All collapsology bring to the of this could take place in the future. I humanitarian sector? am aware that this is an issue that can be disturbing and which, in any case, is Pablo Servigne : And the other way difficult for us to imagine. But that is the round! [laughs] Collapsollogy brings the goal. That is what is important: talking humanitarian question to countries who about risks and possibilities in order to are not used to it: rich and industrialised challenge received ideas and prepare countries who generally feel that ourselves better. humanitarian aid is for other countries, The second thing that collapsology you know, those at the bottom of the brings is a systemic vision. In short, ladder… The idea of collapsollogy is complexity science has shown that to gather together all the scientific complex systems (ecosystems, evidence, proof and facts that show markets, societies, etc.) do not react that there may be risks of systemic in a linear way, or at least in a much collapse everywhere, including in rich less linear way than expected. In other countries. Different forms of collapse words, breakdowns happen more – it is important to underline the fact unpredictably and more quickly than that there isn’t just one kind – are not we might think. This means that we something new. They have existed need to be more vigilant about the risk of on earth for a long time: in the past, breakdowns. What we were proposing

N 21 / h umanitarian Aid on the move 58 when we created collapsology – which engineer, and in the development is the idea of an inter-disciplinary sector, I quickly became disillusioned. To science to help us prepare for risks – me, it was the continuation of a certain was to prepare for three phases: before form of colonialism where, on the one the disaster, during (resilience) and after hand, rich countries destroyed existing (recovery). Because all these aspects subsistence farming economies and need to be considered as of now. As I social fabric, and on the other, sent little see it, humanitarian action has to do ‘bandages’, including humanitarian aid, with the short term, in other words, vital and neo-colonial policies (the IMF’s and emergency issues. It is important, structural adjustment plans, etc.). In the but it doesn’t cover medium- or long- end, development and humanitarian term policies, which still need to be action can be seen as crutches for established. It is important to underline capitalism. This is what was often said that thinking about the short term here of the sector in debates ten or fifteen or elsewhere does not prevent us from years ago, within ATTAC1, for example: thinking about the medium- and long- making the situation a little bit better but term, on the contrary! allowing a structurally unfair situation Lastly, collapsology brings the possibility to last. Which explains my paradoxical of discontinuity in our lives. We are not view: we need humanitarian action, used to discontinuity in rich countries, in but at the same time, it maintains an contrast to countries already affected unjust or even toxic system, and can by disasters. Therefore, in addition to even be seen as supporting it. But it ‘continuist’ policies and visions, such as is obviously very difficult to say, “Let’s the plan to end fossil fuel use by 2050, stop humanitarian and development we also need to plan for ‘discontinuist’ aid…” scenarios here, in other words, possible breakdowns, and who better than the humanitarian sector to do this? Do you think organisations that

work on climate change are sounding the alarm enough about Having worked both on the the current ecological disaster? concept of crisis and that of mutual P. S. : The answer to that question has assistance, what is your view of the changed as the years have passed. humanitarian sector? Events are increasingly disastrous, P. S. : A paradoxical view, because I so there needs to be a change in the admire those who work in the field, message, and it is changing. It is not who show courage and engage in without reason that collapsology and mutual assistance, altruism even. I the issue of collapse have been taken understand it and we need it, for vital up by the mass media and the general emergencies. That said, I trained in public over the last year. People are ‘development’, as a tropical agricultural talking about it, whether in a critical

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way or not. Whereas ten years ago, it going to tell the fire brigade to stop their was much more difficult. scaremongering? No, of course not. So the big question – which has been The whole of our society is frightened around for about forty or fifty years, of being frightened: the general public, since the beginning of the ecological donors and even scientists who are movement – is, ‘Do we need to frighten frightened of frightening us. They are faced with alarming figures and people, be prophets of doom, in order are hit with full force by eco-anxiety, to make things change?’ For my part, ‘solastalgia’2, depression and all the I would say yes and no (laughs), feelings related to this loss and these because two paradoxical things seem disasters. A lot of people are frightened clear to me today. Firstly, our society is of sharing these negative feelings with frightened of being frightened, which is the general public out of fear that they a major barrier. A lot of people say that will lead to inaction. I therefore think whistle blowers are too pessimistic, but, that there is a place for frightening in fact, it is the facts that are! There is messages, and that they shouldn’t be a metaphor to illustrate this. Imagine swept under the carpet. that your house is on fire, that your Secondly, I am convinced that there is a neighbours are shouting ‘fire!’ and that biodiversity of fears and psychological the fire brigade arrives. Should you say attitudes in response to fear. Several to the neighbours, ‘Sorry, but you’re studies on fear show that, in general, being a bit too pessimistic’? And are you fear is very useful to warn and inform people, but less useful, and even counterproductive, in terms of making people act. Alarm is not enough to “ make people take action. For example, The whole of our society to continue with the same metaphor, if the fire brigade arrive and shout is frightened of being ‘Fire!’ you are informed but you don’t frightened: the general know what to do. But, if they arrive public, donors and even and they say, ‘Fire! Take this, do that, scientists who are frightened etc.’, you will more easily take action. The biodiversity of fears means that of frightening us. They are there can be vigilance, worries, anxiety, faced with alarming figures short-, medium-, and long-term fears, and are hit with full force by and actually, within this biodiversity, certain fears are more likely to lead to eco-anxiety, ‘solastalgia’, action, and others less so. Anxiety can depression and all the take hold and paralyse the person, feelings related to this loss preventing them from taking action, and these disasters. and even leading to denial by making ” them fed up with bad news. On the

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 60 other hand, vigilance, which is a form find interesting in your question is the of concern about the longer-term comparison between horizontal, local future, allows you to prepare better and decentralised, or ‘community- and to make more relevant political based’ bodies, and the big, hierarchical, and strategic choices. As for the pyramid structures. I wouldn’t be able to biodiversity of postures, this shows that explain exactly why I prefer the former certain people need to feel fear and are rather than the latter, but they are stimulated by fear while others, who are definitely in keeping with my political much more sensitive, do not need fear, culture. I have always had doubts about, which may even be counterproductive or even been suspicious of authority, of in their case. In any case, whether fear domination, of big hierarchical bodies. is necessary or feared, it is there and is Without even taking into account the part of us as we are mammals. And fear fact that when things begin to collapse, is also good because it shows us our it is likely that these big bodies will fall limits, points out dangers, and as such apart. it is very useful. It can even show us the With regard to breakdown and route to courage. So, I think that the real discontinuity, what creates fear and question, today, is ‘How should we deal panic is the breakdown of the social with fear?’ It can be through discussion order, the end of the belief in a shared groups, rituals, or working on ourselves future. That is dangerous. When collectively or individually, because fear something breaks down, whether it is a and alarm, warnings and disasters, supply chain, or the social order, people they are going to be there throughout need to be able to quickly find a form the century, and increasingly so. We of organisation where they have some are therefore going to have to get used power, that they are familiar with, and to it… that is functional. And, to date, there has never been anything better for this than the community level. This is exactly what Alexandre Boisson Faced with collapse, you argue argues for with the association, SOS that we should develop small Maires: that the municipal level should resilient units rather than wait for be reinforced so that, if there are any anything to come from ‘sustainable major breakdowns, people will already development’. Does that mean that be trained to do something. They know you trust horizontal aid movements their elected representatives and their more than big institutions? neighbours, and will be able to take Briefly, regarding sustainable part in emergency plans, training, and development: it is a catch-all notion simulations before disasters take place. that has been heavily criticised and They will already have prior knowledge that is too vague to lead to action. and won’t be helpless. This might help Anything can be passed off as to avoid panic because, if we only count sustainable development. What I on the state level and neglect the lower

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Borivali district (Mumbai, India) - July 2017 © Tushar Dayal

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 62 levels, we will be giving our power to people who do not always use it wisely, “ who hand over a lot of things to the private sector, and we will be less and I therefore think that it less in control. But, most of all, we will is more reasonable and encourage the accumulation of power and domination. coherent to reinforce For example, throughout the 20th century, small-scale initiatives, our countries promoted relatively though this does not centralised distribution systems for energy and telecommunications. mean that it is the only Nuclear power is the archetypal solution. Above all, it is example. This makes things both extremely effective at the time, but, a more resilient solution paradoxically, it makes the system vulnerable because it is not suited if the big structures to change or taking complexity into collapse! account. That is why I am in favour of developing local and low-tech ” initiatives in terms of technology and energy. I think it would be very Above all, it is a more resilient solution healthy and very resilient to deploy if the big structures collapse! Having decentralised technical systems said that, I am fully aware that not right now that will make people everything will be done locally. When autonomous and do not require the route of a railway line is drawn, you engineers from the big centralised have to engage in politics, between industries. Take solar panels, for towns, between regions, etc. You example: they can be high-tech, made have to join forces, negotiate, and with computers, rare-earth elements, necessarily go through big structures. complicated materials and software, Political philosophy has a lot of things in which case, centralisation, to offer in this regard: other types of engineers, etc. are needed. But we mandate, body, power, etc. for these can also develop decentralised solar metastructures. Political imagination panels and renewable energy that is needs to be stimulated! specific to each region, to each micro- We really need to establish an region, where each user is able to empowering force at the grassroots repair a major part of the equipment level, at the level of the citizen, the themselves. neighbourhood, the village, the town, I therefore think that it is more the town council, etc. just to regain reasonable and coherent to reinforce people’s confidence. There is a major small-scale initiatives, though this does feeling of defiance against the public not mean that it is the only solution. authorities because they seem

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distant. This defiance, and the feeling very little even. For the 3.8 billion of powerlessness have grown since years that the living world has been Nicolas Hulot3 resigned, and this is a experimenting, pyramidal hierarchies very toxic feeling because it leads to and centralisation are really very denial, apathy, fear and anger. Anger rare. Everything is decentralised, that is then aimed at those who have rhizomatic, mycorhizien, reticulated, created this feeling of powerlessness. because this is a much more resilient We can see this at the moment with form of organisation. Pyramidal the strikes. hierarchies are effective in the short term and for a stable environment. Promoting small-scale initiatives But today, we need to think about the does not mean that we are going long term and unstable environments. to be inward-looking. This is often Pyramidal hierarchies and big the major misunderstanding related structures are the first things that to the fact that we are promoting are going to collapse – they are not small-scale and local initiatives in this resilient. In my opinion, it is crucial period of universalism and modernity: that we de-centralise the way we there is a feeling that localism means are organised. Unfortunately, people a return to walls and nationalism, or don’t really know how to go about it. being inward-looking. But, not at all! A great deal of research needs to be You can promote local initiatives while done at that level. maintaining the capacity for large- scale exchange and organisation. It is totally possible. For that matter, we know that there You consider myths and fiction to be is not much centralisation in nature, very important to stop people being in denial and help change things. How do you think this approach could be useful for the international aid sector? “ I am convinced that myths and stories are useful and essential for What I would everyone. It is the story that we like is to open up tell ourselves, and therefore of the horizon that we set for ourselves, to this story so that shed a little light on the path in front of us. It obviously has a founding humanitarian action quality, and it is an essential condition in order to be able to concerns all of the organise ourselves or to do politics. living world. So, for me, everyone should look at ” this question. For humanitarians, it

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 64 is obviously important, but it is up to in my head, and this upside down them to take this issue on board. story changed everything in terms of For example, I had a moment of how I saw things. When I got back to insight after my studies in agricultural Europe, I said to myself, “I’m going to engineering. I was very interested in develop Europe, do development here, agroecology and permaculture as an because it is here that we need to agricultural engineer, and the idea promote agroecology, because we are of re-applying the principles of the decades behind”. If a story or a way living world to agriculture. I was also of seeing things breaks down, it can very interested in tropical regions and change the way we see the world, and so in 2009-10 I went to Cuba and therefore how we act. Venezuela on my own for five months. I In terms of humanitarianism, there saw a lot of extraordinary things there, is one more thing that I’d like to such as incredible production units say: I always considered that the that you can’t find here in terms of word ‘humanism’ was divisive as it permaculture and agroecology. I came represents the ontological division back from that trip full of enthusiasm with non-human lifeforms (plants, (though I am in no way defending animals, fungi, bacteria…). For me, authoritarian regimes!) because they ‘humanism’ has an inward-looking are countries who have managed to connotation (on our species) that innovate, who are really extremely I do not like. And I find that the bold in that area. And I also came back word ‘humanitarian’ has a similar with a story that had been turned idea: we are only going to save the upside down: at university I had been humans. What I would like is to open taught that I was going to ‘develop up this story so that humanitarian poor countries’ and ‘feed the planet’ action concerns all of the living (that’s what they tell agricultural world. Of course, there are already engineers) and, in fact, I realised that organisations who are going in this the agricultural programmes in Cuba direction, but it would be a real change and Venezuela were fifteen years if, henceforth, all humanitarian action ahead of us. Actually, the Global was to be based on this story of an South was going to develop the Global enlarged living community. A type of North! Everything got turned around ‘lifeformarian action’? [laughs]

1 - The Association pour la Taxation des Transactions financières et pour l’Action Citoyenne (Association for the Taxation of financial Transactions and Citizen’s Action, ATTAC) is an activist organisation originally created to promote the establishment of a tax on foreign exchange transactions. 2 - A neologism that describes a form of emotional or existential distress caused by environmental change. 3 - Nicolas Hulot is a French journalist and environmental activist who became Minister for Ecology in May 2017, but resigned in 2018. He said that his time in office had been an «accumulation of disappointments», and that he did not want to «create the illusion that we’re facing up to these challenges».

65 h umanitarian aid on the move / N 21 bibliography Climate change, multiple crises and collapse

GENERAL

Comment tout peut s’effondrer, Pablo Servigne, Raphaël Stevens, Paris, Le Seuil, coll. « Anthropocène », 2015. The numerous major problems facing us in every domain (the environment, the climate, geopolitics, social issues, the economy...) are interconnected, feeding into and influencing each other. The most worrying aspect is that we have already passed several points of no return. The authors show that the growing systemic instability that we are facing means that there is a serious risk that industrial ci- vilisation as it has established itself over more than two centuries could collapse.

L’âge des low tech: Vers une civilisation techniquement soutenable, Phi- lippe Bihouix, Paris, Seuil, coll. Anthropocène, 2014. Some contend that ‘green’ technologies are the way to save the planet while maintaining economic growth. However, these technologies, which use a lot of scarce resources and which are difficult to recycle, will lead us into an impasse. The author argues that rather than aiming for continuous high-tech innovation, we should aim for a society that is essentially based on low-tech technologies, which are less productive but use less resources and can be managed locally.

PROJECTIONS AND RISKS

Global Warming of 1.5°C: An IPCC Special Report, V. Masson-Delmotte et al., IPPC, 2018. This IPCC report looks at the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-in- dustrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty. https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/download/#full

N 21 / h umanitarian Aid on the move 66 Mapping of future non-intentional risks: nature, occurrence, and vulnerabilities, F. Grünewald, B. Renaudin, C. Raillon, H. Maury, J. Gadrey, K. Hettrich, Groupe URD, 2010. This report analyses the different issues related to anticipating non-intentional risks in different places, and at different times. It aims to clarify how the resilience of states and populations functions in relation to these risks, and provides maps at different levels by combining risks, both globally and for particularly sensitive areas of the planet. http://www.urd.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/JH_Rapport_URD_DAS_vf_ Mimosa-2.pdf

HUMANITARIAN AID IN THE FUTURE

The Future of Aid: INGOs in 2030, IRIS, Action Against Hunger, Centre for Humanitarian Leadership, Futuribles, IARAN, 2019. This report seeks to explore the drivers of change in the global humanitarian ecosystem, the causes of humanitarian need, and how this ecosystem could evolve by 2030. These future perspectives are explored in relation to the timetable for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, in order to underline the significant role that the humanitarian ecosystem will play in achieving the 17 goals. https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/The_Future_Of_Aid_ INGOs_In_2030-20.compressed.pdf

The cost of doing nothing: The humanitarian price of climate change and how it can be avoided, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2019. This study estimates the humanitarian needs and financial costs that will be caused by climate change in the coming decades. It presents a pessimistic scenario where investment in adaptation is insufficient and development models are uneven, which estimates at 200 million the number of people who will require aid each year by 2050, which is almost double the current figure. According to the study, if nothing is done, the price to pay will be much higher than any estimates that have been made so far. It recommends that long-term fragility needs to be reduced, early warning systems and relief operations need to be improved, and rebuilding and repair work needs to be carried out in preparation for future emergencies. https://media.ifrc.org/ifrc/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2019/09/2019-IFRC- CODN-EN.pdf

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Santé et changements climatiques : Soigner une humanité à +2°, French Red Cross, December 2019. In April 2019, 500 people from 70 countries gathered at the instigation of the French Red Cross to discuss the topic of ‘Health and climate change: caring for humanity at +2°C’. Scientists, academics, humanitarians, political figures, entrepreneurs, future leaders, and members of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement exchanged views during twelve sessions on a wide variety of themes including heatwaves in urban contexts, mental health, epidemics, population movement, food insecurity, the protection of ecosystems, etc. This document presents the main ideas developed during this global conference as well as the concrete and innovative solutions that were proposed. https://fr.calameo.com/read/002546479c93e6a56d22c?utm_ source=web&utm_medium=site-national&utm_campaign=doc_climat&utm_ content=banniere

Climate Change and Health: an urgent new frontier for humanitarianism, Bruno Jochum et al., Médecins Sans Frontières, The Lancet, 2018. This analysis, which looks at the links between climate change and health, highlights the significant consequences that are already taking place, as well as the dangerous levels of humanitarian need that are likely if greenhouse gas emissions are not urgently brought into line with the Paris Agreement. This document is based on the field experience of Médecins Sans Frontières in managing the consequences of extreme climatic conditions, such as the transmission of diseases, malnutrition and the impacts on migrants. https://www.doctorswithoutborders.ca/sites/default/files/2018-lancet- countdown-policy-brief-msf.pdf

ADAPTATION AND RESILIENCE

Climate action pathway: Resilience and adaptation, Executive Summary, Global Climate Action, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 2019. Faced with the uncertainties and risks related to climate change, this document underlines three objectives: resilient people and communities who will be able to adapt as well as possible; resilient ecosystems and protected biodiversity in order to guarantee, among other things, access to water and food; and lastly, resilient economies and investment, where climate risk is mainstreamed into all public and private sector plans and investments including into agriculture, infrastructure, transport, water, energy systems, etc. https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/CAP_Resilience_and_ Adaptation_ES.pdf

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 68 Adapt now: A global call for leadership on climate resilience, The Global Commission on Adaptation, 2019. This report from the Global Commission on Adaptation, presided by Ban Ki-Moon, explores the different issues related to climate change adaptation and makes recommendations for key sectors such as food security, the natural environment, water, cities, infrastructure, disaster risk management, and finance. It aims to inspire action among heads of state and government officials, mayors, business executives, investors, and community leaders. https://cdn.gca.org/assets/2019-09/GlobalCommission_Report_FINAL.pdf

Delivering climate resilience programmes in fragile and conflict-affected contexts: a synopsis of learning on the ground, A. Neaverson, C. Gould and K. Peters, BRACED report, ODI, November 2019. This review explores how climate resilience programmes and projects can be designed, established and managed to be resilient themselves in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. It combines evidence-based learning from over four years of implementation from 15 projects across 13 countries (including Mali, Niger, Myanmar and South Sudan). The review is structured around three themes: anticipating operational risks by improving understanding of local contexts; absorbing impacts by building resilience, conflict sensitivity and a ‘Do No Harm’ approach into the project cycle of climate resilience programmes; and aligning risk tolerance and project flexibility between donors and implementing partners, based on trust and clear communication, and establishing adaptive approaches and flexible funding mechanisms that enable the rapid adjustment of activities during crises. http://www.braced.org/contentAsset/raw-data/436c81e8-67e9-448b-a33d- bf35c496ec73/attachmentFile

Addressing Climate-Fragility Risks: Linking peacebuilding, climate change adaptation, and sustainable livelihoods, Guidance Note, Adelphi, UNEP, 2019. This Guidance Note takes as its premise that climate change is one of the greatest threats to global peace and security in the 21st century. It underlines the need to adopt integrated approaches to tackle the risks related to climate fragility. It aims to help develop resilience building strategies and policies while taking into account the connection between climate change adaptation, peace-building and sustainable livelihoods. https://postconflict.unep.ch/Climate_Change_and_Security/CFRA_Guidance_Note.pdf This document is complemented by a monitoring and evaluation guide and a toolbox: https://www.unenvironment.org/resources/toolkits-manuals-and-guides/ addressing-climate-fragility-risks

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LOCAL RESPONSE

“Local responses to disasters: recent lessons from zero-order responders”, Fernando Briones, Ryan Vachon, Michael Glantz, Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, 2018. This article focuses on the role of ‘zero-order responders’ during disasters. In the initial stages of a disaster, even before the rescue services arrive, survivors play a central role and make crucial decisions based on their own resources and skills. These considerations can provide humanitarian actors with useful lessons, for example in terms of disaster risk reduction and disaster management, which need to include local populations and knowledge more, and improve partnerships between communities and aid organisations. The authors based their research on two case studies: Peru after the 2017 floods, and Porto Rico after hurricanes Irma and Maria, also in 2017. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327797482_Disaster_ Prevention_and_Management_An_International_Journal_Local_ responses_to_disasters_recent_lessons_from_zero-order_responders_ Article_information_For_Authors_Local_responses_to_disasters_recent_l

FINANCIAL TOOLS LINKED TO RISKS AND ADAPTATION

Climate Finance for Addressing Loss and Damage: How to Mobilize Support for Developing Countries to Tackle Loss and Damage, Thomas Hirsch et al., Act Alliance, World Council of Churches, The Lutheran World Federation, Bread for The World, 2019. This report addresses the injustice of climate change with regard to vulnerable people, particularly in countries in the Global South who, for the most part, have contributed least to greenhouse gas emissions, but who are paying the highest price. The authors point out that current financial mechanisms are not sufficient to avoid losses and damage, and they analyse various criteria that could be applied in order to develop a strategy to fund losses and damages that is ethical, fair and effective. https://actalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ClimateFinance_ LossDamage.pdf

N 21 / h umanitarian aid on the move 70 Budget Governance for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation under Nepal’s New Federal System, Policy Brief, Flood Resilience Alliance, Mercy Corps, 2019. This document presents the results of the study carried out by the NGO, Mercy Corps, in seven municipalities in Nepal to understand the role of local governments in the new political system. Nepal is exposed to multiple risks due to its geographical location (drought, flooding and mudslides). Recently, the country established a new governance system whereby municipal authorities are responsible for issues related to climate change adaptation, as well as disaster risk reduction and management, areas where local government investment is essential. http://repo.floodalliance.net/jspui/bitstream/44111/3273/1/Policy%20 Brief_Nepal%20Budget%20Governance%20Zurich.pdf

Consult the full bibliography on the Groupe URD website :

www.urd.org/en/review- hem/bibliography-on- climate-change-multiple- crises-and-collapse/

71 h umanitarian Aid on the move / N 21 Groupe URD (Urgence – Réhabilitation – Développement) Founded in 1993, Groupe URD is an independent think tank that specialises in analysing practices and developing policies for the humanitarian sector. Our multi-disciplinary expertise, based on continual field visits to crisis and post-crisis contexts, provides us with insight into the functioning of the sector as a whole. We believe in sharing knowledge and collective learning, and we help aid actors to improve the quality of their programmes. www.urd.org

Humanitarian Aid on the move - a bilingual biannual review – aims toshare the results of work onimportant issues currently facing the sector. We regularly invite external contributors and provide links to other publications. Further reading on certain topics and full articles by the authors can be found on the Groupe URD website: www.urd.org/en/review-hem/

Produced within the Project « Apprendre et innover face aux crises - Phase 2 » with support from:

Director : Véronique de Geoffroy Editorial board : Véronique de Geoffroy, François Grünewald, Lisa Daoud Editorial secretary : Pierre Brunet Translation: Etienne Sutherland

Printed by : Transcopy (Courthezon) Design by : foli-o

ISSN : 2261-7124 Legal deposit : september 2012

N 21 / h umanitarian Aid on the move 72

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