Climate of fire Long after the flames die down, wildfires leave their mark Climate of war The overlapping impact of climate change and conflict Red Cross Red Crescent Climate of hope Issue 2 . 2018 www.rcrcmagazine.org What we all need to do, together, to adapt to a warming world THE MAGAZINE OF THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT MOVEMENT ISSUE 2 . 2018 | RED CROSS RED CRESCENT | I The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is made up of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the National Societies. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies The International Committee of the Red The International Federation of Red Cross National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Cross is an impartial, neutral and independent and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the embody the work and principles of the organization whose exclusively humanitarian world’s largest volunteer-based humanitarian International Red Cross and Red Crescent mission is to protect the lives and dignity of network, reaching 150 million people each year Movement in more than 190 countries. National victims of armed conflict and other situations of through its 190 member National Societies. Societies act as auxiliaries to the public authorities violence and to provide them with assistance. Together, the IFRC acts before, during and after of their own countries in the humanitarian field The ICRC also endeavours to prevent suffering by disasters and health emergencies to meet the and provide a range of services including disaster promoting and strengthening humanitarian law needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people. relief, health and social programmes. During and universal humanitarian principles. It does so with impartiality as to nationality, wartime, National Societies assist the affected Established in 1863, the ICRC is at the origin of the race, gender, religious beliefs, class and political civilian population and support the army medical Geneva Conventions and the International Red opinions. Guided by Strategy 2020 — a collective services where appropriate. Cross and Red Crescent Movement. It directs and plan of action to tackle the major humanitarian coordinates the international activities conducted and development challenges of this decade by the Movement in armed conflicts and other — the IFRC is committed to ‘saving lives and situations of violence. changing minds’. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is guided by seven Fundamental Principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality. All Red Cross and Red Crescent activities have one central purpose: to help without discrimination those who suffer and thus contribute to peace in the world. II | RED CROSS RED CRESCENT | ISSUE 2 . 2018 Editorial Small numbers, tremendous change ne degree Celsius. It doesn’t sound And temperature rise is not steady. We see Second, we need to invest more in pre- like much. Most of us wouldn’t much more rapid changes in the extremes. vention, rather than just responding to an even notice if the air around us In the last several years, record-setting — ever-growing number of disasters. This Owent up or down by that amount. Nearly and even life-threatening — hot spells have includes systems that anticipate climate risks everywhere on earth, the thermometer hit in Canada, India, Iraq, Japan, Pakistan and allocate funds for prevention and pre- goes up and down far more than that just and the United Kingdom, among others. paredness before floods, fires and droughts between daytime and night. have a chance to wreak their havoc. So what happens when global tempera- But it’s a very powerful number: 1°C is the tures rise, as predicted, even further? This Third, we need to work together. These average amount that global temperatures was exactly the question asked to the are complex problems and they require have risen since pre- Intergovernmental Panel responses from nearly every sector. We industrial times due to on Climate Change (IPCC) need multidisciplinary responses that human activity. as part of the Paris Agree- combine disaster risk planning, disaster ment. law, emergency financing, urban planning, And what a difference a agriculture, water management, scientific degree makes. Tempera- What they discovered research, education and other sectors. ture is an expression of should alarm anyone who And we need a combination of global energy and when more cares about life on earth. commitment, national planning and local energy is put into the In short: drastic steps implementation. atmosphere, the land and need to be taken to limit the oceans, weather pat- temperature rise to 1.5°C Fourth, we need to flag the particularly terns change. Heatwaves AssociatedPhoto: Press and even then, the storms, harsh impact climate change is having on get more extreme and periods of rain and droughts and other climate phenomena people living in conflict situations or who floods are more intense and unpredictable, related to climate change will get far worse. are on the move because of violence, inse- while other areas may face longer droughts, curity or extreme poverty (see page 18). aggravated by higher temperatures. Ocean If we limit the rise to 1.5°C, we could manage currents are altered and sea levels rise, the impacts by climate-proofing our cities, Lastly, we need to show that it’s not just sending storm surges further inland. shorelines, farms, etc. If we fail, and average about what we lose if we don’t act, but what temperatures rise by 2°C, the impacts will we gain if we do. Climate-proofing our econ- We are already seeing the impacts. be far more severe. Even limiting warming omies and our communities will not only Droughts are creating perfect conditions to 2°C will require drastic changes in energy save money, it will reduce risk and provide for wildfires, from Indonesia to the Arctic use. But if we continue with the status quo, the stability needed to encourage prosperity Circle in Sweden. The powerful tropical we are headed to at least 3°C and at this in places now too fragile to thrive. storms last year that devastated coastal point (and even at 2°C), it will be very diffi- communities and caused record damages cult and expensive to adapt. Some impacts Yes, the IPCC report is scary. It shows how are now three times more likely due to will likely be irreversible. even small degrees of warming carry climate change. tremendous consequences. But we can The situation is dire. But don’t lose hope. reduce and manage the risks if we’re How could it be that such a seemingly We have momentum. There is growing willing to take the big steps necessary. The insignificant difference in temperature has volume and urgency to calls for an energy coming decade will be crucial. such a powerful impact, especially when transition that prevents even more dra- that change has happened over more than matic consequences. There is an equally By Maarten van Aalst a century? urgent call to help the most vulnerable Maarten van Aalst is the director of the Red Cross Red among us adapt (see more on page 26). So Crescent Climate Centre. He is based in the Netherlands. First, we have to understand that the 1°C what do we need to do? figure is an average. Oceans warm more In stories throughout this edition, Maarten van slowly than land but, in some regions, First, we need to recognize that climate Aalst explains the links between climate change and the wildfires, droughts, storms and cold average land temperatures have already change is already here; this is no longer a snaps we increasingly see today. risen by more than 3°C in the last 150 years. matter for the future. ISSUE 2 . 2018 | RED CROSS RED CRESCENT | 1 In brief... Two ICRC health workers Floods put millions at executed in Nigeria risk in Nigeria Two ICRC health workers held Torrential rains caused Nigeria’s hostage in Nigeria by an armed two major rivers, the Niger and group were murdered by their the Benue, to burst their banks captors this year. The two women, in September, devastating who worked in a health centre crops, killing livestock and supported by the ICRC, were impacting more than 1.9 million abducted in March during an people. “We lost our rice farm Benjamin Suomela/FinnishPhoto: Cross Red attack in the north-eastern town and fishnets, and could only of Rann. Six months later, on salvage a few household items Destructive earthquakes and tsunami 16 September, Saifura Hussaini before the flood submerged our A series of earthquakes triggered a powerful tsunami on the Indonesian Ahmed Khorsa, a midwife, was house,” said Yahaya Musa, sitting island of Sulawesi in late September, killing more than 2,000 people, injuring deliberately killed. The second inside a temporary shelter he 10,000 and damaging more than 67,000 houses. “The aftershocks make me execution, of Hauwa Mohammed constructed next to his flooded nervous,” said one survivor, a woman named Rosnawati whose home of 20 Liman, also a midwife, came home. The disaster affected 34 years was destroyed. “We have nothing left,” said her 60-year-old mother. almost a month later. Their ICRC of the country’s 36 states and has Nearly 600 volunteers from the Indonesian Red Cross Society, known as colleagues were devastated. caused 141 deaths. In response, Palang Merah Indonesia, went to the hard-hit city of Palu to help distribute “Hauwa and Saifura’s deaths the IFRC launched an emergency relief items, provide medical care, assist people in coping with their trauma are not only a tragedy for their appeal on behalf of the Nigerian and fear, and help reunite families separated by the earthquakes and families, but they will also be Red Cross Society, seeking US$5.4 tsunami.