ISP3 Key Trends: Climate Change

Over the past few weeks and months, we have been conducting consultations with Action Against Hunger staff around the world. To learn more about this, visit yesterday’s blog on the ISP3 development process, which outlines the objectives of the consultation and what we were looking to determine.

During the consultation, the main trend that emerged repeatedly was climate change. Staff members and stakeholders within and outside the network recognise that climate change will affect us significantly over the next few years and therefore it is likely that the way we work or the things we work on will change.

See the attached Climate Change Fact Sheet or IARAN’s Future of Humanitarian Assistance Reportfor a more detailed forecast of how climate change is likely to change the humanitarian landscape over the next ten years.

We spoke to some of our colleagues here in Valencia about the climate crisis and how Action Against Hunger is responding and they had some interesting things to say. Here’s what Olivier, CEO of Action Against Hunger Spain said: here

The relationship between climate and gender was also highlighted by Claire, Country Director of Action Against Hunger in Uganda. She added that women are among the most vulnerable to climate change – for example, women and children are more exposed to sexual violence and abuse during and after natural disasters – so by reducing our carbon footprint or actively contributing to mitigating the effects of climate change, we are also contributing to the gender equality agenda.

But how can we reduce our carbon footprint? Claire had a lot of ideas, as did Jennifer, the country director of Action Against Hunger in Pakistan. Reducing our paper consumption, for example, and making an active effort in recycling: the Pakistan office has partnered with a local company to recycle its paper at no cost to Action Against Hunger (and then sold by the company). In Uganda, tree planting is included in project proposals to offset our carbon footprint. And Claire referred to a report by Save the Children that highlights that air flights, followed by electricity consumption, are the biggest contributors to NGOs’ carbon footprint. Collectively agreeing to direct flights rather than indirect flights (take-off and landing being the most carbon-emitting parts of flight) could help reduce our carbon footprint.

With respect to ISP3, we could do a lot, but it is a complex issue. Jennifer summarises the opportunities and challenges we face when considering climate change when we reflect on ISP3:here