chapter 1
Risks and Consequences Chapter Takeaways The number of people who need humanitarian assistance and the cost of helping them is increasing. Global trends–such as climate change, population growth, rapid and unplanned urbanization, food and water insecurity, poverty, inequality and mass migration–are increasing the risk of humanitarian crises. Humanitarian experts consider these new drivers of crisis just as important as disasters and conflict. While they think that humanitarian organizations need to adapt to the changing risk landscape, they are not currently confident in their ability to do so. Humanitarian crises are still treated as discrete events, with insufficient analysis or treatment of their underlying causes and too little in the way of comprehensive actions by Governments and development and humanitarian organizations to prevent and manage them.
“Responding to the dramatic increase in extreme weather events and mega-disasters is one of the great challenges of our present age. Climate change, rapid urbanization and population growth in hazard-prone cities and coastal areas make action all
This chapter outlines some basic concepts related to risk. It explores the challenges facing people vulnerable to crisis in today’s world, how those risks can converge to cause humanitarian crises, and the perspectives of humanitarian practitioners on risks. It also describes the risk landscape in case studies for Burkina Faso, Central Asia, Indonesia and Southern Africa.
the more urgent.” United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon19
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