As a farmer, Fadimata Walet, relies on regular rainfall to provide for her 10-person household in Mali. Fadimata shares the challenges she’s facing as a result of environmental changes.  

I work as a farmer, which serves as the main source of income for my family. We practice rain-fed agriculture, so we sow our seeds in the wintertime.

The rains used to be abundant, and so were the harvests. I was able to repay the credit I took out to prepare for the agricultural season and I had enough left over to cover six to eight months of my family's millet (a grain rich in fiber) needs. Over the years, we have noticed a decrease in the frequency and quantity of rain. The harvests became worse and even our finest seeds produced almost nothing.

There is a pond that used to fill up during the winter period, and the water is used by the women for market gardening. Before, it could last three to four months without drying up. But these last years, it barely stays one month after the winter. So, we have no choice but to reduce the area that we cultivate.

‘Trying to adapt’

Faced with this situation, I have had to take on more work. I started cultivating more diverse plant species, hoping to have a quantity of harvest that could cover me for two or three months. I started to grow vegetables that I sell with the help of my daughter. I also sell firewood and charcoal that I bring from the bush to provide for my family. I offer my services as a cook for ceremonies, and I had to resort to large debts and a loan to revitalize my small business.

I didn't need all this before, because the rains were abundant and sustained us. I know many families who go to the Mbera refugee camp in Mauritania after the harvest, where they receive food donations from NGOs because their crops are not enough. We hope that things will improve for us, but for the moment we are doing our best with what we have.

Times are hard and we are trying to adapt, but it is very hard to hold on for many of us. I know today that my situation is better than many other families who do not have support.

For two years now, I have been receiving financial support from Humanity & Inclusion, which is enough to cover my family’s food needs. I have a smile on my face because I am relieved from having to borrow, beg or go into debt to feed by family. I have also been able to buy some garden supplies to cultivate my millet field and harvest the vegetables my daughter sells at the market. Without this project, many households would be starving. Today, I am able to meet the needs of my family and am gradually returning to a normal life.

Supporting families impacted by climate change

In Mali, Humanity & Inclusion works to support households and communities like Fadimata’s by reinforcing their resilience to the risks of food and nutrition insecurity in response to climate change.

The organization provides financial support to families for daily necessities, strengthens malnutrition prevention community groups and implements infant and child dietary advice through community specialists. The project also supports local initiatives and community projects and reinvigorates spaces for dialogue between local leaders and affected citizens to promote the shared management of natural resources.

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The negative consequences of environmental and climate changes have a greater impact on vulnerable populations and people with disabilities.

In the event of an environmental or climate-related crisis, people with disabilities risk being left behind or missing out on humanitarian aid intended to help people cope. Emergency supply distributions after a powerful hurricane may take place in facilities not accessible to people with limited mobility, or information about the distributions may not be accessible to people with visual or hearing disabilities.

In some cases, people with disabilities are intentionally excluded from resources by the community, as they are not seen as a priority in times of scarcity. This is linked to attitudinal stigma and extensive discrimination faced by people with disabilities. Women and girls are even further excluded.

“If a family has five children in a famine and one of them has a disability, typically this child will not be the one who receives food first,” says Ruby Holmes, Humanity & Inclusion’s inclusive Governance Global Specialist.

When natural disaster strikes, many are left without accessible evacuation routes or secure shelters to seek safety. In the long-term, they could be left in an area where resources start to disappear as climate threats become more powerful. By 2050, 200 million people are estimated to be climate refugees—around 30 million of whom would have specific needs.

“When climate issues or disasters become chronic to a region, people are more likely to move away from the area,” Holmes explains. “But, people with disabilities might not have the opportunity, resources or community support to move, so they can be left behind in areas where the teachers, doctors and employers are all leaving, and remaining services are rarely inclusive or accessible.”

In cases where people are able to flee, they often leave behind necessary medications and assistive devices, such as canes or walkers.

Livelihood opportunities threatened

Sources of livelihood are directly threatened by the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation. Changes in water supply leave farmers unable to feed livestock or grow crops, and natural disasters cause destruction to infrastructure and facilities that employ entire communities. People who work in handcrafted good, sewing, or commerce often lose their supplies and structures in events such as cyclones or heavy flooding.

“People with disabilities are more at-risk of losing livelihood opportunities,” Holmes continues. “Droughts and flooding, for example, cause significant environmental degradation, leaving less available land for agriculture or bodies of water for fish farming. When you look at who is going to gain access in these shrinking spaces, it is unfortunately rarely people with disabilities, especially not women and girls with disabilities.”

Rising health needs

Growing air pollution is leading to higher rates of asthma and other respiratory issues, primarily among children. 

“When you pair disability with a chronic illness like asthma, for example, then there is an added need for health services for that person,” Holmes says. “But people with disabilities already face significant obstacles accessing these services.”

Not only do some people face physical obstacles accessing care due to limited mobility or lack of transportation, attitudinal barriers and discrimination also cause people with disabilities to be refused appropriate care or receive inadequate or ill-adapted services for their needs. People with disabilities are three times more likely to be denied health care, and four times more likely to be treated poorly by the health care system than people without disabilities. As more and more individuals develop additional health conditions due to environmental pollution, people with disabilities will be no exception, but will still face significant barriers.

Magnifying vulnerabilities

In certain circumstances, environmental changes can indirectly magnify the vulnerabilities linked to certain disabilities or conditions.

As ultraviolet rays from sun exposure become more intense, people with albinism across eastern Africa are experiencing higher rates of skin cancer. People with albinism have little or no melanin in their skin to protect them from the sun, and they are also prone to visual disabilities. Blindness and low vision are particularly common among people with albinism, and more sun exposure further reduces their sight.

“Because people with albinism often face extremely high rates of stigma, discrimination and risk of danger, they are often hidden by their families for protection,” Holmes explains. “This decreases their access to lifesaving services needed to treat rising skin cancer rates from sun exposure, but also reduces access to basic protective tools such as sunscreen, hats or sunglasses.”

Increasing temperatures from global warming also put vulnerable populations at risk.

“We have seen cases of nursing homes and institutions for persons with disabilities where air conditioning units break, or there is no air conditioning,” Holmes adds. “The rising temperatures create an unlivable environment for residents in fragile conditions, and there is an increase in deaths.”

Disability and development

In some instances, environmental hazards can even lead to the development of long-term disabilities. Agricultural degradation caused by drought, frequent flooding, or extreme temperatures can lead to situations of food insecurity for entire communities, where families cannot find enough food to feed their young children.

Malnutrition in children and babies can interfere with their development and growth, which can lead to long-term disability without proper intervention. There are also higher rates of disabilities in newborns if their mother experiences malnutrition or high pollution during pregnancy.

Green Initiative

Humanity & Inclusion is committed to reducing the adverse effects of climate change on populations worldwide. We help communities prepare for and adapt to climate shocks and stresses, and we respond to crises magnified by environmental factors. Applying a disability, gender and age (DGA) inclusion lens across all our actions, we advocate for practitioners and policy-makers to embed DGA in their climate work as well. Humanity & Inclusion is also determined to reduce its own ecological footprint by adapting and implementing environmentally conscious approaches to humanitarian action.

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Amina, 55, comes from a long line of herders. Years of insufficient rainfall and climate change have put her work and family at risk, forcing them out of their home and altering their way of life.

Like the majority of people from Decarta, Somaliland, an agro-pastoral community, Amina and her family are herders. She has been rearing animals since she was a child and supported her family until recently. Unfortunately, the growing effects of climate change have brought serious consequences to her livelihood.

“There has been a huge impact on my family and my whole community,” Amina says. “I once owned 20 cows and 20 goats, but we have lost them all in the drought.”

Amina used to depend solely on her animals for income and food to care for her three children and husband, who is Deaf and has a mental disability. A long period of dramatically reduced rainfall and extreme temperatures made it impossible to feed livestock or keep the animals hydrated, affecting many pastoral families like Amina’s. At least one person in the Togdheer region has also died of dehydration.

Families forced to flee

Without their animals, Amina and her family have been forced to leave their rural home and move in with her older son in a camp for internally displaced persons in Hargeisa, a city over 30 miles away.

“It has been very difficult,” Amina explains. “Life in the city is very tough and expensive. We cannot work because we never went to school. We cannot go back because the drought is happening every year and nothing is going to change that.”

For now, her oldest son is working odd jobs to cover their basic needs.

The drought is worsening and continues to spread across the country, causing further displacement and putting millions at risk. Amina pleads for the government and institutions to develop a clear plan to minimize the impact of recurring droughts, and wishes people would build wells and water reserves to cope with the change in rainfall.

After generations of herding, Amina may be the last in her family to raise livestock for a living. She now plans to settle in Hargeisa and enroll her children in technical schools so they will develop skills to thrive in the city.

Supporting affected communities

Humanity & Inclusion supports Amina’s family by financing transportation costs for her husband’s care and services at a specialized hospital. They are also being referred to a public hospital in Hargeisa to access free services.

Working in Somaliland for 30 years, Humanity & Inclusion has been providing support to communities affected by severe droughts since they began in 2017.

Teams provide cash assistance, access to water supply and help assure the survival of livestock for pastoral communities alongside specialized partner organizations—including Veterinarians Without Borders, Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe. The organization also works to ensure that vulnerable populations, displaced individuals and people with disabilities have access to humanitarian aid, as well as rehabilitation and psychosocial support services.

Green Initiative

Humanity & Inclusion is committed to reducing the adverse effects of climate change on populations worldwide. We help communities prepare for and adapt to climate shocks and stresses, and we respond to crises magnified by environmental factors. Applying a disability, gender and age (DGA) inclusion lens across all our actions, we advocate for practitioners and policy-makers to embed DGA in their climate work as well. Humanity & Inclusion is also determined to reduce its own ecological footprint by adapting and implementing environmentally conscious approaches to humanitarian action.

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As increasing exposure to weather-related hazards creates significant needs in Madagascar, Humanity & Inclusion supports development of adapted solutions.

Madagascar is one of the most prone countries to extreme weather hazards in the world, and the third most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Frequent flooding, tropical storms, cyclones and droughts have devastating impacts on the population and humanitarian needs throughout the island. Climate change is expected to further increase both the frequency and strength of extreme weather events over time.

Five storms, two months

Madagascar’s annual cyclone season spans from November to March. During this time, at least one or two cyclones are expected to cause heavy rains, winds, flooding and rising sea levels. In early 2022 alone, the country experienced five tropical storms, including two intense cyclones that occurred only two weeks apart and followed similar paths of destruction.

Between January and March, over 200 people died from these storms. Around 420,000 have been affected, and more than 169,000 people had their homes damaged or destroyed. Families were left without access to food, drinking water, electricity, shelter, or basic hygiene supplies following each storm. Hospitals, schools and farmland were largely demolished, leaving populations without medical care, children without education and entire agricultural-dependent communities without food production or livelihoods, all of which will have long-term consequences. Around 150,000 acres of rice fields were flooded twice by the back-to-back cyclones and some areas lost as much as 90% of food production sources.

The worst drought in 40 years

While the northern and eastern regions of the country have faced flooding and heavy rains, the south has been experiencing the worst drought in 40 years. Following several years of below-average rainfall, approximately 1.5 million people in the region are now alarmingly food insecure.

“The population relies heavily on subsistence agriculture and rain-fed crops,” explains Lili Bazin, Humanity & Inclusion’s Disaster Risk Reduction technical referent. “So the drought has dramatic impacts on their food security and livelihoods.”

Between 2018 and 2021, the price of water increased by 300%. Some families have reported eating dirt or boiling strips of leather just to get by. The alarming lack of food puts pregnant people and children under the age of 5 at heightened risk of malnutrition, which could result in developmental complications.

Compounding vulnerability

Such dramatic meteorological events feed into a vicious cycle: natural disasters create humanitarian need by causing destruction, while pre-existing sources of vulnerability magnify the consequences of those disasters.

Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world, making the population that much more vulnerable in times of crisis. When faced with the stresses of food insecurity or disaster, many are forced to sell their assets or pull children out of school. Education dropout rates have increased since the drought began, as have rates of gender-based violence and early marriage. With resources and infrastructure frequently threatened, rebuilding becomes increasingly difficult, and needs continue to grow.

Populations with the greatest needs are often left behind in at-risk regions, as many cannot afford to relocate from isolated regions or lack the resources to do so, such as information or transportation. Impacts are even greater on older populations, pregnant people, people with disabilities, and people from minority groups who may face discrimination or physical barriers to accessing aid.

Reducing the impact

“200 deaths this year is of course 200 more than we want,” says Olivier Benquet, Humanity & Inclusion’s geographic director for Madagascar. “But there is some good news: This is a relatively low number considering the scale of these disasters. That is the result of improving disaster risk reduction.”

Humanity & Inclusion has implemented disaster risk reduction projects throughout the world, and in Madagascar specifically, for years. To better prepare communities faced with climate shocks and events, the organization strengthens local structures, supports education services, raises awareness of risks, implements monitoring and early warning systems, and assists individuals in making their livelihoods more sustainable, among other initiatives.

“We can’t prevent the wind, and we can’t prevent the rains,” Bazin adds. “But we can keep natural events from becoming natural disasters by predicting where they may strike, anticipating their impacts on lives and livelihoods, and by acting accordingly ahead of time to prepare communities.”

Inclusive proactive planning

In January, Humanity & Inclusion launched a three-year disaster risk reduction project to put inclusive anticipatory action in three countries prone to natural disasters: Madagascar, Haiti and the Philippines. The initiative uses the science of weather and climate to anticipate possible impacts in risk-prone areas and mobilizes teams, materials and practices to enact early action protocol and mitigate potential impacts before they can be felt. Through the initiative, Humanity & Inclusion will conduct studies to better understand associated risks on vulnerable populations, locate affected communities, reinforce community capacities to respond, run simulation exercises and ensure the inclusion of marginalized groups in these efforts.

“With today’s technology and meteorological forecasts, we can see a cyclone coming in advance,” Benquet explains. “When we see that, we can start to move our teams to the targeted areas, stock supplies, warn communities, evacuate people, and reinforce structures. We know these events are going to happen more often, so it is critical that we adapt and further develop our risk reduction efforts in the face of environmental changes.”

In Madagascar alone, the project targets nearly 330,000 people. In Haiti, it aims to benefit over 200,000 and another 200,000 in the Philippines.

“We will always support communities recovering from disaster,” Bazin says. “But at the end of the day, if we can prepare ahead of time and prevent the disaster from occurring, that’s the real goal."

Green Initiative

Humanity & Inclusion is committed to reducing the adverse effects of climate change on populations worldwide. We help communities prepare for and adapt to climate shocks and stresses, and we respond to crises magnified by environmental factors. Applying a disability, gender and age (DGA) inclusion lens across all our actions, we advocate for practitioners and policy-makers to embed DGA in their climate work as well. Humanity & Inclusion is also determined to reduce its own ecological footprint by adapting and implementing environmentally conscious approaches to humanitarian action.

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Humanity & Inclusion and fellow humanitarian actors have created the CHANGE consortium to determine standards, measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate change is a global issue, one that contributes to humanitarian need worldwide. However, the operations and processes involved in humanitarian action have their own environmental impacts. In order to respect our commitment to “Do No Harm,” NGOs must take appropriate steps to reduce our carbon footprints as much as possible.

In December 2020, Humanity & Inclusion signed a commitment alongside nine other humanitarian organizations——to integrate climate change accounting into its operations.

In 2021, Humanity & Inclusion signed the Charter on Climate and Environment for Humanitarian Organizations, formally committing to:

• Measuring the environmental and carbon impacts of its actions
• Reducing its carbon footprint
• Adapting its humanitarian action to meet climate-related challenges
• Communicating progress made and actions taken
• Encouraging other actors to do the same

To implement these commitments, and as a member of the Humanitarian Environmental Network, Humanity & Inclusion and nine other network partners created a consortium called CHANGE (Consortium of Humanitarian Actors and Networks Engaged in Greenhouse gas Emissions reduction). Through CHANGE, Humanity & Inclusion and its partners aim to measure the current carbon footprint of their activities, and ultimately reduce the impact of humanitarian action on climate change.

Humanity & Inclusion is partnering with Action Against Hunger, CARE, Doctors of the World, Electriciens Sans Frontiéres, Islamic Relief France, Oxfam Intermón, Premiere Urgence Internationale, Red Cross France, and Solidarités International.

Developing common standards

Presently, there is no requirement for humanitarian organizations to measure their carbon footprints. For those that choose to do so out of their own initiative, there is no uniform system, meaning that each organization measures differently resulting in inconsistent reporting across the sector.

“Currently everyone is using different parameters and ways of counting,” says Denis Bedjai, Humanity & Inclusion’s Logistics Advisor and Environmental Agenda Project Manager. “But it doesn’t make sense to compare different kinds of measurements. We want to create one method that is common to all NGOs.”

Humanity & Inclusion and its fellow CHANGE members are working together to determine common accounting parameters for their greenhouse gas emissions, with support from Citepa, an organization with over 60 years of experience in air, climate and energy. Getting a clearer idea of our impact will enable the organizations to develop reduction plans for the future.

What makes up the carbon footprint?

There are numerous parameters to account for when measuring greenhouse gas emissions. Most organizations measure emissions that come from lighting and heating the office, or from driving organization vehicles, but many indirect emissions go unaccounted for. Any energy purchased through external providers, waste generated, transportation, distribution, production of goods, or even investments are just a few of the many factors that contribute to an organization’s overall carbon footprint. In humanitarian contexts, the supply chain may comprise a large part of the greenhouse gas emissions, so accounting for each step is crucial.

“If we purchase buckets for hygiene kits, we need to know where that bucket comes from, how it was made, how it was transported, how the waste was managed, etc.,” Bedjai explains. “Even though we didn’t produce the bucket itself, we have to take into consideration its entire life cycle as part of our carbon footprint when we buy it.”

Creating an emissions factors database

Once the standard of accounting parameters is set, the consortium members must conduct the actual measurements. However, measuring greenhouse gas emissions is even more difficult in low-resource or economically developing nations.

To simplify the process, the CHANGE consortium and its partners plan to continue the development of a database specific to the humanitarian sector. Initiated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the emissions factor database will be adapted to intervention locations, free to users, and will enable organizations to more accurately track the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their frequent actions or service providers. 

Adopting action plans

Once Humanity & Inclusion has a clearer vision of its current carbon emissions, the organization plans to set targets to reduce those emissions by implementing adapted action plans.

“For example, if we see that travel from flights is a major source of our greenhouse gas emissions during the auditing phase, we would determine steps to reduce that where possible,” Bedjai says. “Only sending people when absolutely necessary, using flight routes with the fewest legs, making sure to send groups together—these are all best practices for keeping those emissions as low as possible.”  

In the long-term, Humanity & Inclusion aims not only to reduce its own carbon footprint, but to support local humanitarian actors in doing the same. By implementing projects that reinforce organizations’ skills and capacities to introduce conscious ecological measures, Humanity & Inclusion will be able to further its goal of lessening the ecological impact of humanitarian aid on local and international levels.

GREEN Initiative: Humanity & Inclusion is committed to reducing the adverse effects of climate change on populations worldwide. We help communities prepare for and adapt to climate shocks and stresses, and we respond to crises magnified by environmental factors. Applying a disability, gender and age (DGA) inclusion lens across all our actions, we advocate for practitioners and policy-makers to embed DGA in their climate work as well. Humanity & Inclusion is also determined to reduce its own ecological footprint by adapting and implementing environmentally conscious approaches to humanitarian action.

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Silver Spring, MD — Below is a statement on behalf of the 160 signatories to the Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organizations to the 26th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties, known as COP26:

“Today’s climate and environmental crises threaten the survival of humanity. All dimensions of our lives are affected, from our physical and mental health to our food, water and economic security. While the crises are impacting everyone, those who have contributed least to the problem are hit hardest – and it is only getting worse.” —Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organizations

The latest scientific evidence, including the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, reconfirms the truth of those these words. Our planet is in a period of accelerating climate and environmental crises, the effects of which are being felt by all of us. As humanitarian organizations we see this every day in our work.

As the world prepares to come together for COP26 in Glasgow this November, we urge negotiators to bear in mind the humanitarian consequences of their decisions. Climate-related disasters have nearly doubled in the past 20 years and weather-related hazards are now the number one driver of internal displacement, affecting most notably the poorest and most marginalized people.

The climate crisis is adding an additional layer of stress to humanitarian organizations that are already stretched thinner than ever before. Urgent and ambitious action is needed to cut greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to rising risks, so that we can avert the most disastrous consequences on people and the environment. Without ambitious climate action, humanitarian organizations will struggle to respond to increasing needs.

Even in the best-case scenarios over the coming years, we know that a certain amount of climate change and environmental degradation is set to occur, and that their humanitarian consequences are likely to increase. We must consider individual characteristics such as age, gender, and legal status, as well as structural situations that affect people’s exposure to risk, to ensure that people who are most vulnerable to those consequences receive the support they need to protect themselves and their livelihoods.

When we signed the Charter, we committed to scale up our action, reduce risks and vulnerability, and support those most at risk. We pledged to act upon local leadership and experience, to invest in durable responses, and to draw on and amplify local and indigenous knowledge. We promised to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, minimize the damage we cause to the environment, and reduce our waste, and to share information, insights, and resources so that the impact of our efforts is amplified.

We know that radical transformation is needed. We are determined to act, urgently and intentionally, and we call on everyone, across the humanitarian sector and beyond, to do the same.

Signed by the Signatories to the Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organizations, including Humanity & Inclusion (HI) Federation.

The Charter is open for signature by all humanitarian organizations.

Information about the Charter and guidance on its implementation are available at www.climate-charter.org