Global challenges and their impact on international humanitarian action
OCHA occasional policy briefing series, no. 1:
This paper provides a preliminary analysis that aims to address three questions: (i) the global challenges, such as climate change and food and water scarcity, faced by international humanitarian actors; (ii) their implications on international humanitarian action; and (iii) their implications on humanitarian coordination. It calls for humanitarian coordination: to move away from the artificial dichotomy of preparing for and responding to humanitarian needs versus responding to developmental needs; and to look ahead to become more flexible, for example by ensuring broader wider analytical, risk management and risk reduction capacity.
The paper then emphasizes three main conclusions for further discussion and debate: (i) the need for the humanitarian community to broaden its notions of vulnerability and risk; (ii) raising insecurity from instability and violence driven by the intersection of non-traditional threats and structural trends; and (iii) the need to integrate country plans and partnerships to promote actions increasing resilience in the short-term and reducing overall vulnerability in the long-term.