RedR

Speaking at Future Shocks: disasters and relief in a changing world, a conference organised by international disaster relief charity RedR on 5 December, Dr Randolph Kent, Humanitarian Futures Programme Director, Kings College London, stressed the need to re-think our approach to disaster relief and humanitarian aid.  As the scale and frequency of disasters increases, he stressed,  the current methods of response will become less effective.

Dr Kent  outlined the Seven Dimensions of Humanitarian Futures, which looks at the changing nature and dynamics of humanitarian crisis, changes in the tools available and the humanitarian actors involved.  He spoke of the need to anticipate a wider variety of potential disasters and to form effective partnerships, working in collaboration with new humanitarian actors, including the military and private sector: “We need to look at how we can adapt, collaborate and anticipate…The future dimensions  [of disaster relief] go well beyond the current humanitarian sector. We need to look at new approaches, tools and techniques; part of this could be the private sector”.

An unpredictable world

The conference also explored the changes and increase in disasters as a result of climate change, highlighting worrying trends, and it was unanimously accepted that urgent action and a change in response is needed to avert global catastrophe.

Speaking about his latest report: Climate Alarm, Disasters Increase as Climate Change Bites, Oxfam’s John Magrath stated: “Natural disasters have increased fourfold since the 1980s, from 125 per year to nearer 500 per year. The number of category 4 and 5 storms has doubled from around 40 to 90 per year”.

He highlighted the fact that melting glaciers in countries such as Bolivia means the clean water sources which millions worldwide rely on are vanishing.

These changes are occurring after a 1C rise in temperature, but over the coming years there is more likely to be a 4-5C rise which could have catastrophic affects on global populations and the world would face crisis’ never before seen on such a scale.

Magrath stressed that there needs to be “planetary awareness and global solidarity” if we are to tackle these problems, adding that we have “very little time”.

Ends

Notes to the editor:

Each year millions of people's lives are devastated by natural disaster, conflict and poverty. RedR supports aid workers and other professionals who help people to rebuild their lives.

RedR does this through:

• Running training programmes in the UK and in disaster areas.
• Providing customised training courses for international relief and development
  organisations.
• A recruitment service for humanitarian professionals.
• A Technical Support Service to help solve problems that aid workers have in the field.
• A membership service for professionals who can make a positive contribution to humanitarian work.

RedR runs programmes both in the UK and in areas affected by natural disasters and emergencies. By working in the field we are able to run training courses in response to what happens on the ground, can utilise local knowledge more effectively and are better placed to contribute to the longer-term needs of a region. We currently have training programmes running in Sri Lanka following the devastating tsunami of 2004 and in Sudan in response to the increasing destabilisation of the region.

Please visit our website at: www.redr.org.uk

"I met a man working in Nepal who told me that 'thanks to your security training course, I am still alive'. This is the difference that we are able to make through the training that we have developed with RedR using their skills and enormous practical experience."

Peter Lehmann, Senior Security Adviser, Swiss Development Agency.

Press Contact Details:

Sarah Milnes
Communications Manager
1 Great George Street, London SW1P 3AA

+44 (0) 20 7233 3116
sarah.milnes@redr.org
www.redr.org.uk