LEARN HOW CHANGING CLIMATE IS AFFECTING VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES AND CREATING AN UNPRECEDENTED NEED FOR EMERGENCY SHELTER.
The global climate is changing at an unprecedented rate. And it’s having dramatic effects on people around the world.
Through our work supporting vulnerable communities, we are seeing increasingly devastating floods. Shifting weather patterns are also affecting food production and making some disasters more extreme. As a result, vital infrastructures are under threat, like water resources, energy, transportation, agriculture and health, as well as local ecosystems and wildlife.
Climate change is a humanitarian crisis.
We see this when we work with communities who have lost homes, livelihoods or loved ones to tropical storms, flooding and drought. Our changing climate is making it harder to live in many parts of the world and issues continue to build for people who play the smallest part in creating them.
Vulnerable families are on the front line of the climate crisis, forced to leave their homes to survive – either because of these disasters, or to find food, water or to make a living.
It is estimated that 1.2 billion people could be displaced by the climate crisis by 2050.
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Key Stats About Climate Change
How does climate affect disasters?
How does climate change affect people?
How do we manage our impact here at ShelterBox?
Why are we talking about climate change?
to Learn More about what ShelterBox is doing to help, please visit the Climate Change Hub.
Global temperatures increasing
The earth has warmed by an average of 1.4°F in the last century.
Highest greenhouse gas levels*
Greenhouse gas levels in our atmosphere reached a record high in 2018, well above the levels observed in nature (*over the last 800,000 years).
Sea levels rising
Sea levels will continue to rise well beyond 2100. The extent of the rise will depend on whether we are all able to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.
Stronger storms
Climate change is leading to an increasing number of very strong storms in categories 4 and 5.
Extreme weather events often happen in countries where many people live in poverty. We help vulnerable communities recover after disaster, but the climate crisis is making challenging situations worse.
The climate crisis is having a huge impact on people who depend on the weather for their livelihoods. People who farm, rear livestock, or live a nomadic lifestyle are struggling to feed their families. Climate shocks bring devastating and long-term effects, often forcing them to move away into cities.
This brings a new set of challenging circumstances such as overcrowding, food scarcity and vulnerability to diseases like coronavirus.
For people living through war, the climate crisis makes their already overwhelmingly difficult situation worse.
Floods, droughts, depletion of water sources, shortage of food and often having nowhere to live add to the complexities of war.
With no essential services like health or social care, damaged economies, the constant threat of violence, and the lack of robust shelter, people’s ability to cope can be entirely compromised.
We know that by working to support disaster affected communities we also have an impact on the environment.
Our use of air freight and energy contributes to climate change; the waste we produce contributes to landfill, and any single-use plastics involved in our work will stay on the planet for many lifetimes.
If not properly managed, our impact could contribute to increasing the vulnerability of communities to disaster.
That’s why we are committed to understanding our impact on the environment and finding ways to avoid or reduce these effects.
We’re taking action towards reducing our carbon footprint in a number of ways, including:
This includes working on ways to:
Supporting communities who have lost their homes to extreme weather events has been a significant part of our work for the last 20 years.
We are on the front line, helping communities in the immediate aftermath of disasters, which are becoming more severe because of our warming climate.
Right now, the climate crisis is destroying homes and livelihoods. With help from our partners, we work to reach some of the world’s most vulnerable people. People who are bearing the brunt of the increase in extreme weather and the ravages of conflict.
Climate change is irreversibly changing the lives of the communities we support and that means we are already active players in the climate crisis conversation.
Our priority is helping vulnerable people feel more in control of their futures – they know what they’re facing better than we ever could. Through listening to the communities we serve, our work can help with climate change adaption.
Water filters can help families clean contaminated water when climate shocks increase water scarcity.
Training ensures people can make the best use of the aid. That includes simple tips for securing a tarpaulin or creating drainage channels.
Where families are at risk of being displaced several times, aid packages are designed to be mobile and flexible.
Robust tents that can withstand strong winds and vents that help with ventilation in hotter climates.
Millions of people in some of the most vulnerable places around the world are facing the challenges of the climate crisis head-on.
We’re committed to reaching communities that urgently need support, but we can’t do it alone.
It’s actually the decisions we make that create a disaster. Factors like living conditions and poverty, government capacity to prepare and respond, as well as the process of rebuilding and how efficient that would be, are all factors that will define whether a disaster occurs as a result of the natural hazard.
Learn more about what Tsunamis are, what causes them and what devastation they can leave behind.
Learn about what floods are, why they happen and how we respond.
Find out more about what hurricanes are, the difference between hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones, and other interesting facts.
In April 2020, Cyclone Harold made landfall in Vanuatu as a Category 5 cyclone, bringing devastation to communities in the north. Harold destroyed thousands of houses, damaged food crops, and caused widespread power outages.
Imagine living in a country where extreme weather has crushed the infrastructure of your community. A disaster that you didn’t contribute to and that arrived without warning destroys your home and livelihood.