CARE International is addressing climate-caused starvation, flood-borne illness, and gender-based violence. Here are the concerns they’re bringing to COP27

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In the week leading up to the world’s most important climate summit, CARE International workers are battling a multitude of cascading health problems in communities whose brushes with climate catastrophe have long since disappeared from the Global North’s attention.

The Horn of Africa, an eight-country region which includes Kenya and Somalia, is reeling from a yearslong drought considered to be the worst in 40 years. About 21 million people will experience extreme hunger by the end of 2022 alone due to massive agricultural losses in the region – herders are forced to move their livestock out of the drought zone, or see their entire livelihoods perish.

CARE teams are doing their best to assist people affected by the health, economic, and social consequences of these droughts. “We’re doing this through a multi-sectoral approach by providing both unconditional cash transfers – so families can buy water and food with it – and providing specialized nutritional treatment through our centres,” said Abyan Ahmed, a Somalia-based CARE global humanitarian nutrition advisor.

But CARE International’s efforts aren’t enough. The humanitarian organization is demanding wealthy nations like Canada pony up additional funds to help Global South countries pay for climate-induced expenses, including healthcare costs. In the lead-up to 2021’s COP26 summit in Glasgow, 100 of the least developed countries in the world signed a position paper calling for at least half of a $100 billion U.S. annual aid package to go to adaptation processes. This goal was not met.
 

Climate change inequality 

As world leaders meet again in Egypt for 2022’s COP27, CARE is reminding them – and the world – about the climate consequences borne by the Global South. “They are stuck in climate debts, paying for a problem that they did not cause,” said Marlene Achoki, the global policy co-lead of CARE’s Climate Justice Centreer, from Kenya. “The total greenhouse gas emissions for the African countries are very negligible, but they are paying the highest costs for the impacts of climate change.”

Pakistan is also in this situation. According to Adil Sheraz, CARE Pakistan’s country director, the South Asian nation is responsible for perhaps 1 percent of the world’s carbon emissions, but is one of the ten countries in the world most affected by climate change.

After a torrential monsoon season in 2022, where eight times as much rain fell compared to the region’s typical rainy season, 700,000 homes were totally destroyed. Sheraz said 33 million people have been affected. Despite the fact the monsoon season ended in September 2022, the flooding itself will not subside fully for another four to six weeks.

As with the Horn of Africa, there are a multitude of healthcare consequences for Pakistan that go well beyond the initial disaster. “Health is one of the most important areas which requires immediate intervention,” Sheraz said. Severe damage to water infrastructure from the monsoons means outbreaks of waterborne diseases like cholera and diarrhea are highly likely. The displacement of millions of Pakistanis is also leading to safety issues – which, ultimately, are health issues for victims of violence.

“We have heard about theft-related issues, robbery, killing, and also criminal disputes which happens in these areas,” Sheraz said. “Women and girls who have been living in these areas have also reported challenges with safety and security – because they still need to go far away to collect clean water for their daily use.”

In Pakistan, CARE is handing out mosquito nets and water purification tablets in care packages to vulnerable households, with priority given to women-led households in particular. CARE is also trying to connect families affected by issues to healthcare facilities in their neighbourhood.

Unfortunately, the health consequences of climate disaster last well beyond the initial storm, drought, or flash flood. They also go much deeper than many observers might expect. In the Horn of Africa, Ahmed said the lack of nutritious food is leading to malnutrition for seven million children by the end of the year. While these children might have some food, the lack of nutrients will take a toll on their bodies.

“This is going to affect the long-term development of those children and their cognitive development,” she said, “and it’s going to seed the pathway for an intergenerational cycle of poverty.” Insufficient organ development due to malnutrition will also predispose them to serious complications like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

For herders in countries like Kenya, the sudden death of livestock due to heatwaves is emotionally devastating. “They are losing their source of income,” Achoki said, “which is also leading to a lot of mental health and stress issues.” Rates of suicide and gender-based violence go up. Climate refugees are asked to sometimes share accommodation with people they don’t know, she said, leading to higher rates of sexual violence.
 

The Global North’s fair share 

While the solutions to climate-triggered cholera outbreaks or rising sexual violence rates might look very different, CARE (and Global South governments themselves) believe one component holds true for all of them – more money. Ahmed said addressing urgent drought-related damages in the Horn of Africa, for instance, would require at least $1.4 billion U.S.

The issue doesn’t just come down to recouping the cost of repairing water filtration systems or launching counselling services for sexual assault survivors. Achoki said it is also a matter of reimbursing countries who’ve suffered from climate calamities, and to prepare for the next wave of inevitable disasters. “We are calling for developed countries to pay up for loss and damage, to pay their climate justice fair share to support communities who are suffering and who did not contribute to this problem,” she said.  

At COP27, CARE is pushing for the establishment of a Loss and Damage Finance Facility to provide funds for communities who need long-term support on everything from addressing climate related health issues to compensating for lost livestock. This is not about adaptation. Rather, according to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, loss and damage refers to replacing all of the harm caused by climate change which cannot reasonably be adapted to.

Ultimately, CARE is looking for Global North countries to take the issue of loss and damage, as well as the healthcare impacts of climate change seriously. Global South countries have long advocated for more financing to address the impacts of climate change, but humanitarian organizations like CARE also plan to step up at COP27 in Egypt.

Greg Spira, head of gender, food, and climate justice programs at CARE Canada, said CARE is traveling to COP27 to make its presence known to world leaders at roundtables and negotiating sessions. CARE Canada’s priorities include amplifying the voices of women leaders, holding the Canadian government accountable, and influencing policy for the better.

Spira said the Canadian government has already committed to a lot of ways to improve its international climate actions, including through its Feminist International Assistance Policy framework, but CARE’s job is to push them to do better.

One particular way would be through addressing the Pandora’s Box of social, health, and economic issues from climate disasters in a more comprehensive way than today’s buffet of international aid envelopes.

“The climate crisis is such that if you just address a short-term event, you’re not preparing communities to deal with all of the risks that are to come,” Spira said. “The funding for short-term is separate from the funding from long-term. They don’t usually get put together. We need to link them up.”

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