How charities are confronting poverty and climate change

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“While people in poverty are responsible for just a fraction of global emissions, they will bear the brunt of climate change, and have the least capacity to protect themselves,”  –  Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.

 

At COP27, many highlighted the global inequalities exacerbated by climate change and called for loss and damage funding to address the impacts of climate change that cannot be – or have not been – avoided through mitigation and adaptation efforts.

 

In addition to exploring how international charities are tackling both poverty and climate change, this article explores how national and local charities can also do so.

 

After all, poverty and climate change are linked at the local scale as well as the global.

 

For example, speaking to RightsInfo about the impact of climate change on human rights, Mr Alston said, “In the UK, as elsewhere, the poor will suffer by far the most. They are least able to relocate, to afford to protect themselves, to pay for food and housing.”

 

This refers to climate change events such as flash floods, coastal flooding, wildfires, infectious disease, extreme heat, and pollution – impacts that are already taking place in the UK.

 

Many international charities tackling poverty are already engaging with the impacts of climate change. Here’s how.

 

 

CARE International

 

CARE’s mission is to save lives, defeat poverty, and achieve social justice. The charity is particularly focused on tackling gendered inequality.

 

They are addressing climate change because the crisis is known to exacerbate existing inequalities.

 

Their approach includes a focus on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, sustainable agriculture, ecosystems and natural resource management, and gender equality.

 

They also offer the resource of the Climate and Resilience Academy, a detailed set of online resources for anyone working on climate change and resilience to access. The resources are directly based on CARE’s 20 years of experience working on climate issues.

 

To address the overlapping issues of poverty and climate change, you can also use the online resources provided by CARE in their Climate and Resilience Academy. Their free online courses include useful titles such as ‘Climate Justice and Gender Justice’ and ‘Community-Based Adaptation 101’.

 

 

Oxfam

 

Oxfam tackles global poverty by fighting the injustices and inequalities that fuel it.

 

To respond to climate change, Oxfam are quick to tackle the impacts of extreme weather such as floods and droughts, help people to adapt to the changing climate, and work to hold those most powerful to account.

 

Here is an impactful campaigning video made by Oxfam entitled ‘The cycle of broken promises’:

 

 

Action Aid

 

The international charity Action Aid works with women and girls living in poverty.

 

They have chosen to incorporate climate action into their work because climate impacts are already threatening the lives of people living in poverty, and the poorer people are, the harder it is to recover from these impacts.

 

The charity’s work to tackle climate change focuses on response to disasters, adaptation, and resilience.

 

This includes training women and children on how to prepare for cyclones and protect lives and livelihoods, supporting farmers with climate-resilient crop seeds and farming methods, and supporting the building of flood-resilient villages.

 

ActionAid are also working globally with local partners to pressure governments to take more radical climate action.

 

They emphasise the importance of working together in achieving the level of change that is needed – involving governments, donors, and climate and humanitarian agencies.

 

 

Other actions charities can take

 

To tackle injustices that are exacerbated by climate change, charities can provide humanitarian aid, as well as collaborate, and apply pressure on those with the power to make structural change. Below we explore some other steps charities can take to incorporate climate change and sustainability into their work.

 

 

Join the Climate Coalition

 

The Climate Coalition is the largest group of organisations across the UK who are dedicated to action against climate change. Their members are diverse in size and purpose, and include Oxfam, Islamic Relief, The Cooperative Group, Swindon Climate Action Network, and Sheffield Climate Alliance.

 

The Climate Coalition’s event The Great Big Green Week is a celebration of community action to tackle climate change. Members of the coalition use this opportunity to get more people involved in climate action throughout the country and to put pressure on the UK government to act against climate change.

 

Their ongoing Show the Love and Letters to Tomorrow campaigns aim to get people involved in addressing the climate as well as applying political pressure.

 

Collaborate

 

Charities can also collaborate in other ways to address the impact of climate change upon people living in poverty.

 

Charities Aid Foundation recommends looking for informal collaborating opportunities such as sharing information and embracing the opportunity to explore new ways of doing things, including digitally.

 

It also advises on how to navigate formal collaborations in a mutually beneficial way.