Protecting People

Climate change is happening now and many places are feeling its effects. We must take actions to prevent climate change, but we must also adapt and prepare the people for the current effects of climate change so we can continue to fight in the future. 24.9 million people were newly internally displaced due to climate-related disasters and natural hazards in 2019.

Click on the Protecting People mission image to see how many people are displaced because of different types of climate-related disasters and natural hazards.

Source: IDMC, 2020

There has been a 3-fold increase in climate disasters in the last 30 years. How can we help people to better prepare?

Install more early warning systems

Develop plans for when disasters strike

Restrict information

Early warning systems can save lives before disaster strikes. It allows for more preventative actions to be taken, such as reducing the water levels of a dam during a flash flood. This could help protect infrastructure such as buildings and roads. Early warning systems also allow people to evacuate to safety. Due to its effectiveness in protecting lives from disasters, early warning systems are the best option.

A disaster plan can help improve response times to disasters and can find vulnerable groups before a disaster can happen. A plan, however, can only go so far in protecting people before a disaster happens and is better equipped in helping after a disaster has happened. As a result, early warning systems can prevent damage and loss of lives better than a disaster plan. However, the combination of both early warning systems and disaster plans is ideal.

Restricting information will leave communities blindsided to climate disasters.This will lead to more damage because people won’t know a disaster is coming or what to do once a disaster strikes.

Insurance helps people rebuild their lives after a disaster. How will you help?

Provide good and affordable insurance

Give cash for basic necessities

Cut disaster relief programmes

Affordable insurance is a good risk management tool in the face of climate change. Events such as hurricanes can hurt and destroy poor communities for generations, and insurance can help reduce these losses.This ensures the burden of rebuilding infrastructure does not fall on a few people. This also allows communities to share the risk of a disaster and support each other.

Giving people in need cash after a disaster can be an effective recovery tool. It can ensure that people affected by a disaster still have food on the table and their basic needs met. However, giving cash will not cover rebuilding infrastructure and communities in the same way that insurance will. Rather it will give relief to individuals one-on-one in the face of a disaster.

Cutting disaster relief programmes will leave communities more vulnerable to disasters, as there won't be a system to help if there is a disaster.

People can lose everything in a disaster. What will you do?

Build infrastructure to protect lives and livelihoods

Provide temporary housing

Protect urban areas only

Building infrastructure and conserving nature works to combat climate change and its effects in two ways. First, building infrastructure, such as stormwater management, can help lessen the effects of floods and other disasters. Also with the conservation of nature, greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced through the restoration of wetlands or planting trees. It also protects communities from disasters. For example, trees can slow down flooding.

Providing housing to people displaced by disasters and people living in climatic hazard zones can help prevent harmful effects caused by disasters. This, however, is only a temporary fix that does not solve the issue at hand. Building infrastructure and conserving nature is a longer term solution, that benefits more than one community, and as a result, is a better solution. Yet, this does not mean that providing temporary housing is not necessary.

Not all urban areas are in a climatic hazard zone, while some rural areas are. As a result, not protecting rural areas could put lots of people and resources in danger.

Over the past decade, more than 1.5 billion people have been affected by disasters. What will you do?

Install more early warning systems for disasters

Train people in first aid

Reduce aid to vulnerable communities

Early warning systems can save lives before disaster strikes. It allows for more preventative actions to be taken, such as reducing the water levels of a dam during a flash flood. This could help protect infrastructure such as buildings and roads. Early warning systems also allow people to evacuate to safety. Due to its effectiveness in protecting lives from disasters, early warning systems are the best option.

Training people in first aid is important and can save lives after a disaster hits. Installing more early warning systems for disasters, however, can prevent certain economic damage and can get people to safety before the disaster happens. As a result, early warning systems save more infrastructure and lives than training people in first aid.

Reducing aid to vulnerable communities will make them more susceptible to disasters’ effects since they will be unable to respond when a disaster strikes. As a result, it is not in line with the 1.5⁰C plan.

People's homes and businesses will be destroyed by climate impacts. How will you help them?

Provide good and affordable insurance

Provide internet access

Refuse to insure them

Affordable insurance is a good risk management tool in the face of climate change. Events such as hurricanes can hurt and destroy poor communities for generations, and insurance can help reduce these losses.This ensures the burden of rebuilding infrastructure does not fall on a few people. This also allows communities to share the risk of a disaster and support each other.

Providing internet access to everyone would increase awareness and allow people to have more knowledge of potential disasters. This could help people escape harm or figure out how to get relief aid, but it does not help rebuild communities after inevitable damage. As a result, providing good and affordable insurance is a better option. This allows communities to rebuild infrastructure after climate disasters hit.

Refusing to insure communities will leave them extremely vulnerable to any climate disaster. They would be unable to rebuild key infrastructure and many people would suffer. As a result, this is not in line with the 1.5⁰C plan.

Slow onset events like sea level rise can devastate communities. What will you do?

Build infrastructure to protect lives and livelihoods

Teach communities about climate impacts

Construct buildings on coastlines only

Building infrastructure and conserving nature works to combat climate change and its effects in two ways. First, building infrastructure, such as stormwater management, can help lessen the effects of floods and other disasters. Also with the conservation of nature, greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced through the restoration of wetlands or planting trees. It also protects communities from disasters. For example, trees can slow down flooding.

Educating communities on climate change and its impacts can influence people’s decisions. For example, people might take into account climate change’s effects when deciding where to build a house. This could save them from climatic disasters, such as sea level rise. Certain communities, however, might not make changes or will not be able to make changes by themselves. As a result, building infrastructure to protect communities will have a greater effect.

Constructing buildings on coastlines leaves them at extreme risk of climate impacts such as sea level rise. As a result, many buildings will be damaged or lost due to these climatic events, which is not in line with the 1.5⁰C plan.

TRANSPORTATION

FARMS & FOOD

ENERGY

GREEN ECONOMY

PROTECTING PEOPLE

NATURE