The Road to COP27: Why should Humanitarian NGOs Engage?

The Commitment #6 of the Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organisations calls on organisations to use their influence to mobilise urgent and more ambitious climate action and environment protection. The Charter commits us to work together to foster ambitious action on climate change adaptation and mitigation and to ensure protection of those who are most vulnerable so that they are not left behind. The humanitarian sector is uniquely placed to influence legal and policy frameworks to better channel resources and attention towards vulnerable and at-risk people. We can leverage our presence, expertise, and insight to work with multilateral institutions, governments and other organisations to ensure that greater focus on the impacts of these crisis on communities and people we serve are taken into consideration at decision-making levels.

Over the last few years, we have seen a significant increase in awareness by the humanitarian community of the impacts of the climate crisis and humanitarian engagement in UNFCCC processes. Following COP26 last year, we saw a far greater presence of humanitarian actors, engaging and raising awareness of impacts of climate change on the most vulnerable. However, we as a humanitarian community need to further articulate what we see our collective role is in implementing solutions to the climate crisis.

The next UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCC) COP27 will take place in Sharm El-Sheikh in November this year. But how does COP27 relate to the work of humanitarian actors and how can they engage in the proceedings to make sure that the discussions take into account humanitarian needs?

This webinar aimed to:

• Raise awareness on the UNFCC process, the importance of this years’ COP27 and how it links to humanitarian action
• Discuss why humanitarian organisations need to engage to bring in humanitarian perspectives on the topic of Loss and Damage, among others, in the lead-up to COP27
• Highlight the modalities and strategies for humanitarian NGOs to engage in the preparatory work for COP27 and beyond