Analysis of DG ECHO’s projects related to climate change and humanitarian aid

Background

Climate change is already impacting vulnerable communities in countries with weak adaptive capacities, and these impacts are expected to increase and change in nature (with cascading effects) in the coming years. DG ECHO’s partners are already experiencing these impacts in their operations and are adapting accordingly. Emerging practices are being tested, and lessons are being captured to adapt while responding to an increasing workload.

As a humanitarian donor, DG ECHO needs to ensure it supports the adaptation of humanitarian responses so that they can better tackle the effects of climate change. DG ECHO should explicitly define how it can evolve, what it can and cannot do, at both operational and policy levels, through sectoral and cross-cutting approaches.

Objective

The objective of the consultancy is to support the development of a position paper for DG ECHO on how to adapt to climate change impacts across the different humanitarian sectors. This position paper will articulate the common understanding of the current and anticipated effects of climate change on humanitarian settings, provide a clear picture of the already observed and emerging effects on humanitarian preparedness and response (including sector-related and cross-cutting issues) as well as a common definition of what tackling climate change through a humanitarian response is, and propose measures for DG ECHO to implement in order to adapt to these changes and trends.