CO2 hysteria from the Red Cross

News - Environment: 'Climate change a disaster'

One of Madeleen Helmer's biggest discoveries in her work as a humanitarian has been that it's ordinary people in Africa who rank among the best experts on climate change.

Until recently, says Helmer, the head of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, climate change was viewed "very much as a scientific research issue".

"But there's another group of experts," says Helmer.
"These are people who've been living in the same place for 20 or 30 years or longer. They observe what's going on with the weather. They don't know about greenhouse gases and might just call it funny weather but they see the rain patterns changing and it's worrying them.
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Helmer says that although the science behind the human-induced causes of climate change is irrefutable, how it will manifest itself is harder to gauge.

"We know climate change will bring more floods, droughts and hurricanes. We accept the range of risks increasing and we must plan for surprises," she says of erratic weather patterns and weather-related diseases and pests.

Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre - Introduction

The global climate is changing, and people all over the world are confronting new, more severe risks. Climate change will have major implications for humanitarian organisations like the Red Cross/Red Crescent. The expected increase of floods, droughts, intense cyclones, heat waves, sea level rise, pests and diseases will affect millions of the most vulnerable people all over the word, in particular the poorest people in the poorest countries. Already the world is confronted with an increase in weather related disasters, further complicating the work humanitarian organisations, whose capacities to respond are already stretched. It is therefore crucial for the Red Cross/Red Crescent to understand the changing risks and prepare for them rather than only respond to the consequences; from local communities all around the world to the IFRC headquarters in Geneva.

The RC/RC Climate Centre was established in 2002, and is now an independent foundation under the leadership of a board composed of two representatives of the IFRC and two representatives of the Netherlands Red Cross, which is hosting the Climate Centre.