Humanitarian action and adaptation to climate change in India (Launching HE 86 – Lessons from climate-related programming) HNPW 2025, March 20, 2025, 04:30 PM to 05:30 PM IST

SEE RECORDING: https://youtu.be/_zsaqqpufe8?si=4boa05a3Uh7ffDoZ

Climate change presented a crisis beyond those that the existing humanitarian system had previously experienced, or was designed to address. It had already significantly increased humanitarian needs, and the past decade saw a transition to much higher levels of disaster impact than those previously seen. Yet, there was limited understanding of how to adapt to climate disasters on the ground, and little relevant guidance for humanitarian practitioners.

Despite this, a number of organisations experimented with approaches designed to address the realities of climate change. Activities ranged along the disaster management spectrum, from reinforcing household and community resilience, through hazard-specific DRR activities related to humanitarian infrastructure, to preparedness and anticipatory response.

To this end, the 86th issue of the Humanitarian Exchange magazine highlighted lessons from climate-related programming by local, national, and international organisations.

Participants joined us during the first week of HNPW for an online panel discussion with several of the authors from the issue. Registration for the session was available on the HNPW website, linked above.

The Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Weeks (HNPW) was an annual humanitarian conference—one of the largest events of its kind—that provided a collaborative space for practitioners and experts from a wide variety of humanitarian stakeholders, including UN agencies, NGOs, the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, academia, the military, private sector initiatives, and Member States.

Read AIDMI’s article: Climate Change Adaptations in Humanitarian Programming, Humanitarian Exchange Magazine Issue 86 – Locally led actions to combat the impacts of heatwaves (Article 9), March 18, 2025. https://odihpn.org/publication/locally-led-actions-to-combat-the-impacts-of-heatwaves/

Speakers:

1. Kerrie Holloway – Introduction – Interim Humanitarian Practice Network (HPN) Coordinator
2. Paul Knox Clarke – Moderator – Principal of the Adapt Initiative
3. Lynn Chemtai Chestit, Program Coordinator, Womankind Kenya (WOKIKE)
4. Achyut Luitel, Chair of steering committee, Duryog Nivaran
5. Robert Burtscher, Program Manager, Conflict-Climate-Resilience, International Committee of the Red Cross
6. Mihir R. Bhatt, Director, All India Disaster Mitigation Institute
7. Vishal Pathak, Coordinator, All India Disaster Mitigation Institute

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