Strengthening Risk Analysis for Humanitarian Planning: Integrating disaster and climate risk in the Humanitarian Programme Cycle (May 2022)

During the last decade, the costs of humanitarian appeals increased by 400%. According to OCHA’s financial tracking service, more than 50% of the costs for international humanitarian response could not be covered in 2021. Between 2030-2050, the impacts of climate change are anticipated to lead to skyrocketing humanitarian costs exceeding USD 20 billion per year. While around 50% of disaster impacts can be predicted with varying degrees of confidence, only a fraction of funding is dedicated to risk reduction and preparedness, underscoring the need for more risk-sensitive humanitarian planning and action. In the Pathway for Peace study, the United Nations and World Bank produced a business case to show that conflict prevention, besides saving millions of lives, is also economically beneficial: preventing outbreaks of violence would create net savings close to USD 5 billion per year. Similarly, a study commissioned by USAID looking at Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, Economics of Resilience to Drought6, quantified the savings from earlier response: investing in more proactive responses to avert humanitarian crises could reduce the cost to international donors by 30%, as well as protecting billions of dollars of income and assets for those most affected.

Source: UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction