Published 23 March 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b1229
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b1229

News

Climate change could overwhelm relief agencies, experts warn

Peter Moszynski

1 London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Global warming is likely to lead to a huge increase in the number and scale of humanitarian emergencies worldwide, senior officials from the United Nations and Red Cross warned last week.

Speaking at a special UK parliamentary meeting on the humanitarian implications of climate change, the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, John Holmes, said that international abilities to respond could well be overwhelmed unless immediate efforts towards reducing the risk of disaster are undertaken.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said that climate change could bring "an increase in extreme weather events: more droughts, floods, landslides, heat waves, and more intense storms; the spreading of insect-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue to new places where people are less immune to them; a decrease in crop yields in some areas due to extreme droughts or downpours and changes in timing and reliability of rainy seasons; global sea . . . [Full text of this article]


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