The World Humanitarian Day 2021 places unequivocal emphasis on the human cost of the climate crisis, particularly on its effect on the world’s most vulnerable people. It urges world leaders to take more measures and meaningful action to address climate change and save lives.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says, “The State of Climate Change IS A Code Red for Humanity”. Key aspects of the Paris Agreement adopted in 2015 – the first-ever legally binding international treaty on climate change – specifically articles 9, 10 and 11, stress the need for financial, technological, and capacity-building support to action meant to face this challenge.

Jordan NGOs Forum (JONAF) members stand in solidarity with the world’s most vulnerable people, especially those living in camps and informal settlements, and commits to provide them with unconditional support.

JONAF believes that any major humanitarian response in any given country entails the collaborative effort of governmental, parastatal and non-governmental entities that can organize collectively and individually. If strong, collective local capacities – that can be strengthened through international efforts – are absent, the next crisis will necessitate an expansive and expensive international mobilization. Therefore, “localization” should be on the agenda of any sector-wide reform action and continue to have a substantial role in collective crises responses, of which the climate crisis is definitely one.

Localization addresses the need for “Localizing the climate change humanitarian response strategies” which, in turn, can help sustain the vested efforts in the medium and long terms, and ensure the protection of the most vulnerable groups in a country, including from the effects of climate change, natural disasters and scarce natural resources.

In Jordan, national actors need to be supported, capacitated and ready to deal with the repercussions of climate change. In turn, the government and the international aid community have a responsibility to create a conducive environment that supports the local civil society to help prevent, respond and contain the outcome of climate change on the country. Such support will create an enabling space and allow national actors to step up and assume their responsibility in responding to climate-related issues.

The climate crisis is wreaking havoc across the Arab world on a scale that people on the front lines and in the humanitarian community cannot manage. Time is already running out for the world’s most vulnerable people — those who have contributed least to the global climate crisis yet are hit the hardest — and millions of others that are already losing their homes, their livelihoods and their lives

It is high time for us all to come together and join efforts on the World Humanitarian Day, and to recognize the remarkable efforts of humanitarian workers and those who have lost their lives for humanitarian causes.

We can still be an active force that utilizes the time we have to address climate calamities, strengthen local civil society efforts, and work together as national and international humanitarian actors and agencies.

With the climate clock ticking, we can still help save the lives of the most vulnerable among us and honor those who sacrificed their lives for this humanitarian cause by taking meaningful action!