Climate crisis now a 'humanitarian catastrophe,' IFRC warns before COP30

Ahead of this week’s start to the UN COP30 climate crisis conference, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has warned that the climate emergency is increasingly becoming a humanitarian catastrophe, demanding urgent global action.

“The climate crisis is also a humanitarian crisis,” Ninni Ikkala Nyman, the IFRC climate change lead, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.

She stressed that Red Cross and Red Crescent teams are responding daily to “more frequent floods, droughts, heatwaves and storms” placing lives, livelihoods, health, and food and water security under threat.

Hurricane Melissa as a warning sign

Nyman highlighted last month’s devastating Hurricane Melissa as a stark warning of escalating climate extremes.

Preparedness and early action provided “valuable time to build shelters, evacuate people out of harm’s way, preposition aid and help to prepare communities” for the unprecedented category 5 storm.

The IFRC has launched emergency appeals for Cuba and Jamaica, both hit hard by Melissa, and urged further support as recovery efforts begin.

Melissa’s “violent and rapid intensification needs to be a wake-up call,” Nyman said, stressing that climate change is making storms stronger and more unpredictable.