Special Appeal 2025 - Climate change and conflict: Protecting the most vulnerable
The climate crisis is accelerating rapidly, with 3.6 billion people living in highly vulnerable areas and exposed to more frequent and intense weather events.
These climate impacts—such as droughts, floods, and heatwaves—threaten access to essential services like food, water, and health care, particularly in fragile regions. While climate change affects everyone, it disproportionately harms marginalized communities, especially those in conflict-affected areas where violence and weakened institutions severely limit the ability to cope. Conflict also exacerbates environmental degradation, further eroding resilience and deepening cycles of instability.
THE DEVASTATING IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN CONFLICT AREAS
Countries affected by conflict are often among the most vulnerable to climate risks. In places like Somalia and Afghanistan, decades of violence coupled with recurrent droughts and floods have worsened food insecurity and displacement.
Nearly half of the 122 million forcibly displaced people worldwide live in areas facing both conflict and severe climate hazards. These overlapping crises strain coping capacities and deepen humanitarian needs, as seen in the Sahel, Horn of Africa, and Middle East. In response, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and its partners apply a conflict-sensitive, climate-informed approach to deliver principled assistance to and strengthen resilience for hard-to-access populations.
WHAT SETS US APART: OUR HOLISTIC APPROACH
We at the ICRC have a unique mandate set out in international humanitarian law (IHL) to protect and assist people affected by armed conflict. With over a century and a half of experience, we take a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach that combines emergency response with long-term solutions, ensuring sustainable impact. What sets us apart is our ability to operate in active conflict zones where others may struggle to gain access. We work closely with local partners and National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, leveraging community networks to implement effective, locally adapted solutions.
HOW WE DO IT: OUR COMPREHENSIVE SET OF ACTIVITIES
We work to prevent and mitigate the harm caused to people, civilian infrastructure, essential services and the natural environment they depend on through a range of activities, such as:
- Promoting international humanitarian law – conducting awareness raising, IHL promotion, and integration into operational, legal and educational frameworks with state armed forces and non-state armed groups, policymakers and communities.
- Dialogue with authorities and non-state armed groups – engaging with key stakeholders to ensure compliance with IHL and to mitigate the harmful impacts of armed conflict on civilians, critical infrastructure, and the natural environment.
Central African Republic, 2023. Members of the armed forces in the Central African Republic attend an ICRC training session on the basic provisions of IHL.
We work to assist individuals and communities in conflict-affected areas plagued by natural hazards by addressing their urgent needs and supporting long-term recovery by providing:
- Life-saving aid – supporting host National Societies and local authorities by distributing lifesaving supplies, restoring water and health-care services, and ensuring that critical infrastructure remains functional.
- Family-links services – together with the National Societies, helping families separated by climate related disasters reconnect.
Libya, 2023. The ICRC, together with the Libyan Red Crescent, continued to support flood-affected families with essential household items, hygiene kits & food.
We are committed to enhancing the resilience of people affected by the compounding impacts of conflict and climate risks by:
- Enabling access to essential services and reinforcing critical infrastructure – enhancing the resilience of essential services and infrastructure—such as health care, energy, and shelter—through climate-smart and hazard-resistant solutions.
- Supporting agriculture and livestock – strengthening the climate resilience of rural communities by combining nature-based, technological, and safety nets to protect agriculture, sustain livestock, and preserve food security.
- Strengthening livelihoods – supporting communities with financial assistance, skills training, and climate-resilient livelihoods solutions to restore self-reliance, reduce environmental harm, and foster sustainable recovery.
- Enhancing early warning systems and preparedness – supporting early warning systems, contingency planning, and access to climate information to anticipate and mitigate the impacts of climate hazards.
We focus on building the capacity of local actors and raising awareness to strengthen locally led responses and promote systemic change that addresses the climate-related needs of conflict-affected communities by:
- Strengthening local capacities and systems – working closely with authorities, institutions and Movement partners- including the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center- to manage climate-smart, inclusive, and resilient responses in conflict-affected settings.
- Driving systemic change – advancing policy and diplomacy on climate and conflict by advocating for integrated responses, generating evidence from our operations, and partnering with key actors to ensure that inclusive climate action reaches conflict-affected communities.
In 2025, the ICRC aims to support:
- more than 2.2 million people use more climate-smart food production strategies, and bolster their resilience to climate change
- over 250,000 people improve their household income by enhancing their resilience to climate and environmental risks
- over 30.8 million people with sustainable access to climate-smart water, energy, and sanitation infrastructure
