For Development Professionals:

Sector: Climate Change, Environment and Natural Resource Management

Photo: Miguel Samper for Mercy Corps

The increasing severity and frequency of climate change impacts calls for an immediate need to alter the way we conceptualize and respond to development issues. Challenges such as war, famine and financial recessions tend to be relatively short, over in less than ten years. Election cycles and national plans are usually over in less than five. By contrast, climate change and its impacts are set to progressively and noticeably worsen over the next twenty years and accelerate catastrophically into the final half of this century and beyond unless mitigation measures are put in place over the near term. We must pro-actively consider climate change problems in the long-term and find sustainable solutions that will help vulnerable populations adapt to unavoidable impact while advocating for global changes needed to slow climate change’s pace.

In recognition that climate change poses an imminent threat on our development gains to date and that natural resources management (NRM) is integral to the success of relief and development programming, Mercy Corps currently has incorporated climate change, environment and natural resources management into programs and proposals among more than 15 countries worth around US$ 8,000,000. It leverages its impact with a global Cool Carbon campaign (http://www.mercycorps.org/coolcarbon), an Asian wide climate change and cities network and a multi-agency emergency capacity building network.

Our climate, environmental and natural resources management (NRM) programming is adapted for the transitional situations in which we work. Programming has successful crosscutting relationships with other sectors such as Disaster Risk Reduction, Food Security and Agriculture. There is also a clear synergy with our market development and conflict management programming. All of these sectors interact with and are affected by local and international environmental conditions as well as access to natural resources. In these contexts, addressing the competition for natural and environmental resources while building a sustainable livelihood base are key program areas, in both urban and rural settings.

To learn how we help people leverage the benefits of climate change, environment and natural resource management programming, take a look at the following information: