Home News Natural disasters draining aid, says Trócaire

:THE INCREASING frequency of natural disasters is becoming an unsustainable drain on aid agency funds and the goodwill of donors, according to a new report by development charity Trócaire.

The charity’s Leading Edge 2020 report, based on interviews with 87 global experts, said increasingly extreme weather conditions will be a major factor behind large-scale humanitarian disasters in the coming years.

Large-scale humanitarian emergencies, which often could be attributed to climate change, were increasingly diverting aid from long-term projects, making it difficult to engage in effective long-term planning, said the report, which will be published today.

Climate change was a “game-changer” the report said, defining what it is possible to achieve in development. Diverting money from ongoing projects to cope with natural disasters was unsustainable and more emphasis would have to be put on preparing countries most vulnerable to climate change to deal with crises better, it said.

“Disaster preparedness will become increasingly important across all areas of work,” it said. More frequent emergencies will be a drain on resources and the goodwill of public donors or international non-governmental organisation support bases, resulting in knock-on effects in other long-term work areas, it added.

The report identifies shifting geopolitics, demographic change, widening inequality and pressure on natural resources as the four other key trends likely to affect development aid in coming years.

Shifting geopolitics refers to developing countries turning for aid to emerging powers such as India and China, instead of the West. While there may be some benefits there were also “serious threats” posed by this trend from lower standards of transparency and accountability.

Demographic changes would lead to an increase in poverty in urban areas, which would lead to pressures on resources such as water and electricity, which could in turn result in more negative views towards immigrants in urbanised areas.

Natural resources such as land and water will increasingly become sources of conflict, the report said.

Widening inequality will also be a significant challenge for development agencies where there is increasing poverty in middle-income countries.