World Jewish Relief signs up to the Climate and Environment Charter
World Jewish Relief has signed up to the Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organisations. In doing so, we join a growing movement of local, national and international humanitarian organisations deeply concerned about the scale of the climate crisis and committed to building our capacity to respond.
The climate crisis is central to our new Corporate Strategy, and we have begun working to increase local resilience through our Disaster Preparedness Initiative. We have also recruited a climate expert to lead a new range of climate and resilience programming within our humanitarian portfolio.
However, we recognise that we can and must do more. Driven by the Jewish tenet of Tikkun Olam, repairing the world, and our humanitarian values, we commit to protecting the lives and rights of future generations through the choices we make now. This commitment goes beyond our overseas programming; we will look at how we operate internally and take steps towards being more climate conscious as an organisation.
The climate crisis is one of the greatest problems of the 21st century, and scientific evidence on the crisis is stronger than ever. Whilst this is a global issue which will affect us all, it will have a disproportionate impact on the world’s most vulnerable communities, with the least resources with which to adapt. This includes women and girls, as well as the world’s poorest inhabitants. In lower-income countries, where economies are based on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture and fisheries, people’s very livelihoods are at stake.
The predicted scale of the impact of climate change is staggering: by 2050 the number of people affected by climate-related disasters is expected to double, and an estimated 1.2 billion people will be displaced as a result.
Our signing of the Charter by is testament to our commitment to improving the way we support the world’s most vulnerable communities, as well as the carbon footprint of our own organisation. We look forward to updating you on the concrete action we take, in line with the Charter and its seven commitments.
