Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality - Chapter 24 - Climate change, disaster and humanitarian action

Every two weeks I am going to feature one of the chapters of our Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality which was published in spring 2024.
This week we are taking a closer look at Chapter 24 - Climate change, disaster and humanitarian action - contributed by Ilan Kelman and Eija Meriläinen. 


From the introduction 

Integrating climate change mitigation and adaptation credibly would require a shift toward development (of which climate change mitigation and adaptation are subsets) – while facing and aiming to resolve the social inequalities embedded in climate change, disasters, and humanitarian action. 
This chapter surveys how climate change affects humanitarian action. The next section (1) turns to social inequalities, humanitarianism, and climate change. Then, through illustrations of disasters, conflicts, and forced migration, Section 2 applies this framing to climate change and humanitarianism. Section 3 considers future directions and unanswered questions, followed by the conclusion. The authors’ positionality is reflected in this chapter’s approach being primarily from a contemporary academic perspective. Both authors are based in universities in northern Europe and have worked around the world using multiple quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods.

Note on contributors 
Ilan Kelman is Professor of Disasters and Health at University College London, England and a professor II at the University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway. 
His overall research interest is linking disasters and health, integrating climate change into both. Three main areas are: 
(1) disaster diplomacy and health diplomacy
(2) island sustainability involving safe and healthy communities in isolated locations and 
(3) risk education for health and disasters 

Eija Meriläinen is a post-doctoral researcher at Ă–rebro University (Sweden), an honorary Senior Research Fellow at University College London (UK), and affiliated researcher at Hanken School of Economics (Finland). 
Her work explores critically the roles and power of various actors involved in politics of disasters and other societal disruptions.

Overviews are already available for the following chapters: 

Introduction: humanitarianism and inequality – a re-orientation

Humanitarianism and colonialism

Humanitarianism and the global Cold War, 1945–1991

Humanitarianism and the new wars: humanitarianism, security, and securitisation

Humanitarianism, development and peace: a southern perspective

Localisation and the humanitarian sector

Human rights and humanitarianism

Humanitarian organisations: behemoths and butterflies

Faith actors in humanitarianism: dynamics and inequalities

Diaspora assistance  

Political solidarity movements and humanitarianism: lessons from Catalonia, Spain (1975–2020)


Subversive humanitarianism

Citizen’s groups and grassroots humanitarianism

Humanitarianism and the military

Race, racialisation, and coloniality in the humanitarian aid sector

Humanitarian organisations as gendered organisations

Sexuality and humanitarianism: colonial ‘hauntings’

Class matters in humanitarianism

Humanitarianism and disability 

Media representations of humanitarianism

Humanitarianism and pandemics 

Humanitarian technologies

Linguistic inequality in the humanitarian sector: unravelling English-centric multilingualism

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