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Megatrends and the future of humanitarian action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2012

Elizabeth Ferris
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Abstract

This article assesses the implications of six megatrends for humanitarian action in the future, including changes in demography, technology and science, economics, political power, climate, and patterns of conflict. The interaction of these trends suggests a particularly complex landscape for future humanitarian response. For example, conflict in the future is more likely to take place in cities that are growing as a result of economic and environmental factors. Social media are contributing to both political change and humanitarian response, while changes in global political and economic power are likely to influence the way in which the international humanitarian system is financed and supported.

Type
New Threats, New Responses
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 93 , Issue 884: The future of humanitarian action , December 2011 , pp. 915 - 938
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 2012

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References

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42 Ibid. The outlier year was 2005, when China contributed US$65.8 million in international humanitarian aid, largely in response to the Indian Ocean tsunami.

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69 Personal communication with author, Port-au-Prince, January 2011.

70 Malcolm Lucard, Iolanda Jaquemet and Benoît Carpentier, ‘Out of sight, out of mind’, in Magazine of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, No. 2, 2011, available at: http://www.redcross.int/EN/mag/magazine2011_2/18-23.html (last visited 10 December 2011).

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72 Author's notes, Port-au-Prince, January 2011.