Humanitarian Organizations and Climate Change: A Scoping Review

Climate change and environmental degradation increasingly heighten conflict and contribute to the intensity and frequency of disasters globally, leading to a significant rise in humanitarian needs. This scoping review explores what is known about how humanitarian organizations respond to and plan for climate change within their programming and operations, as captured in grey and academic literature. Following Arksey and O'Malley's five-step scoping review methodology, two reviewers searched six databases—EMBASE, SCOPUS, Medline, PAIS, Web of Science, and OVID Global Health, using “humanitarian” and “climate change” as keywords. Using the same keywords, grey literature screening involved an incognito Google search and searches on ReliefWeb and Humanitarian Library databases. Targeted searches were also conducted on ten organizational and sectoral websites. The search yielded 37 academic documents and 55 grey literature sources, totaling 92 documents included in the review. We analyzed the documents using a combined deductive and inductive approach. First, we extracted data from the documents based on six analytical questions. Then, we synthesized this data and inductively labeled it to identify emerging themes. The results outline six main themes: the emergence of climate change as a focus within the humanitarian agenda, climate compatible approaches in the sector, climate change in relation to the short-term life-saving orientation of humanitarian aid, sectoral commitments to climate change, resilience-building and local collaboration. Climate change is fundamentally transforming the landscape of humanitarian needs and response. As presented in this review, humanitarian organizations need to continue examining how to overcome challenges and further integrate concerns for climate change in humanitarian operations and response.