World Humanitarian Day: The human race against the climate crisis clock

18. 8. 2021

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Permanent Mission to the United Nations New York
Permanent Mission of the Republic of Slovenia to the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva

The human race against the climate crisis clock is the theme of this year’s World Humanitarian Day, which is being marked today. To save our planet from the devastating and lasting effect of climate change, this year’s humanitarian day is dedicated to raising public awareness about humanitarian workers and their efforts aimed at alleviating the effects of climate change and about the victims who lost everything as a consequence.

titles, logos, two ladies carriend load on their heads — World Humanitarian Day, 19th August | Author Ministrstvo za zunanje zadeve - Adobe Stock

The aim of this year’s humanitarian day, all activities of which will use the hashtag #TheHumanRace, is to send a clear signal to world leaders to adopt effective and concrete measures to combat climate change as quickly as possible at COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021. Slovenia is well aware of the urgent need to take action on climate change, which is underlined in the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. As the country presiding over the Council of the EU, Slovenia will devote particular attention to active climate diplomacy in the run up to COP26. We would also like to point out the UN Food Systems Summit to be held in New York in September 2021.

On this occasion, State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia Dr Stanislav Raščan stated: “Ensuring access to safe drinking water is one of the priorities of the Slovenian EU Council Presidency in the humanitarian and development areas. Numerous sources of drinking water across the world are under threat due to climate change, and many of them have dried up because of severe drought. Every day we see devastating fires, droughts, heatwaves and floods, which increase the number of people who have lost all they had as a result of these natural disasters. However, this is only a part of the disaster that lies ahead unless we approach the problem together, with every effort and in a timely manner. This can only be achieved through close cooperation of all partners and in the spirit of effective multilateralism, led by the UN. Time is short, but the race against climate change is not lost (yet).”

The number of natural disasters and the resulting migration have increased significantly in recent years due to climate change. The latest information contained in the report published by the United Nations that one out of every three people on earth is without access to sufficient food is giving great cause for concern. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted structural problems and the vulnerability of states or, in some cases, even entire regions (e.g. in the Sahel).

This year, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and many of its humanitarian partners call on everyone involved in sport (jogging, hiking, swimming, horseback riding, etc.) to show solidarity to people suffering the most from climate change by posting their activity on social media using the hashtag #TheHumanRace. The Strava app has also been developed to this end. Such running events have been going on in Slovenia for many years, one of them being the Climate Solidarity Run organised by Caritas Slovenia for the 10th consecutive year.