On September 24, the United States and the European Union co-hosted an event on the margins of the 79th UN General Assembly on the future of humanitarian aid in the face of growing challenges posed by climate change and environmental degradation. During the meeting, the United States formally joined the Humanitarian Aid Donors' Declaration on Climate and Environment ("Donor Declaration"), becoming the 29th signatory along with the EU and other countries.
Donors seized the opportunity of the UNGA 79 side event to share ways to make humanitarian assistance efforts more resilient to the impacts of a changing climate and invited additional donor governments to join the Donor Declaration. In the face of climate change and related impacts, donor governments, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations have been compelled to review their approaches to meeting the needs of vulnerable people.
To that end, the Donor Declaration outlines how donors can support humanitarian actors in making their operations more climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable. Signing the Donor Declaration affirms the United States' ongoing commitment to make our humanitarian assistance more resilient and sustainable and to support donor partners around the globe to do the same. The United States calls on other donor governments to turn the Donor Declaration's principles into action by joining the declaration, formalizing their commitments to climate-resilient humanitarian assistance, and increasing coordination with other Donor Declaration signatories.
