Building resilience to climate change

Last updated:

15 December 2015

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Climate change is one of the most serious challenges facing humanity. Concern’s work in areas affected by climate change gives us a strong insight into the challenges some of the world’s poorest people are facing.

Halima Fbid (28) walks one and half hours to gather water each day with her daughter Lamchara (4). The well that is near their house is contaminated and the children get sick if they drink that water. Tahoua,Niger.Photo by Jennifer Nolan, 2016.

Halima Fbid (28) walks one and half hours to gather water each day with her daughter Lamchara (4). The well that is near their house is contaiminated and the children get sick if they drink that water. Tahoua,Niger.Photo by Jennifer Nolan, 2016.

Through our programme work, we see at first hand the way in which changing weather patterns are disrupting ways of life that have sustained communities for centuries.In Sahelian countries, climate change impacts pose a severe threat to livelihoods. Unpredictable rainfall can leave sedentary farming communities vulnerable to both drought and floods, while shortages in pasture have a significant impact on pastoralists, putting their animals at risk and forcing them to travel much greater distances.