Climate Change and the Environment

Sea levels and temperatures are rising. Rainfall, drought and flood patterns are changing. Natural disasters - like hurricanes - are becoming more serious and more frequent. Climate change is real.

While we see the effects of climate change in our own day to day lives, it is the poor in developing nations who are most severely affected. They are already living on the edge, struggling to meet basic needs such as water, food, shelter and health care.

Changes to the climate that wreak devastation on their communities, diminish water supplies and jeopardize traditional livelihoods are threatening the way of life of millions around the globe.

CARE works with communities in almost 70 countries around the world to promote innovative solutions to overcoming poverty. New approaches are now required to take into account both the threats climate change pose to the ability of people to provide for themselves, and the opportunities to become part of a global solution.

There is hope. CARE is addressing climate change by:

• Increasing people's capacity to cope with the effects of climate change and reduce the risk of natural disasters;
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through sustainable natural resource management and renewable energy technologies;
• Working with local governments to create environmentally sound policies and programmes;
• Incorporating all of the above objectives into every CARE programme, from health to agriculture, because we realize that climate change can affect every aspect of people's lives.

CARE Canada helps manage projects to help face climate change in numerous countries around the world. In addition, we work with our CARE International partners to address this important issue. To learn about CARE International's efforts to respond to climate change, please see careclimatechange.org.

See CARE's climate work around the globe with the CARE Climate Orb.

Women in the developing world have vast amounts of knowledge regarding environmental change and coping strategies due to their close connections with the natural environment.  Find out how engaging women can help mitigate the potentially disastrous effects of climate change in developing communities.

Unless aggressive measures are taken to halt global warming, the consequences for human migration and displacement could reach a scope and scale that vastly exceed anything in human history. Read CARE's report on the impact of climate change on human migration.