Page 5 - LUA September-October 2025 for Magzter

and forcing aid agencies to adapt. Yet
to over 1.5 billion people. Africa is funding remains the sector’s greatest
roughly three times larger than Europe constraint. The UN appealed for
by land area, which means the potential $47.4 billion in 2025, but in 2024
impact of natural disasters, conflicts, humanitarian operations received only
or climate-related challenges affecting 43% of what was requested. The result:
water and food supplies is far greater agonising choices over who receives
than in many other parts of the world,” food, medicine, or shelter—and who
said Cormac O’Sullivan, Global Director must wait.
of Emergency and Relief Logistics, On the ground, logistical challenges
Kuehne+Nagel. The level of support multiply. Mauro E. Iacona, Head of
From Sudan, where 11 million people the Logistics Support Center of the
are displaced by war, to Mozambique, varies from country International Committee of the Red
battered by three cyclones in four to country, but the Cross (ICRC) in Nairobi, noted that
months, Africa’s crises overlap in ICRC generally armed conflict, poor road networks,
waves. In the Sahel, 29 million people seasonal flooding, and fragile bridges
need urgent help amid violence and enjoys collaborative often slow or block deliveries,
climate shocks. Relief flights, emergency relationships with sometimes leaving costly air transport
convoys, and international funding African governments as the only option. He also highlighted
provide lifelines, but the sheer scale of the importance of working with
need underlines how Africa has become and regulatory authorities: “The level of support
the humanitarian epicentre of the world. authorities. varies from country to country, but the
ICRC generally enjoys collaborative
BARRIERS TO AID MAURO E. IACONA relationships with African governments
By mid-2024, the number of forcibly International Committee of the Red Cross and regulatory authorities.”
)ICRC(
displaced people worldwide reached 123 The climate emergency is amplifying
million, including 43.7 million refugees Camps require steady flows of food, the crisis. 2024 was the hottest year on
and 72.1 million internally displaced water, sanitation systems, and mobile record, pushing the world close to 1.5°C
persons (IDPs). Africa accounts for some health supplies. Each new crisis shifts warming. Nearly 90 million Africans now
of the largest flows—from Sudan and supply chains, creating bottlenecks live in climate high-risk zones, with floods
South Sudan to the DRC, Somalia, and in the Congo Basin, drought in the Horn
Burkina Faso. of Africa, and cyclones in Mozambique
Displacement places reshaping humanitarian priorities.
enormous pressure on Security risks are constant: 281
humanitarian logistics. humanitarian workers were killed in
2024, the highest ever. Convoys are
ambushed in the Sahel, blocked at
checkpoints in the DRC, or caught
in Sudan’s crossfire. Despite this,
supply chains keep moving.

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