On Tuesday, 17 June 2014 the Federal Foreign Office is hosting the Forum on Global Issues in cooperation with the German Red Cross. During the event, entitled “Climate change – a challenge for humanitarian assistance”, experts from politics, aid organisations, academia and business will discuss the consequences of increasingly frequent extreme weather events for humanitarian assistance and identify potential solutions and strategies.

As well as Christoph Strässer, Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid at the Federal Foreign Office, high‑ranking representatives of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP), the German Red Cross, the Welthungerhilfe, the Munich RE and from academia are expected to attend.

The developments in recent years have led to a massive increase in the need for humanitarian assistance following a rise in the number of extreme weather events. This presents huge and constantly escalating financial challenges for stakeholders.