3 December 2008: The Inter-Agency Standing Committee, comprising nearly 20 UN agencies and aid organizations, appealed for increased global action to boost preparedness for effective response to disasters brought on by climate change.

The call was issued in light of the increase of climate-induced
disasters, which in 2007 included devastating floods in sub-Saharan
Africa and China, heat waves in South-Eastern Europe, droughts in
Eastern and Southern Africa and massive Caribbean hurricanes. According
to John Holmes, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs,
these events serve as a “curtain raiser on the future.” He stressed
that millions of people are already suffering from the impact of
climate-related disasters, and that nine out of ten disasters recorded
are climate-related.
The Inter-Agency Standing Committee stressed
that better disaster risk reduction, preparedness and response will
curtail much of the loss and suffering resulting from such hazards. For
example, China averted losses of some $12 billion as a result of the
just over $3 billion it spent on flood control between 1960 and 2000. [UN Press Release] [The Inter-Agency Standing Committee Website]