Mercy Corps: Latest U.S. Climate Assessment Should Be a Call to Action
When the new Congress convenes, helping low-income communities at home and abroad adapt to climate change should be a top priority.
In response to the release of the Fourth National Climate Assessment, Mercy Corps Vice President Dr. Dafna Rand issued the following statement:
Mercy Corps applauds the release of the Fourth National Climate Assessment. The Trump administration must heed the warning issued by 13 U.S. federal agencies regarding the current and future effects of climate change within the United States — from falling water levels in major rivers to an increased risk of forest fires and more intense hurricanes. The newly-elected Congress must address this threat through greater oversight of Trump administration actions and by supporting the families in marginalized communities who will be disproportionately affected.
For over a decade, Mercy Corps has been on the front lines, helping communities adapt to the effects of a changing climate. The increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, whether hurricanes, floods, wildfires or droughts, are undermining economic gains in developing countries on every continent — from Kenya and Ethiopia to Indonesia and Bangladesh. Mercy Corps is helping people to adapt, including by providing access to climate information services and by improving communities’ resilience in anticipation of the next natural disaster.
We urge those gathering next month in Poland at the Conference of the Parties 24 to address the impact of climate change on the world’s most impoverished people.
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