BALTIMORE AND WASHINGTON, Dec. 30, 2020 — Corus International has released its annual Top 10 list of regions it is monitoring for potential or worsening humanitarian crises over the coming year: The 2021 Early Warning Forecast.
Ambassador Daniel V. Speckhard, Corus International president & CEO, noted that the theme for this year’s edition, responding to compound disasters in a context of conflict and fragility, underscored the complexity and challenges facing the humanitarian aid community.
“The COVID-19 pandemic made evident the increasing reality that disasters — man-made due to conflict or natural — do not happen in a vacuum, and that a community rarely has the luxury of only facing one emergency at a time,” Speckhard said.
“Humanitarian organizations must now routinely respond to compound disasters, multiple crises occurring simultaneously or overlapping one another; some sudden impact as in an earthquake, and others happening over months or years.”
Speckhard noted that “addressing these complex emergencies will require responses, as well as preparation through disaster risk reduction initiatives, that are multifaceted and holistic, bridging sectors such as health, agriculture, livelihoods and technology for development.”
The countries and issues on the 2021 Watch List include:
- Yemen, leading the list for the third consecutive year
- Latin America: The heavy economic and health toll of COVID-19
- Central Sahel: Unrest in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger
- Venezuela and Venezuelan refugees
- Locusts in East Africa
- La Niña: a weather cycle exacerbated by climate change
- Progress threatened in reducing maternal and child deaths in sub-Saharan Africa
- Lebanon: Crisis on crisis
- Gender-based violence: An ominous rise
Download the full 2021 Early Warning Forecast.
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Corus International is the parent of a family of long-serving, faith-based organizations committed to ending poverty and building healthy communities in the world’s most challenging places. Drawing on a heritage of nearly 150 years, Corus connects and catalyzes non-profit and for-profit subsidiaries that include Lutheran World Relief, IMA World Health, CGA Technologies, Ground Up Investing and LWR Farmers Market Coffee. Alongside communities in fragile settings, their dedicated experts integrate disciplines, approaches and people to grow local economies, eliminate extreme poverty, ensure access to quality health care, mitigate climate change and respond to humanitarian crises.