Wednesday, 10 January 2024

A Green Cross Code?

Lorenzo Marsili (Director of the Berggruen Institute Europe) points out that the Red Cross, came into being in 1863. Its setting up was a response to the horrors of war. The Red Cross (closely followed by the Red Crescent) was designed to bring humanitarian relief to war zones. Marsili suggests the climate disaster means we now need to set up a Green Cross bringing humanitarian relief to the victims of floods, wildfires, droughts etc. (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/09/war-red-cross-green-climate-disasters). To be effective, any Green Cross would need a very wide range of easily-mobilised expertise, as well as substantial resources (in terms of both equipment and personnel). It's difficult to see where the personnel and the required funding would come from. The UN already sends folk to areas devasted by violent storms, earthquakes etc. Such operations are not without their challenges. For example, UN forces, sent to Haiti after hurricane damage, were accused of inadvertently introducing a Nepalese strain of Cholera to the island. Perhaps, however, a redesignation of some UN Peace-keeping forces, could form the basis of a Green Cross?

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