This is a C. N. A. Podcast. The final months of 2022 are upon us. And already there's a long list of disasters, devastating floods, historic droughts, wildfires, hurricanes and tornadoes, and when there's death, destruction and despair, the world's non governmental organizations are there to pick up the pieces and heal wounds. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies earlier this year already sounded out a warning.
There's an urgent need from money and support from richer nations because the climate crisis has become one big humanitarian crisis. Just how urgent is this need and what of NGO has been witnessing over the last few years with me in the studio today as Benjamin William, the secretary General of the Singapore Red Cross. Benjamin, welcome to the climate conversations,
thank you very much for having
me The Benjamin, you've served as a diplomat for 30 years and have been with the Singapore Red Cross for 10 years now, which must have taken you to many places around the world and allows you to see firsthand the devastation and human suffering as a result of the impact of climate change. From your perspective, how has the world changed in the last few years as a result of this
Over the last 10 years being involved in humanitarian work, you can see actually whether patterns beginning to change, it is not so much that countries are beginning to experience whether that they are not used to. But the patterns
have changed. Let me give you an example, Philippines is used to having typhoons, but when Typhoon Haiyan struck Philippines, what was not strange was the fact that a typhoon hit, but the fact that the path that the typhoon took was very different from what the Filipinos are used to. So the devastation that it caused was much greater because many of the parts that were hit had not been used to typhoons and therefore the houses were not built
to withstand typhoons closer home Malaysia. It's not that Malaysia is not used to floods, but I think in the last few years the kind of rains that they are experiencing during the monsoon season, the rapid flooding that is taking place is quite different
from what you experienced a few years ago. Almost every country is now concerned about the change in the weather pattern, Not so much in the fact that they are experiencing new kind of weather, but how often, how frequent the areas that are affected and the extreme of the weather, The
weather patterns, the severity and frequency have changed. As you said, how are they impacting your humanitarian work? I wonder has it intensified the workload
10 years ago when I joined the humanitarian sector, one of the catchphrase was that the humanitarian challenges facing us are tremendous. 10 years later, I think it has multiplied several. For take Afghanistan for example, a few months ago, they were suffering from drought. I think in august, they were suffering from floods. They had the civil unrest, they had the conflict zones and then they had Covid. So the complexity of the humanitarian challenges have multiplied manifold.
So you're constantly having to adjust your humanitarian response. Now, you take COVID-19 is a pandemic and you might say that it's unrelated to climate change, but I think it's going to happen more and more. I think we won't have to wait another 100 years for the next global pandemic with the change in weather patterns. Waterborne disease, even diseases like Dengue, we must be wise enough to expect the next global pandemic in a much
shorter period. So it will complicate the humanitarian challenges even further.
So, Benjamin one phrase you've used in the past is that each disaster is unique. If we take the deadly flooding in Pakistan for example, a third of the country was submerged underwater, 33 million people displaced and damages are likely to run into billions of dollars. Have a listen to what one flood victim has to say. There is nothing left. Some of our young Children were left behind and some managed to come with us. We could not get anything from our home. We only had
one goat. It also drowned in the flood. Now we have nothing with us and we are lying along the road facing hunger. So Benjamin, how dire is the situation there,
one of the challenges that we in the humanitarian sector constantly facing in Pakistan now is how to bring clean water. So the need for water filtration, simple water filtration. Family size, Community size is something that is needed. We were just in touch with one of our partners who is working on the ground trying to put food
on the table for 100 families in many crisis. You think of one week, two weeks, but I think in Pakistan they are now projecting three months because some of the areas that have been flooded are fertile agricultural ground, So a lot of food resources have been destroyed. You imagine 33 million people affected that six times the population
of Singapore. How do you house them in some disasters you can shift populations to schools or community premises, but all the schools and community premises are also being inundated with water. So they need tents in high ground. But even as we look to deal with the immediate needs, we have to also bear in mind that medium term needs waterborne diseases are on the rise. So you need to also think in terms of medical supplies, bring in medical teams, Most of these are not in yet because
of the logistical challenges. I fear this is just the tip of the iceberg. Hi, I'm Adrian Tan and I'm Christina robert. We are the host of a new podcast called working, we're here to get into
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I wonder how do you ensure that funding goes to the right place? The right people where it's most needed, especially when you're dealing with foreign governments.
This is a very challenging element that we have to constantly deal with. You quoted me in one of my previous interviews where I say every disaster is unique and this element of governance and financial management is one area where each situation is unique. So if you're dealing with a country scenario where you have proper banking systems and credible watchdogs and all that, it's so much easier to deal with it.
So we are constantly having to come up with innovative ideas on how to ensure that our funding goes where it is supposed to go. One thing that we try to minimize is just transferring funds to our partners from time to time we do, especially in the beginning when relief supplies are needed badly. But we normally then twin it with some of our team members going down on the ground to ensure that
the relief items are actually distributed. So in that way we minimize the risk of leakage of the funding because this is one of the questions that a lot of our donors ask
Us. But Benjamin, the reality is the need is greater than what the world is giving and many of the rich donor countries have been suffering from what they call a donor or eight fatigue. Would you say it's gotten harder to get their attention to get them to help out these days?
It is a good question. I think the answer is a bit more complicated. Take Singapore for example, Singaporeans are quite generous when they see a need, especially when the images are very reel. They're willing to loosen their purses and donate generously. And here I'm saying about the cross section of Singapore. A lot of money come from institutional giving or donors from high net worth individuals. But you will be amazed at the general population who take out and give their
$5.10 and it all adds up. I'm optimistic that fatigue set in there. I think what is true is that the immediate needs will continue to grow. Take, for example, Pakistan let's say the immediate needs in terms of food and water is say five billion. Where are you going to get the five billion? So I think more and more humanitarian organizations have to think in terms of how to attract more than just their normal donations. You need to, in terms of partnerships, we need to think out of
the box. I am a strong believer in this concept of the one billion coalition for resilience. The idea is that the humanitarian challenges facing the world are too great for one organization, whether it's the red cross or the U. N. You really need to bring on board everyone. One billion and the one billion includes individuals. Includes the private sector includes innovative organizations, civil society and that's the only way we're going to be able to even mitigate some of the challenges that
far along are we. Do you
think? I think we are a long way to go. I always like to talk about this anecdote humankind, we are very strange. We spend billions and trillions of dollars in investment to develop weapons that can destroy human beings. But the amount that we are willing to invest in mitigating the humanitarian challenges facing us are miniscule 10 years ago. What we were doing in the humanitarian sector is almost exactly what we are doing now with a bit of innovation here and there.
And I dare say we went back 50 years is the same thing. So I'm a strong believer that we need to put in much more investment into mitigating the humanitarian challenges facing us. And I think climate change is a good example. If you left the government to deal with climate change is never going to happen. And if humanitarian organizations only think in terms of responding to a crisis after it has happened like Pakistan, it's not sustainable.
So I believe very strongly that while we think in terms of the short term and medium term response to climate change and the disasters much more focus will now have to go into the long term response to climate change community preparedness. If the communities in Pakistan had been prepared to deal with the flooding, it would have mitigated many
of the problems that are being faced now. But when the floodwaters received in Pakistan, will people be thinking about the next flood in two years time and then we need to invest more in innovation. We talk about climate change and humanitarians are the ones who speak loudest about climate change and the disasters, but a lot of the things that we bring into a disaster site actually add to the problem of pollution and all that number of temporary tents just discarded, adding
to the plastic waste. I think we just need to put more into innovation in terms of clean water, sustainable housing, solar energy. But there are challenges because when a donor gives you $100,000 he wants to know whether $100,000 went
to the ground. If you tell him that I have set aside 20,000 for innovation, he's not going to be happy, but I think we need to bring a mindset and that is where I think the coalition is important because a high tech organization that puts in a lot of money into research and development, If they can set aside 5% of that for humanitarian mitigation, what a change it will bring to the world
and Benjamin events in Pakistan and other parts of the world have certainly highlighted the emerging climate inequality that divides the rich carbon emitting world from poor countries that emit little but bear the consequences. What other challenges make you feel frustrated or worried most right now. And what other hurdles do you anticipate as we continue to see more climate induced disease across the world?
One of the frustration is always whether you can do more Singapore across is a small organization. Singapore is a small organization. And so while you think, you know the answers, you think you want to do more but your constraint. So where do I think we can make a difference is maybe to work with Southeast Asia. For example, if you can work within Southeast Asia with your partners and you can see some change,
that would be great. I'll give you an example. I'm very keen to work with Vietnam Red Cross because Vietnam Red Cross has taken on the government's plan to plant a billion trees. So Vietnam Red Cross has sort of sub contracted that KPI from the government. So I'm very keen to get our youth in exchange programs with Vietnam Red Cross. Substantively they can say that they have contributed towards this KPI but you think about it. A lot of our rice production and all that comes
from countries like Vietnam. So if you improve the climate situation in Vietnam, you're actually impacting yourself because we are so dependent on everyone right? But at the same time, you're also changing the mindset of our young people because in Singapore, we still don't feel the impact. You look at the situation in Pakistan. We are so blessed in Singapore. The rains in Singapore, the same rains in kale and kale is flooded and people are stuck and all that and here, half an hour later the
water is drained away. So we need to get our young people to understand that climate change is their responsibility
and Benjamin in having led SRC for nearly a decade now, what's your wish for the planet?
Which is facing
possibly the hardest challenge, hardest test in the form of climate change
Over the last 10, 11 years or so, the first part was about improving our disaster response. I mean in terms of international right? But we have pivoted a bit, we still want to improve our disaster response. We continue to train our volunteers, we continue to improve our systems and processes, but we want to do more and more capacity building. My goal for Singapore across is to make a significant difference globally
and regionally. But to have a national Impact, let me explain, I want to see Singapore across being instrumental in increasing the capacity in the national societies in Southeast Asia. We launched an initiative called the Center of Excellence for pandemic preparedness because my view for example, which covid 19 showed when a pandemic strikes the region,
nobody is safe until everybody is safe. So at a regional and global level internationally, I want to see Singaporean across making a significant difference and I think the significant difference that we can make is to help in capacity building, especially in the areas where we have knowledge and expertise and then to help the coalesce Southeast Asia to work together to tackle some of these major challenges. Disaster pandemics, climate change,
that's a great vision and I really appreciate your time coming in here and speaking to us. I wish you the best of luck with the life saving work that you and your team do. Thank you very much for coming in today.
Thank you. Thank you for having
me. Thanks to my guest, Benjamin William and thanks to all of you for tuning in, We hope you enjoyed this episode. Do remember to subscribe and like this podcast. So, you know, when a new episode drops, you can find CNN's climate and sustainability coverage online at sienna dot asia. The team behind this podcast is Joanne, chan Jacqueline, chan Danieli and Christina robert and I'm julie you signing off