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United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA warned on Friday that the funding shortfall for aid operations is the biggest it’s ever been, at nearly $34 billion.
The news comes at a time when global needs are at an all-time high, with a record 303 million people in crisis worldwide. “UN appeals aim to reach 204 million of the most vulnerable. Never before have humanitarians been called to respond to this level of need and they are doing so in ever more dangerous environments,” said OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke.
UN-coordinated relief projects have been costed at almost $50 billion dollars this year.
Although funding pledges have reached their highest ever level - at more than $15 billion - needs are outpacing the money coming:
“This is the largest gap we've ever had. However, it is also the largest amount of donor funding that has ever been committed. So the problem is the following: that the needs in the world are rising much, much faster than the donor funding is coming in,” Mr. Laerke added.
According to data from the NGO Humanitarian Outcomes, with whom the UN partners every year to highlight these numbers, more than 140 aid workers were killed in the line of duty last year, the highest number of fatalities since 2013.”
All but two of the aid workers who died were national staff, highlighting the perils that national aid workers often face, said Mr. Laerke, who noted that another 203 aid workers were injured and 117 were kidnapped last year.
The OCHA spokesperson explained that “the most violent countries for aid workers continue to be South Sudan, followed by Afghanistan and Syria.” According to Humanitarian Outcomes, 168 aid workers have been attacked so far this year, leading to 44 fatalities. “Most of the over 140 fatalities in 2021 were killed by small weapons and shooting incidents, with the second highest cause of death being airstrikes and shelling, most of them in Syria,” said Mr. Laerke.
To commemorate their sacrifice, World Humanitarian Day is held annually on 19 August. This year’s theme for the Day is “It Takes A Village”, to focus on how aid workers of all nationalities work together to alleviate extreme suffering.
The UN General Assembly designated the annual event in 2008 to commemorate the anniversary of the 2003 bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, which killed 22 aid workers. WHD has evolved to highlight different aspects of humanitarian action, mobilizing people from around the world to advocate for the broader humanitarian cause.
STORY: Humanitarian Funding Gap, OCHA
TRT: 02:22”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATA
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 12 AUGUST 2022 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1. Exterior wide shot, United Nations flag flying.
2. Wide shot, press briefing.
3. Soundbite: (English) Jens Laerke, OCHA Spokesperson:
“Global needs are at an all time high with a record 303 million people in crisis worldwide. UN appeals aim to reach 204 million of the most vulnerable. Never before have humanitarians been called to respond to this level of need and they are doing so in ever more dangerous environments.”
4. Camera filming OCHA spokesperson.
5. Soundbite: (English) Jens Laerke, OCHA Spokesperson:
“More than 148 workers were killed in the line of duty last year, the highest number of fatalities since 2013. All but two of them were national staff, highlighting the perils that national aid workers often face. Last year 203 aid workers were also injured and 117 were kidnapped.”
6. Wide view of cameraman and journalists.
7. Soundbite: (English) Jens Laerke, OCHA Spokesperson:
“The most violent countries for aid workers continue to be South Sudan, followed by Afghanistan and Syria. Most of the over 140 fatalities in 2021 were killed by small weapons and shooting incidents, with the second highest cause of death being airstrikes and shelling, most of them in Syria.”
8. Close shot of panel at the press briefing.
9. Soundbite: (English) Jens Laerke, OCHA Spokesperson:
“We need $48.7 billion to join coordinated humanitarian response globally. Almost 50 billion USD. The shortfall is currently more than 33 billion. So that means that we have received 15 billion. 33 billion shortfall and 15 billion has been received.”
10. Mid shot of attendees of press briefing.
11. Soundbite: (English) Jens Laerke, OCHA Spokesperson:
“So this is the largest gap we've ever had. However, it is also the largest amount of donor funding that has ever been committed. So the problem is the following: that the needs in the world are rising much, much faster than the donor funding is coming in.”
12. Close shot of panel at the press briefing.
13. Close shot of attendees of press briefing.
14. Close of journalist.
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New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
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Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
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Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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