The Need

Everyone has three basic needs: food, water and shelter

An increasing range of flexible shelter options is required to cope with the growth of emergency situations and the subsequent rebuilding of communities.

45,000,000 refugees and internally displaced people in 2004 alone

Many of those counted in 2004 are still homeless, often squeezed into very short-term solutions, such as tents, for years at a time.

At least 200,000,000 additional environmental refugees in next 50 years

The UN University says there may be 50 million environmental refugees by the end of the decade

Approximately one billion people already live in a slum or refugee camp.

We are, quite literally, ‘all in the same boat’

While the recently published Stern Review on the economic impact of climate change paints a fairly alarming picture of the consequences of climate change, it is considered conservative by many environmentalists. All indications are that trends are towards more, not fewer, disaster situations requiring intervention and shelter. None of us is immune from the implications.

Many refugees are inadequately housed

Very often, the response to shelter needs of vulnerable populations is limited to the delivery of tents and plastic sheeting. Many solutions are deployed for short term purposes and are inadequate for the re-building of local economies.

Increasing attention from the NGO sector

There is a growing number of UN departments, Oxfam, Red Cross and Red Crescent, CARE International, Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief, Medecin Sans Frontieres and many others who are increasingly engaging with the need for better shelter solutions.

Rapidly increasing global awareness and spend

Governments and business are now responding to the challenge by investing in disaster prevention and relief, including growing budgets for Socially Responsible Investment and CSR.

The Stern Review advocates an immediate minimum annual £200 billion global spend on the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change. Additional funding - commercial, philanthropic and statutory – is expected to follow as awareness increases.