The EMG Issue Management Group on Environment and Humanitarian Action was established following the 2017 EMG Nexus Dialogue on integrating environmental considerations into humanitarian response. The initiative responded to growing recognition that climate change and environmental degradation can intensify humanitarian crises and that humanitarian action itself needs to better account for environmental impacts.

The Group brought together UN entities, with participation from relevant external experts, to strengthen collaboration between the humanitarian and environmental communities. Its work focused on improving access to guidance, tools and good practices; promoting more consistent approaches to environmental safeguards and assessment; strengthening the evidence base for environmentally informed humanitarian decision-making; and supporting advocacy on the links between climate change, environmental degradation and humanitarian outcomes.

Through this process, the EMG helped raise the profile of environment–humanitarian linkages within the UN system and provided a platform for greater exchange and coordination across policy and operational communities.