Humanitarian focus
In 2009, Roskilde Festival and relief agency DanChurchAid focus on helping the victims of the effects of the climate changes in Bangladesh and India.
At this year's festival you can donate your refund to our collectors. All profits from the refund collection will help the poorest people in Bangladesh that is worst stricken.
Last year's refund collection resulted in over DKK 1 million (approx. € 134,000). With the help of our audience we hope to end up with an even better result in 2009.
The world's poorest regions are paying the highest price for the climate changes. Even though the western world's way of life that is instrumental in causing climate changes.
Several droughts and floods imply that still larger parts of the Earth will be difficult to inhabit. Today about 25 million people are homeless, a.o. in consequence of droughts and floods. It is expected that before year 2050 there will be about 150 million ”climate refugees” – first and foremost from the world's poorest countries.
Bangladesh is among the worst stricken countries in the Third World. The country has one of the most vulnerable national economies characterised by high population density, scanty resources and a high occurence of natural disasters. Combined with climate changes it has catastrophic consequences for long-range savings, food supplies and access to drinking water and sanitation, personal safety, investments and growth in Bangladesh.
Calculations show that the fertile southern part of Bangladesh – with over 40 million inhabitants – risks being permanently flooded within the next 30 years – due to a general ocean rise. Bangladesh's national development strategy predicts that up to 13 % of the land surface will be under water before 2080.
During the following decades, a great number of people in Bangladesh will be plagued with various problems connected to the climate changes. Therefore, we need a massive national and international effort to relieve the catastrophic consequences of the climate changes.
About the humanitarian focus
Each year, any profits from Roskilde Festival are donated directly to the Roskilde Festival Charity Society which, in turn, donates the money to humanitarian or cultural purposes benefitting people all over the world. On top of the music, the adventure and the joy at Roskilde Festival, your participation in the festival also increases the quality of life for many people all over the world.
Each year Roskilde Festival chooses an overall theme – and within this framework the audience gets an opportunity to reflect upon a contemporary humanitarian concern. Since 2002 Roskilde Festival and DanChurchAid have worked together on the humanitarian focus.
humantohuman is the idea behind Roskilde Festival’s humanitarian focus. The festival audience help people in need all over the world. From one person to another – human to human.
