Balancing resilience and sustainability: Visiting warehouses for humanitarian goods in Dubai
Working for the DFG-funded research project “Shelter technologies in Action”, Astrid Matejcek is currently undertaking field research and providing us with insights into the intricate logistical demands of humanitarian goods.
“Wow, now you can see what we’ve been working with all this time!” marvels one of the supply chain specialists from an aid organization as we enter the warehouse storing their humanitarian goods. As a volunteer, I was lucky enough to accompany their work in the UN-coordinated warehouses in the humanitarian city of Dubai. We stretched our necks to see the goods of the organization’s most comprehensive stock up to the fourth level of the storeroom. It was the warehouse manager who first woke us up from our astonishment at the quantity of goods, which the experts otherwise only knew from excel lists, purchase invoices and tender calls. We were introduced to the general logistics processes, how the goods are received, inspected, stored in their designated locations to await use and then be repackaged and shipped. During stocktaking, checking the durability and packaging material of the goods, I followed the experts’ gaze on the humanitarian aid items.
Warehouse logistics is a tricky interplay between supply and preparedness, but also long-term provision and sustainability. As logistical hubs, warehouses must not be too far away from production sites in order to keep the carbon footprint as low as possible when transporting goods. Nor should they be too far away from crisis areas to ensure short response times. Yet it remains difficult to predict crises and where they will hit. Further, storage facilities must contain as many goods as necessary to be able to provide comprehensive supplies to those affected in the event of a crisis or disaster. At the same time, there must be as few goods as possible so that nothing expires and is no longer operational. The goods must not only have a long shelf life in storage, they should also remain useful in the area of emergency beyond the crisis to avoid waste on site. In addition, the humanitarian goods must be properly packed and stacked so that they arrive safely. Not only should space be used as efficiently as possible during transportation, but unnecessary packaging should also be avoided to produce as little waste as possible.
The logistical mobilization of disaster preparedness and humanitarian response is a complex balancing act that leads to a number of contradictions, conflicts and compromises. The material of humanitarian goods itself is affected by this tension. In another warehouse run by a private supplier, for example, recycled plastic is increasingly being used in its production plant for jerry cans. As part of the growing sustainability movement in humanitarian aid, this manufacturer is increasingly trying to implement a circular economy in his company and return material waste to the manufacturing process. However, only a relatively small proportion of recycled plastic can be applied, as otherwise the lifespan of the jerrycans would be greatly reduced. Recycled canisters of course reduce the amount of waste generated during production. However, the material of these cans wears out more quickly compared to non-recycled ones and can end up as waste at the site of humanitarian relief.
The producer admits that the recycled goods are temporarily more expensive due to all the changes to the manufacturing processes. His customers, organizations that mainly rely on donations, are buying less than expected as a result. According to humanitarian principles, the question for the organizations is whether to buy more goods and help more people or to buy fewer recycled goods and thereby protect the environment. Until the demand for recycled goods increases, this price difference and the ethical and moral question associated with it will remain. How the question is solved can be seen in the warehouses of humanitarian goods.
