Humanitarian Logistics

Meeting the Challenge of Preparing for and Responding to Disasters and Complex Emergencies

Gain insights into the emerging challenges faced by humanitarian logistics practitioners with suggestions for best practice from world-leading experts and academics.
EAN: 9781398607149
Edition: 4
Published:
Format: 235x155
376 pages

About the book

In rapidly developing emergencies, it is vital for aid agencies to understand how to establish an agile supply chain that resists the chaos of a crisis and can cater to unknown needs.

Now in its fourth edition, Humanitarian Logistics presents chapters from a wide range of academics and practitioners and offers cutting edge research into how complex problems such as distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine and provision of relief to victims of natural disasters can be solved. New chapters cover topics such as cash-based humanitarian logistics (HL) systems, sustainability in a HL context and providing logistics services for humanitarian relief.

In recent years, a number of global crises have highlighted the critical role that logistics plays in humanitarian response. There is a vital need to understand how to conduct operations in confused and swiftly changing environments. This book is essential reading for anyone who needs to understand how to effectively manage supply networks during a rapidly developing emergency.

About the authors

Professor Peter Tatham is a member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, and the International Journal of Physical Logistics and Supply Chain Management. He was Professor of Humanitarian Logistics at Griffith University, Australia, and he remains a leading international researcher in the field of humanitarian logistics.

Professor Graham Heaslip is Professor of Logistics Engineering and Head of School of Engineering at Atlantic Technological University, Galway, Ireland. He is a board member of the Humanitarian Logistics Institute (HUMLOG) based at Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland and is a member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, and the International Journal of Physical Logistics and Supply Chain Management. His work in the field of logistics and supply chain management has gained international recognition, including the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence.


Humanitarian logistics and supply chain management has evolved into a mature discipline. Organizations have developed systems, people and expertise. Progress has been amazing but the world has also substantially changed (think COVID-19, climate change, AI/data analytics, technology, environmental footprint, etc.). This book should be required reading for anyone interested in seeing humanitarian logistics as a young and evolving science rather than just a skill, and wonderfully combines past, present, and future of this discipline.

Professor Luk Van Wassenhove, Emeritus Professor of Technology and Operations Management, INSEAD University