Data for Disaster Risk Reduction Episode two: Coordination and data management for response to recovery 
In 2021, Emergency Event Database, the global database on disasters, recorded 432 events related to natural hazards worldwide. The first episode of the podcast series on Data for Disaster Risk Reduction explores data-driven response and recovery, data coordination, management, and required resources and infrastructure. Insights into policies to be adopted to use technology for better disaster prediction.
The episode has Yan Wang, Data Stewardship Coordinator at Delft University of Technology, Netherlands and Bapon Fakhruddin, Technical Director, Tonkin and Taylor, New Zealand.

WRAPUP 2-Western Europeans pant in early summer heatwave compounding climate change fears
With temperatures reaching 40 in France and Spain, Mediterranean nations are more and more worried about how climate change may affect their economies and lives.

Improving early warnings in the Caribbean, Pacific and Southeast Asia
A successful six-year, 10 million Canadian dollar project, funded by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), has strengthened the quality and availability of impact-based forecasts and services to support communities in Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and the Pacific.

What’s Causing the Devastating Floods in China, India, and Bangladesh?
In central and southern China, tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate their homes due to flooding from extreme rainfall. Mingfang Ting, a research professor at Columbia Climate School’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, studies precipitation extremes. She pointed to several large-scale climatic conditions that could be contributing to the intense rainfall in China and South Asia.

Tsunami resilience: UNESCO will train 100% of at-risk coastal communities by 2030
At the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO will announce a new global programme to ensure 100% of coastal communities will be “Tsunami Ready” by 2030. Other conference highlights include the designation of Maya Gabeira, the Brazilian surfer, as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.

Temperature records tumble in an early, intense heatwave
An unusually early and intense heatwave spread up from North Africa through Europe ahead of the Summer Solstice, bringing temperatures more typical of those witnessed in July or August. In some parts of Spain and France, temperatures are more than 10°C higher than the average for this time of year, breaking many monthly records. This is combined with drought in many parts of Europe.

Saving lives with FAIR data: evidence-based public policies and the impact of data in disaster and climate change risk management
Informed decision-making and coordinated action for effective disaster and climate change risk reduction require timely and reliable data and information. Technological advances enable us to better understand nature and society. However, despite these advances, challenges remain for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) data for decision-making. The COVID-19 pandemic is a good example of how data FAIRness saved lives. It is necessary to identify what challenges the government, non-governmental organisations, and policy users face in FAIRness of data.

Minimising waste to reduce emissions: how do we turn waste into action
The NZ Emissions Reduction Plan released in early May 2022 sets out how the Government plans to deliver on the first three emissions budgets until 2035. It’s a step towards taking climate action – it’s now over to businesses, councils and industry to walk the walk and turn plans into a reality. Listen to the recording of this webinar where experts from T+T and Movac discuss, the opportunity for businesses to lead the charge using circular economy principles to reduce emissions, and resource efficiency = avoid wastage. Materials recovery and the potential investment opportunities for businesses and the shift from linear to the circular economy and the impacts and opportunities for your organisation.

Heatwaves: Addressing a sweltering risk in Asia-Pacific
The last decade was the warmest on record, and leading organisations on climate change indicate that warmer temperatures are not a potential threat but a surety. This report considers ways in which disaster risk reduction (DRR), climate change adaptation (CCA), and related scientific communities can rise to data challenges in order to provide policymakers with the evidence needed to set priorities and make decisions. Given the sizeable threat posed by extreme heat events, the report details the human impacts of heat waves, ranging from individual and community health to the built environment.

Disaster risk resilience: conceptual evolution, key issues and opportunities
This paper presents a selection of 25 components used to define resilience, and an interesting linkage emerges between these components and the dimensions of risk management (prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery), offering a perspective to strengthen resilience through the development of capacities. Despite its potential, resilience is subject to challenges regarding its operationalization, effectiveness, measurement, credibility, equity, and even its nature. Nevertheless, it offers applicability and opportunities for local communities as well as an interdisciplinary look at global challenges.

Real-time evaluation of Fao’s Response to the Desert Locust upsurge 2020-2021
FAO’s Office of Evaluation conducted a real-time evaluation across three phases spread over one year. Each phase covered specific aspects of the response: Phase I focused on leadership, management and coordination of the response and was conducted between June to October 2020. Phase II focused on results as well as management and operations at the country level. Phase III drew lessons for future operations and FAO’s work on Desert Locust in the Region.

Gender-responsive national adaptation plan Processes: progress and promising examples
This document is the third in a series of synthesis reports that assess progress on gender-responsive approaches in National Adaptation Plan (NAP) processes at the global level. It coincides with the midpoint of the Gender Action Plan under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), making this a good moment to reflect on progress in integrating gender considerations in NAP processes.

Soil drought can mitigate deadly heat stress thanks to a reduction in air humidity
This article investigates the relationship between dry soils and heatwave lethality. Recent heatwaves often coincided with soil droughts that intensify air temperature but lower air humidity. Since lowering air humidity may reduce human heat stress, the net impact of soil desiccation on the morbidity and mortality of heatwaves remains unclear.

HLPF Side Event: A Risk-Informed Approach to Development in a COVID-19 Transformed World
The 2022 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development will be held on 5-15 July 2022, under the theme of “Building back better from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” which will feature thematic reviews of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4 on quality education, 5 on gender equality, 14 on life below water, 15 on life on land and 17 on partnerships for the Goals. A series of side events will convene on the margins of the HLPF, under the auspices of the ECOSOC.

VNR Lab: Applying the Sendai Framework to fast-track the 2030 Agenda through a risk-informed approach
The Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) are inclusive reviews of progress at national levels, towards the Sustainable Development Goals, each year at the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) for Sustainable Development. They aim to facilitate the sharing of experiences, including successes, challenges and lessons learned, with a view to accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

International Data Week – A festival of data 23-26 October Salzburg
Save the date!
The International Science Council’s Committee on Data (CODATA) and World Data System (WDS), and the Research Data Alliance (RDA) are delighted to announce International Data Week 2023: A Festival of Data, taking place on 23–26 October 2023, in Salzburg, Austria.

GPDRR2022- Co-Chairs’ Summary: Bali Agenda for Resilience
The seventh session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction took place from 25 to 27 May 2022 in Bali, Indonesia. It was co-chaired by H.E. Prof. Muhadjir Effendy, Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, and Ms. Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction. Organized in a hybrid format, the Global Platform had over 4000 participants from a total of 185 countries.

Investing in resilient infrastructure for a better future
Day-to-day life depends on infrastructure and its services. This includes supply chains, electricity, water and sanitation, and information networks. But in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and increasingly extreme weather events, these systems are under increasing threat. In December 2020, Cyclone Yasa, a single event, caused around USD 1.4 billion in damage to health facilities, homes, schools, and other critical infrastructure in the Pacific island nation of Fiji. Beyond the economic toll, there was immeasurable disruption to people’s lives due to downed systems, extending the duration of the disaster beyond the passing of the cyclone.

The climate Risk and Early Warning Systems initiative brings a message of hope
In a year overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic and its socio-economic fallout, 2021 nevertheless saw progress towards strengthening early warning services and building resilience to extreme weather and climate change impacts in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries. This is one of the critical messages of the 2021 Annual Report of the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems Initiative (CREWS). This unique climate action programme helps save lives, livelihoods and assets in the world’s most vulnerable countries.

Building the evidence for more effective disaster risk reduction
After a long hiatus due to the COVID crisis, governments have come together in Bali last week to discuss progress on implementing the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Organised by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and hosted by the Government of Indonesia, the seventh session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction comes at a crucial time. While countries struggle to address the compounded threats of food, fuel and financial insecurity amid a pandemic, many must also still contend with the threat of natural hazards and the terrible costs they exact.

A new study of the relationship between climate change and socio-economic tipping points
Climate change can cause sudden socio-economic tipping points, such as large-scale bankruptcies of low-lying ski resorts, the collapse of house prices due to sea-level rise, or the extensive disruption of the road network due to flooding. Kees van Ginkel (Deltares) spent four years researching tipping points of this kind. He will present the results, which have been published in various journals, at a scientific conference in Vienna (EGU) this week.

Policy Brief: Harnessing data to accelerate the transition from disaster response to recovery
The CODATA Task Group on FAIR Data for Disaster Risk Research has produced a Policy Brief as input to the seventh session of the Global Platform (GP2022), organised by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) from 23 to 28 May 2022, in Bali, Indonesia. This policy brief was published alongside two ISC policy briefs on the same occasion.

Data For Disaster Risk Reduction podcast series –  Data-Driven Dynamics for Resilience Podcast
Data for Disaster Risk Reduction

Principles for resilient infrastructure
The Principles for Resilient Infrastructure describe a set of principles, key actions, and guidelines to create national scale net resilience gain and improve the continuity of critical services such as energy, transport, water, wastewater, waste, and digital communications, which enable health, education, etc. to function effectively.

Technical Guidance on Comprehensive Risk Assessment and Planning in the Context of Climate Change
Climate change is increasing the magnitude, frequency, duration and severity of climate-related hazards, leading to complex and cascading risks that make people and systems more vulnerable today in years to come. A comprehensive understanding of risks is thus a priority. This document is also a pivotal contribution to the Plan of Action of the Technical Expert Group on Comprehensive Risk Management of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts.

Closing the Gap between Science and Practice at Local Levels to Accelerate Disaster Risk Reduction
This policy brief analyses the existing gap between science and technology (S&T) and its incorporation into disaster risk management at local levels.

The road to COP27: Making Africa’s case in the climate debate
This study explores the potential impacts of compounding risk between natural hazards and infectious disease outbreaks, such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic in the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) region. Compound risk occurs when two or more shock events overlap, inducing additional pressure on social and physical vulnerabilities. As part of the study, scenarios of a natural hazard occurring during an outbreak are created for each CAREC country.

Projecting the effects of climate change on the informed risk index
This contributing paper presents an extension of the INFORM Risk Index, a global indicator-based disaster risk assessment tool. By using projections of exposure to climate change hazards to provide better insights for policymakers on the threats imposed by climate change and the extent to the amplified risks can be compensated by reduced vulnerability and increased adaptive capacity measures.

Webinar: Inside the NZ Emissions Reduction Plan – June 2
The NZ Emissions Reduction Plan, released on Monday, 16 May contains strategies, policies, and actions to achieve our first emissions budget as required by the Climate Change Response Act 2002. Climate Change Minister Hon James Shaw says that the plan ‘will require nearly every part of Government to act to reduce emissions right across the country.’ It’s being touted as a major step towards taking tangible climate action, requiring big changes. If you’re interested in discussing with us and others what these changes may mean for your organisation and how to best respond: I will be joined by T+T Technical Director – Climate and Resilience James Hughes and Chapman Tripp’s climate regulatory and risk experts Alana Lampitt and Nicola Swan to host an interactive online session on Thursday 2 June to unpack the Emissions Reduction Plan and field any questions on how to tackle emissions reduction.

WorldFAIR – Global cooperation on FAIR data policy and practice – June 20 
The major global scientific and human challenges of the 21st century (including climate change, sustainable development, and disaster risk reduction) can only be addressed through cross-domain research that seeks to understand complex systems through machine-assisted analysis at scale. WorldFAIR project comprises a genuinely global consortium and 11 case studies in a range of research fields.  The objective of each case study is to unpack the research questions, characterise the data requirements and develop an interoperability framework for their discipline or interdisciplinary research area. This is done in cooperation with CODATA and the Research Data Alliance, organisations that have developed recommendations and technical frameworks to assist with interoperability on various levels.

International Data Week 2022 – 20-23rd June 
International Data Week (IDW) is a landmark event organised by the Committee on Data (CODATA) and the World Data System (WDS) of the International Science Council (ISC), and the Research Data Alliance (RDA).
It brings together data scientists, researchers, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, policymakers and data stewards from disciplines across the globe to explore how best to exploit the data revolution to improve science and society through data-driven discovery and innovation.  IDW combines the RDA Plenary Meeting, the biannual meeting of this international membership organisation working to develop and support global infrastructure facilitating data sharing and reuse, and SciDataCon, the scientific conference addressing the frontiers of data in research organised by CODATA and WDS.

Sea levels rising twice as fast as thought in New Zealand
Explosive new data shows the sea level is rising twice as fast as previously thought in some parts of Aotearoa, massively reducing the number of times authorities has to respond. The major new projections show infrastructure and homes in Auckland and Wellington – as well as many other places – risk inundation decades earlier than expected.

Risk Data Hub, a renewed space to support EU countries with disaster prevention and preparedness
More than 2400 disastrous events related to natural hazards have struck Europe in the last 30 years. The Risk Data Hub (RDH) hosts resources to help authorities manage risks and justify financial support requests to cope with these major events. The ultimate goal of this comprehensive hub is to offer data to help improve risk assessments in the stages before, during and after a disaster hits Europe.

Addressing food security and climate change through regenerative agriculture
One of the significant challenges that Bangladesh faces is ensuring food security for a growing population. The most viable and holistic solution to this problem is regenerative agriculture. Regenerative agriculture is a farming system that attempts to conserve soil and contribute to multiple provisioning, regulating and supporting services of the ecosystem and aims to enhance the environmental, social and economic sustainability of food production.

After the relentless rain, South Africa sounds the alarm on the climate crisis
Survivors of South Africa’s devastating floods have described “sheet upon sheet of relentless rain” that washed away entire houses, bridges and roads, killing about 450 people and making thousands homeless. The storm, which delivered close to an entire year’s usual rainfall in 48 hours, took meteorologists by surprise and has been blamed by experts on climate change. The new disaster comes after three tropical cyclones and two tropical storms hit southeast Africa in just six weeks in the first months of this year.

Risk insurance builds climate and disaster resilience in Central America and the Caribbean
Drought-monitoring technology that is currently being embedded in water and agricultural ministries in Jordan, Lebanon, and Morocco will now be implemented in Tunisia. The satellite-based enhanced composite drought index (eCDI) supports effective drought management by enabling authorities to identify, early on, the presence and evolution of drought.

Empowering people to adapt on the frontlines of climate change
A new platform will unite climate models, impact predictions, random control trial evaluations, and humanitarian services to bring cutting-edge tools to Bangladeshi communities.

Technical Guidance on Comprehensive Risk Assessment and Planning in the Context of Climate Change
The Technical Guidance on Comprehensive Risk Assessment and Planning in the Context of Climate Change provides orientation on how risks in the context of climate change can be comprehensively and systemically addressed through risk assessment. Decision-making, planning, and integrating disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) perspectives and approaches while simultaneously linking to other goals and targets (e.g. the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)) are also discussed.

Global Risk Assessment Report 2022 (GAR2022)
GAR2022 explores how, around the world, structures are evolving to better address systemic risk. The report shows how governance systems can evolve to reflect the interconnected value of people, the planet and prosperity.

Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2022
The study of flood risk perception factors can be considered by using different paradigms. In an attempt to understand risk perception, two basic paradigms can be distinguished: rationalist and constructivist. This review paper aims to assess the importance of the rationalist and constructivist approaches in research on flood risk perception and flood risk management more broadly.

The United Nations World Water Development Report 2022: groundwater: making the invisible visible
This brief explores key improvements in data delivered by SHEAR projects. The SHEAR programme (Science for Humanitarian Emergencies and Resilience) carried out innovative research, in some of the most hazard-prone parts of the world, to better understand and forecast disasters, and minimize the risk they pose to vulnerable communities.

Compound risk analysis of natural hazards and infectious disease outbreaks
This study explores the potential impacts of compounding risk between natural hazards and infectious disease outbreaks such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic in the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) region. Compound risk occurs when two or more shock events overlap, inducing additional pressure on social and physical vulnerabilities. As part of the study, scenarios of a natural hazard occurring during an outbreak are created for each CAREC country.

The Third Multi-Hazard Early Warning Conference – 23-24 May
As we approach the mid-point of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, MHEWC-III provides a unique opportunity to review key accomplishments, and share skills, experience, and expertise within an active network of early warning practitioners.

Seventh Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2022)- 23 to 28 May
The Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction is the main global forum to assess and discuss progress on the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. The seventh session of the Global Platform (GP2022) will be organized by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) from 23 to 28 May 2022, in Bali, Indonesia, hosted by the Government of Indonesia. The event will be co-chaired by the Government of Indonesia and UNDRR.

Geo Virtual Symposium – Global action for local impact – 2-5^th May
With the theme ‘Global Action for Local Impact’, the GEO Virtual Symposium 2022 will explore how the portfolio of GEO products and services can provide insights and evidence for policy development and decision making, which is expected to lead to local impact over time. The symposium will foster dialogue among local stakeholders, GEO Work Programme (GWP) activities and other partners to discuss transversal environmental and societal issues, and identify potential integrative EO-based solutions in selected regions.

Call for paper Special Issue “Post-disaster Recovery and Climate Change Adaptation – an Asia-Pacific Perspective”
This Special Issue aims to present a platform for the exchange of the latest research and practices in post-disaster recovery and climate change adaptation in the Asia-Pacific region. Themes of particular interest include reasons for current inadequacies and context-specific challenges contributing to failed recovery and adaptation in the region, lessons learnt from past disaster experiences, innovative post-disaster reconstruction and recovery practices, and sustainable and practical solutions for adapting to climate change that is applicable to the Asia-Pacific region. We are seeking articles duly addressing environmental, cultural, economic and social aspects of post-disaster recovery and climate change adaptation within the scope of Sustainability.

Floods and other secondary perils: opportunity or threat for the industry?
18 May 2022
The Swiss Re Institute’s annual Natural Catastrophe sigma has become the benchmark in documenting the human and financial impact of disasters. The report compares these losses to prior years and historical averages to put the year in perspective. This hybrid event will look at the main natural catastrophe loss drivers for 2021 and how the year stacks up against others. We’ll take a deeper dive into flood risk and what the insurance industry can do to help build societal resilience in the face of increasing secondary perils.

The World Reconstruction Conference- 23-24 May 2022
The World Reconstruction Conference is a global forum that provides a platform to collect, assess, and share disaster reconstruction and recovery experiences and take forward the policy dialogue for effective international disaster recovery and reconstruction framework.

Climate change: IPCC report warns of ‘irreversible’ impacts of global warming
Many of the impacts of global warming are now simply “irreversible” according to the UN’s latest assessment. But the authors of a new report say that there is still a brief window of time to avoid the very worst. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that humans and nature are being pushed beyond their abilities to adapt.

Strengthening emergency communications for complex, cascading and compounding events – lessons learned from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption and tsunami in Tonga
While research communities are trying to better understand complex, compounding and cascading disasters, 2022 has just provided a ‘textbook’ example in Tonga. Tropical Cyclone Cody, the COVID-19 pandemic threat, and the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano – followed by a tsunami and more than 70 earthquakes (magnitudes 4.4-5.0) between 14 January and 04 February 2022 – devastated the emergency management system in Tonga.

CREWS commits additional funding to strengthen Early Warning Systems in the Caribbean
Different and multiple hazards, such as severe weather conditions inland and at sea, droughts, hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes, pose a serious threat to the Caribbean –  one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world. The development of Early Warning Systems has been identified by the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the Paris Agreement as a key pathway to prevent disasters and reduce the negative impacts of multiple hazards.

Limiting the damage: UN helps policymakers tackle climate change
As extreme weather events become commonplace, threatening communities and economies across the world, the UN is helping policymakers and leaders by projecting the impact of future climate hazards, and recommending the best, most cost-effective ways to adapt.

INFORM Risk Management Tool
INFORM is the first global, objective and transparent tool for understanding the risk of humanitarian crises. When all those involved in crisis prevention, preparedness and response use a shared risk assessment, they can work more effectively. That is why INFORM is open-source. INFORM has been developed in response to recommendations by numerous organisations to improve the common evidence basis for risk analysis, as well as the actual demands of INFORM partner organisations.

Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
The Working Group II contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report assesses the impacts of climate change, looking at ecosystems, biodiversity, and human communities at global and regional levels. It also reviews vulnerabilities and the capacities and limits of the natural world and human societies to adapt to climate change. To read the summaries or the full report click the link.

Understanding hazards: Probabilistic cyclone modelling for disaster risk to the Eastern Coast in Bangladesh
Cyclones and associated wind and water hazards result in the most significant fatalities. In addition, coastal inundations due to cyclonic storm surges are an increasing threat to the lives and livelihoods of people in low-lying, highly populated coastal areas. This paper develops a synthetic cyclone modelling (Category 4) to understand the probable maximum impacts of a tropical cyclone and its cascading and compounding hazards in the Cox’s Bazar area in Bangladesh.

Scoping paper – Strategic crisis management in the EU – June 2021
This scoping paper sets out the key recommendations by the European Commission’s Group of Chief Scientific Advisors on how to enhance crisis preparedness, more integrated and timely response capacity, and resilient recovery for the EU are expected within the second quarter of this year.

European Environmental Agency Europe’s changing climate hazards – an index-based interactive EEA report
Climate change is happening, and we need to get ready for more intense heatwaves, floods and storms, wildfires and water scarcity. Different climate-related hazards affect regions, sectors of the economy and members of society in different ways. Decision-makers need the best data and information to help them understand the imperatives and make the necessary preparations. “Europe’s changing climate hazards – an interactive index-based EEA report”, brings it all together with an overview of past and projected changes in Europe’s most important climate hazards.

A Deep-Learning Method for the Prediction of Socio-Economic Indicators from Street-View Imagery Using a Case Study from Brazil
Socioeconomic indicators are essential to help design and monitor the impact of public policies on society. Over recent years other ways of collecting data and producing indicators have been explored, in particular using the new surveillance capabilities that remote observations can provide. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the assessment of socioeconomic indicators using street-view imagery, through a case study conducted in a region of Brazil, the Vale do Ribeira, one of the poorest semi-rural regions in Brazil.

Beyond Barriers: Solomon Islands Case Study
This case study explores the Solomon Islands’ progress in the integration of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA), identifying key themes and opportunities for stakeholders to advance approaches that reduce risk and enhance resilience in communities

A crowdsourced global data set for validating built-up surface layers
Several global high-resolution built-up surface products have emerged over the last five years, taking full advantage of open sources of satellite data such as Landsat and Sentinel. However, these data sets require validation that is independent of the producers of these products. To fill this gap, we designed a validation sample set of 50 K locations using a stratified sampling approach independent of any existing global built-up surface products.

Domino Effect: Cascading disasters and lessons from the Tonga eruption and tsunami
Tonkin + Taylor in partnership with Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR), Committee on Data (CODATA) of the International Science Council (ISC) brings together experts to share: A forensic assessment of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption and tsunami in Tonga, A cascading and compounding hazard assessment, Volcanic eruption and tsunami scenarios, Lessons learned and ways forward. Follow the link to sign up for this webinar.

28 Feb – 11 March -1st WWRP/SERA Weather and Society Conference 2022 (Online)
Extreme hydrometeorological events are affecting societies, economies and environments as never before in human history. Governments, science agencies, the humanitarian sector, emergency managers and decision-makers face an unprecedented challenge to reduce the risks to citizens and society. The Societal and Economics Research Application (SERA) Working Group of the WMO World Weather Research Programme (WWRP) invites the weather community to actively participate in the first Weather and Society Conference organised by this Programme.

Global Sustainability – Sustainable Education in the Digital Age
Prof. Stephen Yang will address that in the digital age when developing technology, we also need to reflect on the impact of ethics and social changes on education. Prof. Hiroaki Ogata will address that the Japanese government expects to launch 15 “International Leading Research Projects” in 2023, each with a total funding cap of 500 million yen over seven years, to support international joint research. Prof. Owen Lu will address that by applying ESG analytics technology to essay grading. Including how to use natural language processing technology to analyze corporate sustainability reports and media news?

Launch of Women’s Leadership in Disaster Risk Reduction
Women, girls, boys, men, and people of diverse gender identities have distinct vulnerabilities in each context that shape the way that they experience and recover from disaster impacts. Effective disaster risk reduction requires meaningful and diverse participation, engagement, and leadership, through an inclusive and accessible, all-of-society approach.

Flood forecasting for anticipatory action: applying flood models in humanitarian contexts
Flood forecasts can provide critical information to help people get ahead of rising water levels before a crisis unfolds. The speakers will explore examples of flood models, the spatial and temporal scale at which these models can provide risk information, how probabilistic models are interpreted, the uncertainties of these models, and where floods models have been used to inform anticipatory action.

Current approaches and GIS methods to support anticipatory humanitarian action
Geospatial data, GIS and remote sensing are of increasing importance in the humanitarian context and are currently experiencing increased use in the field of anticipatory humanitarian action. In this advanced course, you have the opportunity to explore the application areas of geodata in humanitarian contexts.

Why the Tonga tsunami arrived much earlier and much larger than expected
The tsunami recorded at distant locations from the Tonga volcanic explosion arrived much earlier and was much larger than expected from an earthquake-generated tsunami. This event caused great difficulty in issuing timely and accurate tsunami warnings for the following three reasons described in the article.

Volunteered rapid disaster monitoring and mapping (VoRDM)
The Kingdom of Tonga and its people are reeling from the violent January 15 eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano and the ensuing tsunami. CODATA TG FAIR Data for DRR, China GEO Aerospace Information Research Institute in the Chinese Academy of Sciences (AIR) and Tonkin + Taylors  Disaster Risk Resilience team is working hard to map the devastation accurately and smoothly the way for more efficient humanitarian efforts and recovery.

Long-term planning crucial to Tonga’s recovery
As recovery efforts began in Tonga, after the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano eruption and the tsunami that followed, the first priority will be to provide immediate relief to communities to save lives and respond to urgent needs. However, successful recovery must also incorporate long-term strategies of building back better and establishing resilience, mitigation, risk reduction and preparedness initiatives.

2021 floods: UN researchers aim to better prepare for climate risks
In July 2021, several European countries, including Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, were affected by catastrophic floods, causing deaths and widespread damage. According to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), such extreme weather events are expected to increase frequency and severity in the coming decades.

A framework for global science in support of risk-informed sustainable development and planetary health
This document takes stock of recent developments in disaster risk science. It provides a compelling set of directions for research and scientific collaboration for a more holistic and collaborative approach to understanding and managing risks. It challenges silos in science and in society and the notion that social, ecological, economic and technological systems can be understood in isolation from one another and advocates for an increased focus on people.

Tsunami risk communication and management: Contemporary gaps and challenges
Very large tsunamis are associated with low probabilities of occurrence. In many parts of the world, these events have usually occurred in a distant time in the past. As a result, there is a low-risk perception and a lack of collective memories, making tsunami risk communication challenging and complex. Furthermore, immense challenges lie ahead as population and risk exposure increase in coastal areas.

UK climate change risk assessment 2022
As required by the Climate Change Act 2008, the UK government has undertaken the third five-year assessment of the risks of climate change in the UK. The risk assessment considers sixty-one UK-wide climate risks and opportunities cutting across multiple sectors of the economy. It prioritises eight risk areas for action, discussed in the document.

Creating resilient futures: Integrating disaster risk reduction, sustainable development goals and climate change adaptation agendas
This book examines a coherence building opportunity between Climate Change Adaptation, the Sustainable Development Goals and Disaster Risk Reduction agendas. Considers opportunities to address global challenges in the context of developing resilience as an integrated development continuum instead of through independent and siloed agendas.

City Resilience Program: Supporting cities in building resilience
This Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) webinar session aims to provide in-depth information to help cities, local authorities, and their partners better understand what the City Resilience Program is and how to access its support. It will include information on the type of support provided, the eligibility criteria and the relevant application process.

CREWS workshop on people-centred early warning systems operational procedures
CREWS invite participants to register interest in participating in a 2-hour workshop (in French and English) to discuss CREWS People-Centered Early Warning Systems (EWS) Operational Procedures. The workshop is an opportunity for people with experience of people-centred EWS and design, implementation and monitoring of CREWS projects to share experiences and contribute to finalising.

Pre-Conference Workshops – African kick-off conference for the UN decade of ocean science for sustainable development
The Conference will provide a forum to take stock of the state of ocean science and technology in the region, to deliberate on how ocean science in Africa should be supported and focused on achieving the societal outcomes required by the Decade, and also seek the interest and commitment of the ocean science community to engage in a number of research directions that are essential for sustainable ocean management.

SHEAR Common Ground: Science for humanitarian emergencies and resilience
It is our great pleasure to invite you to join us on February 11th at our SHEAR finale event, in which we will be celebrating our achievements, finding common ground and charting the way forward. We are excited to share and discuss pressing humanitarian-science questions and the outcomes of the SHEAR programme through a high-energy and interactive virtual event.

Artificial intelligence for natural disaster management
This Webinar will explore the main barriers to adopting these disruptive technologies in disaster management and examine the integrated approaches related to machine learning, big data analytics, and AI for supporting the detection, forecasting, and communication of natural hazards disasters.  In this context, the Webinar will provide an overview of how AI can be leveraged to enhance modelling across spatiotemporal scales and facilitate effective communication in the event of a natural disaster. 

World Bank: Disaster risk insurance: 5 insights from the Philippines
With disasters a growing threat, insurance for countries trying to manage climate and disaster risk is becoming increasingly critical. While insight on what works – and what doesn’t – to build resilience is still limited, the experience of the Philippines shows how countries can improve their protection to disasters by working with international insurance markets.

Science supporting policy in disaster risk management: providing the data and knowledge for transitioning to a climate-proof resilient society
The representatives of the EC’s Joint Research Centre recently discussed the INFORM risk assessment, an evidence-based methodology to support decision-making on humanitarian crises and disasters, extended recently to the regions of Caucasus and Central Asia and South Eastern Europe

Kiribati: Fishing for food and resilience
Located in the centre of the Pacific, the Republic of Kiribati is known for being one of the world’s smallest and most remote island nations. In fact, it is remarkably large: 33 atoll islands spread across an ocean territory of more than 3.5 million square kilometers. The vast waters – one of the world’s biggest Exclusive Economic Zones – constitute some of the richest and most diverse ecosystems on Earth, supporting hundreds of species as well as the livelihoods, health, culture, and way of life of local people. However, in the global narratives about climate change, island nations such as Kiribati have been seen as ‘poster children’ for the risks of a warming planet.

The need for medium-range forecasting in early warning systems to improve risk outcomes
High-impact weather events – floods, storms, cyclones – threaten human life and property, as well as affecting the economy and inflicting significant societal hazards. Being able to predict these events accurately, and with sufficient lead times, enables people to prepare for them. It is also more cost-effective: a dollar invested in disaster preparedness – which reduces people’s vulnerability to the impacts – can prevent six dollars’ worth of disaster-related economic losses.

One billion children at ‘extremely high risk’ of climate impacts
Young people living in the Central African Republic, Chad, Nigeria, Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau are the most at risk of the impacts of climate change, threatening their health, education, and protection, and exposing them to deadly diseases, according to a UNICEF report launched today. ‘The Climate Crisis Is a Child Rights Crisis: Introducing the Children’s Climate Risk Index’ is the first comprehensive analysis of climate risk from a child’s perspective. It ranks countries based on children’s exposure to climate and environmental shocks, such as cyclones and heatwaves, as well as their vulnerability to those shocks, based on their access to essential services.

Post-disaster needs assessments guidelines: Volume B – Environment
The main objective of PDNA–Environment is to prepare a recovery strategy that guides the restoration of environment and natural resources damaged due to a disaster. This should also enable environmentally friendly rebuilding in all sectors. The recovery plan also supports the restoration of environment and natural resources as a disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategy.

Words into Action: Nature-based solutions for disaster risk reduction
This guide aims to give practical, how-to-do information on setting up and implementing nature-based solutions (NbS), especially for disaster risk reduction (DRR), but also for climate change adaptation (CCA). It is designed to help implement the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (hereafter referred to as the Sendai Framework). The Sendai Framework recognizes that environmental degradation can cause hazards and that disasters also have an impact on the environment.

From protection to prevention: The role of cooperative and mutual insurance in DRR
This report, prepared by the ICMIF-UNDRR collaboration, presents seven mechanisms gleaned from case studies compiled across the cooperative and mutual insurance sector and from a literature review on the role of insurance in supporting disaster risk reduction and resilience. It focuses on preventing new risks and reducing existing risk is more urgent than ever because disasters can erase development gains and hinder progress, often for years to come, such as in the case of floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, pandemics or major technological disasters.

UNDRR Briefing Package for UN Resident Coordinators and UN Country Teams
This briefing package sets out how UNDRR can better support UNRCs and UNCTs to deliver sustainable development benefits at a country level from a DRR angle. The options proposed here can be adjusted to meet the needs of the regional UN development system architecture. This package includes an information checklist, support tools and information that UNDRR has developed to support national governments and UN partners to reduce risks and losses as guided by the Sendai Framework.

 Can ecosystems protect populations? New evidence published
While it is generally assumed that ecosystems, such as mangroves, coral reefs or sand dunes, play an important role in reducing risks from hazard events, there are few comprehensive studies that gather scientific evidence on the services these ecosystems provide, and the functions they fulfil for disaster risk reduction.

Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Resilience: Linking Science, Tech, Policy and Practice
Objectives of the webinar include discussing the current state of nature-based solutions that are undertaken globally and identifying success stories and how this can be replicated to scale for impact.

Workshop Announcement and Call for Applications: Enlargement and Integration – Digital Transformation, Data and AI in the Western Balkans
The workshop “Digital Transformation, Data and AI in the Western Balkans” aims to investigate how digital technologies, data and AI influence changes in our societies. Europe’s ambition is to become the world-leading region for developing and deploying cutting edge, ethical and secure AI, as well as to promote a human-centric approach in the global context.

9th Global Dialogue Platform on Anticipatory Humanitarian Action – Virtual Edition: 7th – 9th December 2021
Join us for a series of panel discussions, thematic presentations and interactive events that will bring together practitioners, scientists and government representatives from around the world to explore how anticipatory action can address the compounding and intertwined effects of the climate crisis, rising conflicts and economic shocks on the world’s most vulnerable people.

International Science Council – Health Inequalities: New Methods, Better Insights?
At this conference of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), the final report of the ALLEA/FEAM Health Inequalities project will be presented to a wider audience. The technical contents of this report, ‘Health inequalities: new methods, better insights?’, have already been discussed extensively at a series of well-attended workshops. This conference aims to provide a forum for discussing the implications of the report for research and policy. How can new research methods help us to better understand health inequalities, and how can better science help policymakers to reduce health inequalities more effectively?

#AGU21: Science is Society
The AGU Fall Meeting is the primary gathering for Earth and space scientists, students, and those in affiliated fields to share scientific findings and identify innovative solutions. With in-person and worldwide online participation, attendees will have numerous opportunities to network with government regulators, scientific visionaries, and industry thought-leaders. Join our diverse community in New Orleans and Online Everywhere 13 – 17 December 2021.

20th Swiss Climate Summer School 2022 – Extreme weather and climate
Swiss Climate Research, the network of leading Swiss institutions in climate research and education, invites young scientists (PhD students and postdocs) to join high-profile climate researchers in a scenic Swiss Alpine setting for keynote lectures, workshops and poster sessions on the occasion of the 20th Swiss Climate Summer School 2022.

Youth set stage for Americans and Caribbean Regional Platform 
Young people from across the Americas and the Caribbean have asked for a greater role in preparing and implementing policies to reduce disaster risk in one of the most hazard-prone regions of the world. The Youth Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction is an opportunity for some of the region’s 106 million young people to share priorities, concerns and make proposals over four hours of presentations, plenary sessions and panels.

Climate risk assessment gaps: seamless integration of weather and climate information for community resilience
Understanding climate and weather impacts is essential for risk assessment and building resilience. In this blog, Bapon Fakhruddin and Jana Sillmann examine how collaborative digital platforms to integrate and share weather and climate information could support risk assessment.

International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction with Bapon Fakhruddin
October 13 marked the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction – a UN observed day that highlights the importance of international cooperation to reduce disaster risk and save lives. For Tonkin + Taylor Technical Director – DRR and Natural Hazards, Bapon Fakhruddin, protecting communities vulnerable to disaster became his life’s work. In recognition of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, we asked Bapon to reflect on his journey in DRR, how DRR has interfaced with climate change, and advice to share with the emerging generation of DRR practitioners.

UNDRR-ISC Hazard Definition & Classification Review – Technical Report
The UNDRR/ISC Sendai Hazard Definition and Classification Review Technical Report supports all other agreements such as the Sendai framework, sustainable development goals-agenda 2030 and the Paris agreement by providing a common set of hazard definitions for monitoring and reviewing implementation which calls for “a data revolution, rigorous accountability mechanisms and renewed global partnerships”

COP26: Special report on Climate Change and Health
Extreme heat, floods, droughts, wildfires and hurricanes: 2021 has broken many records. Health and equity are central to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement and to making COP26 a success. Protecting health requires action well beyond the health sector, in energy, transport, nature, food systems, finance and more. The ten recommendations outlined in this report – and the action points, resources and case studies that support them – provide concrete examples of interventions that, with support, can be scaled up rapidly to safeguard our health and our climate.

How Atma and The Nature Conservancy Joined Forces to Share Resources for the Disaster Risk Reduction Community
The Atma Connect tech team landed a contract to build a robust learning platform to serve this audience, the team leapt into action. Here’s a look at how the tech team quickly created a platform for The Nature Conservancy to support DRR professionals and humanitarian organizations in how to use nature to reduce coastal disaster risk

New report offers concrete steps for risk-informed investment
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) launched a new report this week – Delivering risk-informed investment: addressing the barriers – which offers eight concrete areas where stakeholders can take immediate action to incorporate disaster risk into their investment decisions.

International Cooperation in Disaster Risk Reduction: Target F
This report highlights low levels of investments in disaster prevention and disaster risk reduction for the world’s most vulnerable countries. The costs benefits of investing in prevention and resilience have been demonstrated time and time again, but for every US$100 of disaster-related Overseas Development Assistance (ODA), only 50 cents are invested in protecting development from the impact of disasters.

USA: Federal Climate Adaptation Plans 
As directed by President Biden’s January 28, 2021, Executive Order 14008, major Federal agencies are required to develop an adaptation and resilience plan to address their most significant climate risks and vulnerabilities. On October 7, 2021, the White House announced the release of more than 20 Federal Agency Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plans

1-12 November – COP26 – Glasgow
COP26 Summit runs from the 31st October till the 12th of November. The aim is to bring parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris agreement and the UN framework on climate change.

Fifth Arab Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, 8 November 2021 – 11 November 2021 Online Rabat Morocco
Hosted by the Government of Morocco, the Fifth Arab Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction will be organised under the theme “From Risk to Resilience: Accelerating Local Action for Disaster Risk Reduction” from 8 to 11 November 2021.

International Data Week 2022, 8-11 Nov 2021, Seoul, South Korea
The International Science Council’s Committee on Data (CODATA) and World Data System (WDS), and the Research Data Alliance (RDA) are delighted to announce that the 2021 edition of International Data Week (IDW 2021) will be held on 8–11 November 2021 in Seoul, South Korea.

Eighth Africa Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction 
The Government of the Republic of Kenya will host the Eighth Africa Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Seventh High-Level Meeting on Disaster Risk Reduction from 16-19 November 2021. The Africa Regional Platform will be held under the overarching theme: “Towards disaster, Risk informed Development for a Resilient Africa in a COVID-19 Transformed World.”

World Tsunami Awareness Day 2021: Pacific Webinar
In 2021, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) will position the World Tsunami Awareness Day (WTAD) as an opportunity to advocate for reducing tsunami risk globally in the context of the “Safe Ocean” outcome of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) and the promotion of International Cooperation to Developing Countries, the chosen target for this year’s edition of the Sendai Seven Campaign.

UNDP launches new Insurance and Risk Finance Facility
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has launched the Insurance and Risk Finance Facility (IRFF), a new initiative that aims to build financial resilience and bridge a $1.4 trillion global health, mortality, and disaster protection gap, with support from the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market expected in future.

NASA Test Satellite Provides Insight into Hurricane Ida
In 2022, NASA will launch a constellation of six small satellites (smallsats) to improve our understanding of tropical cyclones and support NASA’s TROPICS mission. But before then, NASA launched the TROPICS pathfinder, a test satellite that aids the TROPICS mission by enabling full testing of the technology, communication systems, data processing, and data flow to application users in advance of the constellation’s launch next year.

Global citizens and scientists on how to achieve a thriving net-zero future
This article is part of the ISC’s new series, Transform21, which will explore the state of knowledge and action, five years on from the Paris Agreement and in a pivotal year for action on sustainable development.

Lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic – achieving resilience for the next health emergency
A new strategic document was officially presented at the “Lessons learned from COVID-19: getting ready for the next pandemic” event, on 13 September – part of the 71st session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe (RC71).

Climate change threatens sustainable development
If the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are to be achieved by 2030, the risks posed by human-induced climate change must be understood and addressed. The World Meteorological Organization has published a new report on Climate Indicators and Sustainable Development: Demonstrating the Interconnections.

The data side of leaving no one behind
An approach called data landscaping has been developed –  its scope covers the political economy of data within a country; the structures and standards that govern the collection, production and sharing of data; the information systems themselves; and the culture that drives the demand for, and use of data.

Country Hydromet Diagnostics 
Global threats and challenges related to climate change and the impact of extreme weather events are rising, and demand to provide high-quality weather, climate, hydrological, and related environmental information services – referred to as HYDROMET – is rapidly increasing.

Financing the UN Development System: Time to Meet the Moment
In 2020, the global extreme poverty rate rose for the first time in over 20 years, with hundreds of millions of people pushed back into extreme poverty and chronic hunger. Member States and UN entities have a mutual responsibility to demonstrate proactive and transformational leadership in ensuring an adequate multilateral response, while also looking ahead to strengthen global and regional risk reduction..

The Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water Extremes (1970–2019)
The Atlas is WMO’s most exhaustive compilation to date of fatalities and economic costs from natural hazards. It provides comprehensive details of recorded disasters and their impacts, both at the global and regional levels.

Creating Resilient Communities With Medium-Range Hazard Warning Systems
Resilience to natural hazards requires integrated risk management – from hazard identification and risk register, hazard warnings and risk communication, to preparation for and response when an event occurs. Medium-range hazard warnings play a vital role in strategic and tactical planning for resilience to natural hazards.

The GEOGLAM Crop Monitor for Early Warning
The GEOGLAM Crop Monitor for Early Warning (CM4EW) is an international and transparent multi-source, consensus assessment of the crop growing conditions, status, and agro-climatic conditions that are likely to impact global production. The CM4EW reports on climate hazards, such as drought, flood, and extreme weather, as well as pests and crop diseases, as part of its monitoring of countries at risk of famine and to provide early warnings of impending crop shortfalls.

Podcast: Data-Knowledge-Action for Urban Systems
The Data-Knowledge-Action for Urban Systems podcast series explores systems used to build intelligent urban systems. The series reflects on the systematic changes required for cities to become adaptive and intelligent for handling urban wellbeing.

Pacific Prepared – How the tragedies of the past can help protect us in the future.
An Advanced Tsunami Hazard Assessment has been recently conducted in Fiji – the assessment and findings from Fiji also present several factors to consider for the entire Pacific. Technical Director – DRR and Climate Resilience Dr Bapon Shm Fakhruddin recently featured on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Radio show ‘Pacific Prepared’, sharing his perspective on the assessment and what authorities need to do now to make communities better prepared and protected from the threat of a tsunami.

Auckland Climate Change Festival
The Auckland Climate Festival will converge around five themes – Collective Vision, Systems Change, Individual Action, Just Transitions and lastly, Beyond Tamaki.

United Nations World Data Forum 2021 – 3-6 October 
The ​​UN World Data Forum brings together data and statistical experts and users from governments, civil society, the private sector, donor and philanthropic bodies, international and regional agencies, the geospatial community, the media, academia and professional bodies.

Virtual SciDataCon 2021
CODATA and WDS are pleased to announce that the REGISTRATION IS OPEN for Virtual SciDataCon 2021.

Webinar Series: Modern Technologies for Disaster Management 
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is hosting a series of webinars on these 4IR technologies presenting a chance to learn from and engage with leading experts from around the world as they discuss opportunities and challenges associated with these technologies and their use in disaster management.

Conference on Climate Change and Health in Small Island Developing States: Focus on the Caribbean 
The Conference on Climate Change and Health in Small Island Developing States is an immersion in the science of climate change and health in the Caribbean, identifying knowledge gaps, posing solutions, resource sharing, networking, and empowerment.

2021 CAP Implementation Workshop
The 2021 Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) Implementation Workshop will be conducted as an online Webinar. Everyone interested in emergency alerting is welcome: managers, technical staff, media, including those in government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and commercial organisations.

IPCC Report: 10 Innovative ways people around the world are tackling climate change
The IPCC report said global warming of about 1.1 degrees Celsius has brought changes worldwide, from droughts and storms to melting glaciers. But it is not too late to cut climate-heating emissions and keep the temperature rise within internationally agreed goals of “well below” 2C and ideally 1.5C – which would help stop or slow down some of the impacts, the report said.

CCRIF to make US$40 Million Pay out to Haiti Following Devastating August 4 Earthquake.
CCRIF SPC will make a pay out of approximately US$40 million to the Government of Haiti following the devastating magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck Haiti on August 14th, 2021, significantly impacting the city of Les Cayes.

Extreme Weather: Malaysia’s Flood Woes To Worsen
While Malaysia appears unaffected by the most extreme weather events such as earthquakes, hurricanes and forest fires, it remains vulnerable to the threat of floods, landslides, haze and water pollutions.

Disaster-mapping drones often neglect deadliest, costliest events and hardest-hit areas
Every year, disasters kill an average of 60,000 people, affect 200 million and cause US$150 billion in damage. To combat these devastating impacts, governments and other stakeholders routinely rely on images captured by satellites and crewed aircraft for crucial tasks such as identifying and monitoring areas most at risk, evacuation routes, damage severity and extent, and recovery progress.

UNDRR announces annual award to celebrate women reducing disaster risk in their communities
The Women’s International Network on Disasters Risk Reduction (WIN DRR) will award two cash prizes to highlight the work of women who are changing the field of disaster risk reduction by using inclusive approaches and demonstrating leadership in a previously male-dominated field.

The role of data and information quality during disaster response decision-making
The current paper addresses these issues by identifying how certain features of data and information quality function, to support specific, naturalistic decision-making processes during disaster response. These functions are used to revise and consolidate extant definitions of data and information quality, for use in the disaster response domain.

Asia-Pacific Disaster Report 2021
The Asia-Pacific Disaster Report 2021 addresses the complexity of converging and cascading risks by analysing natural and biological hazards simultaneously.

Assessing post-disaster recovery using sentiment analysis: The case of L’Aquila, Italy
This article uses sentiment analysis (SA) to assess post-disaster recovery on the 10th anniversary of L’Aquila’s earthquake using Twitter data.

Increasing global resilience to systemic risk: emerging lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic
This report outlines the importance of applying a systemic risk lens to help prevent the escalation and reduce the impact of future pandemics. It also outlines a number of key reforms required within global governance systems to facilitate this change. This includes not only strengthening and integrating health agendas into governance systems but also looking more holistically to address the root causes of zoonoses spillover.

Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems with Dr. Bapon Fakhruddin
Multi-Hazard early warning systems for potential disasters can mean the difference between life and death for local residents. Dr. Bapon Fakhruddin, an expert who has been involved with implementing early warning systems in more than 25 countries, shares his thoughts on reducing disaster risk, adapting to climate change, and keeping communities safe on the Multi-Hazards podcast.

Disaster governance in the Asia-Pacific: future pathways for South and Southeast Asia
This policy report traces developments in disaster governance in South Asia as an area of cooperation for Southeast Asia. South Asia is highly exposed and vulnerable to the impacts of natural hazards. It has been affected by several large-scale disasters over the past two decades, including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2015 Nepal earthquake.

2-3 September – 2021 Aotearoa SDG Summit Series
Collaborating, connecting, and working together has never been more important than right now. SDG Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals, is our collective way forward. Join us for the next part in the 2020-2021 Aotearoa/New Zealand SDG Summit Series and see how by working together, we can create the world we want, and the world that we need.

6-9 September – 1st International Forum on Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals
The 1st International Forum on Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals will be held by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China, from September 6 to 8, 2021.

RemTech Europe, 20th-24th September 2021
The aim of the Conference is to share information on knowledge, innovation and case histories, to encourage the development of remediation processes and the application of new and sustainable technologies and bring together experts, problem owners and suppliers of available services and technologies

ISC workshop: Inclusive and accessible science communication 14+15 September 
As part of the continuous workshop series by and for the ISC Science Communications Network, the ISC invites all staff members, office bearers and representatives of organisations that are part of the ISC community to join us for an interactive session to discuss best practices in accessible and inclusive science communication.

Fijian Government: Ministry prepares for 2021-2021 Cyclone Season
The Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster Management has been diligently preparing its facilities and mobilising its resources for the impending 2021-2022 Cyclone Season. Part of these preparatory works was the total renovation and improvements in the current warehousing assets and processes maintained at the Walu Bay based yard.

WMO: Water-related hazards dominate disasters in the past 50 years
Water-related hazards dominate the list of disasters in terms of both the human and economic toll over the past 50 years, according to a comprehensive analysis by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)..

Oxford researchers develop tool to predict human displacement post-disaster
An open-source software package to estimate displaced populations post-disaster has been developed, with a current focus on earthquakes and cyclones.

Planned retreat from flood-prone Westport and its stoic history
As the New Zealand Prime Minister visits Westport, the town faces the difficult decision of whether to rebuild or withdraw after the recent devastating floods. Government intervention and insurance can help if it chooses a planned retreat.  Tonkin + Taylor Natural Hazards Specialist, Nick Rogers QSO, and Sector Director for Natural Hazards Resilience, Richard Reinen-Hamill reflect on the Westport floods and planned retreat in this article with Newsroom NZ.

Catching fire: AI is helping scarce firefighters better predict blazes
With climate change driving worsening U.S. wildfires, machine learning and statistical models let firefighters map out ahead of time how and where blazes might spread.

GAR Special Report on Drought 2021
The GAR Special Report on Drought 2021 explores the systemic nature of drought and its impacts on the achievement of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the SDGs and human and ecosystems health and wellbeing.

Probabilistic tsunami hazard and exposure assessment for the Pacific Islands – Fiji
This paper presents the results of a tsunami exposure assessment of the population, assets and critical infrastructure vulnerable to tsunami inundation from Tonga-Kermadec and South New Hebrides tsunami sources.

Willingness-to-pay for hazard safety – A case study on the valuation of flood risk reduction in Germany
This paper focuses on the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for public investments in safety measures, in particular for reducing the risk of natural flood hazard. The study uses the method of contingent valuation to collect individual data from a nationwide sample of German households.

UNEP: Becoming #GenerationRestoration: ecosystem restoration for people, nature and climate
This report makes the case for why nature-based solutions, such as environmental restoration in particular, is so important and outlines how the UN Decade can catalyse a movement to restore the world’s ecosystems.

UNEP – A practical guide to climate-resilient buildings & communities
This practical guide demonstrates how buildings and community spaces can be constructed to increase their resilience to climate change, especially in developing countries where structures are largely self-built. The publication provides an overview of the fundamental types of interventions at the building scale, including the use of nature-based solutions.

Asian Development Bank: Creating liveable Asian cities
This book makes the case for five priorities to create liveable and resilient cities and realize a sustainable urban future in Asia: Smart and inclusive planning; sustainable transport; sustainable energy; sustainable finance; and resilience and rejuvenation.

23-27 August – World Water Week
World Water Week is the leading conference on global water issues and in 2021 it will be held as a digital event 23-27 August. The Week attracts participants from more than 130 countries and with many different professional backgrounds. It offers an unusual mix of participants and perspectives, with sessions on a broad array of water-related topics, ranging from food security and health, to agriculture, technology, biodiversity, and the climate crisis.

2-3 September – 2021 Aotearoa SDG Summit Series
Collaborating, connecting, and working together has never been more important than right now. SDG Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals, is our collective way forward. Join us for the next part in the 2020-2021 Aotearoa/New Zealand SDG Summit Series and see how by working together, we can create the world we want, and the world that we need.

6-9 September – 1st International Forum on Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals
The 1st International Forum on Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals will be held by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China, from September 6 to 8, 2021.

1 September – Space Health and Disaster Risk Reduction symposium
This symposium is an exploration of the interrelations between space health, disaster risk reduction and other related topics. The aim is to establish a consensus on the provision of healthcare by an interdisciplinary healthcare practitioner during a deep space mission to another planetary body, and how this practice can inform remote health systems on Earth.

August 6 – CONVERGE Collecting and Sharing Perishable Data Training Module: A Demonstration Webinar
This webinar will provide a demonstration of the recently released CONVERGE Collecting and Sharing Perishable Data Training Module. This module provides an overview of what perishable data is, how to ethically collect it, and why such data is vital for advancing hazards and disaster research.