Running Dry Racing Against Time to Secure Our Water Future
Reviewing our progress in 2023, we need to catch up to our 2030 targets, particularly in water resources management. Despite challenges, the 2023 UN Water Conference and World Water Week have made strides towards a water-secure world. However, achieving these targets will require $114 billion per year in capital expenditure. It’s time for bold commitments, innovative solutions, and global collaboration!

At Climate Ambition Summit, UN Agencies and IFRC kickstart Major Initiative Towards Realizing Early Warnings for All by 2027
An initial injection of US$1.3 million from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) will be used to kick-start a much larger initiative aimed at delivering $157 million from the GCF and partner governments to move towards universal early warning for all.

How Nature-Based Solutions Can Build Urban Resilience: Four Lessons from SEI’s Work in South Asian Cities 
Nature-based solutions can help address environmental challenges in cities but community involvement and engagement is crucial to utilize local knowledge and create sustainable solutions. Here we provide four lessons based on SEI’s collaboration at the ground level to show how NbS can be made to work to address environmental challenges in cities.

Drones and Planes: Unprecedented Imagery Resolution Supports Disaster Assessment
The first use cases of drones and airplanes to collect high-resolution imagery helped the EU respond to emergencies and track disaster recovery with unparalleled accuracy. The potential to support disaster management looks promising.

Effective Visual Communication of Climate Change 
Boulder, Colo., USA: The consequences of a warming climate frequently dominated the news this summer, from devastating wildfires and floods to deadly heat waves across the globe. Reducing harm from climate change is a challenging endeavour, and it requires comprehensive public education. Thus, the question arises: How can climate change science be made most accessible to the general population, as well as decision-makers and educators?

The Threat of Wildfires is Rising. So are New Artificial Intelligence Solutions to Fight Them 
Wildfires fueled by climate change have ravaged communities from Maui to the Mediterranean this summer, killing many people, exhausting firefighters and fueling demand for new solutions. Enter artificial intelligence. Firefighters and startups are using AI-enabled cameras to scan the horizon for signs of smoke. A German company is building a constellation of satellites to detect fires from space.

“From satellites to sandbags”: Putting Water at the Heart of Climate Action. 
As proved so tragically in Libya last week, while water holds the key to life, all too often it kills.
Whether – like in Derna – it’s too much water leading to floods, or too little water causing droughts, or polluted water resulting in health risks, addressing the dangers that water poses can save lives. As climate change intensifies these threats, there is an urgent need for action.

The Environmental Dimensions of Libya’s Flood Disaster 
The catastrophic flooding in eastern Libya is a human and environmental disaster that has claimed thousands of lives. In this report we examine the main environmental considerations in the short and long-term, both to help inform the humanitarian response and later recovery. We also reflect on how years of conflict and insecurity in Libya contributed to the disaster.

The Ocean as a Solution to Climate Change: Updated Opportunities for Action
Analysis finds that full implementation of ocean-based climate solutions that are ready for action now could reduce the “emissions gap” by up to 35 percent on a 1.5°C pathway in 2050.

Resilience Evidence Forum 2023: Synthesis report
This Synthesis Report presents the findings and insights from the Resilience Evidence Forum that took place in June 2023. The report underscores the pressing need to build upon our progress, recognise the various forms of evidence—be it scientific, local knowledge, indigenous knowledge, or conveyed through storytelling—and elevate resilience as a collective, paramount objective.

Intangible Cultural Heritage within the Laws and Policies of South Pacific Small Island States in the climate crisis
Intangible Cultural Heritage within the Laws and Policies of South Pacific Small Island States in the Climate Crisis: Towards a More Resilient and Inclusive Approach’ is the first Special Edition of the Periscope Paper Series, an Occasional Analysis Paper/Brief series of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung’s (Foundation) Regional Programme Australia and the Pacific. This edition deals with the protection of intangible cultural heritage in Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

World Risk Report 2023: Focus: Diversity
The WorldRiskReport (WRR) 2023 examines the complex interrelationship between crises, marginalized groups, and the diverse structure of societies. Diversity plays a significant role in how disaster risk is distributed within a society. While it is true that disasters, extreme natural events, and crisis affect everyone in the immediate surroundings, the impact of the negative consequences tends to be more severe for marginalized groups such as people read as female, persons with disabilities, or members of the queer community.

Integrating Resilience into Municipal Infrastructure Delivery in Kenya
This Resilient Urban Infrastructure Guidelines forms one of a suite of reports developed by AECOM for the World Bank Group under the ‘Enhancement of Resilient Urban Planning and Infrastructure Investments in Urban Areas in Kenya’ assignment and constitutes Deliverable 2. This guidance note is based on a diagnostic assessment (Urban Resilient Infrastructure Assessment Report) of municipal infrastructure investments under the Kenya Urban Support Program (KUSP) 2018 – 2023.

Impacts of Medicanes on Geomorphology and Infrastructure in the Eastern Mediterranean
This study developed a systematic record of the direct impacts of Medicane Ianos on the Ionian Islands, in Greece, as a characteristic case study illustrating the potential effects of such an extreme event on a developed Mediterranean coastal area. Despite being relatively rare, Mediterranean tropical-like cyclones, also known as Medicanes, induce significant impacts on coastal Mediterranean areas.

Beyond the Horizon: Projecting Bhutan’s Water Future in a Changing Climate
Data can be a tricky beast. It can either illuminate our path or leave us groping in the dark. We decided to tackle this head-on. We harnessed the power of the latest climate change scenarios, leveraged satellite-driven rainfall data to train our historical database, and employed the basin-wide hydrological model (ArcSWAT) to evaluate future water availability across various basins.

Cities by Citizens Event 2
The objective of the Cities by Citizens initiative is achieving cities which are proactively planned to meet the needs of all through inclusive, meaningful and effective public participation in the planning process, as well as informed and transparent political decision-making on strategy and developments in urban areas.

International Data Week 2023: A Festival of Data, 23–26 October 2023, Salzburg, Austria
International Data Week brings together a global community of data scientists and data stewards; researchers from all domains; data, interoperability, and informatics experts from all fields; industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and policymakers.

Integrating Disaster Risk Data in Policy: CEMS’ Annual Conference 2023
Join us on Disaster Risk Reduction Day (13 October 2023) to learn about Copernicus and the Joint Research Centre’s (JRC) work on crisis management and the risks and opportunities of the future.

Training on Enhancing Inclusive Local Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies Using Disability Inclusion Scorecard Annex
This courses objective is to raise awareness on the inclusion of persons with disabilities in disaster risk management and Introduce the Disaster Resilience Scorecard for Cities – Annex for the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities and its application for enhancing sub-national disaster risk reduction planning and implementation.

COSMOS 2024 Call for Contributions – Deadline Extended to 13 October
We invite the statistical and metadata communities to submit contributions for the first Conference On Smart Metadata for Official Statistics 2024 (COSMOS 2024), to be held on 11-12 April 2024 in Paris, France.

Webinar: Driving Measurable Change: Leveraging UN SDGs for Impact Investing
As the world reaches the midway point in its journey towards achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, reinvigorating progress and aligning efforts across various sectors has never been more pressing.

Channeling a safer future: How Georgia is engineering a climate-resilient future, safe from floods 
The unprecedented scale of the 2015 floods served as a wake-up call to the authorities and communities alike, prompting a re-evaluation of flood preparedness and the need for greater measures to mitigate future disasters – particularly in the context of more frequent extreme weather driven by climate change.

Monitoring Coastal Erosion in Africa using Earth Observation Data
The Digital Earth Africa #Coastline monitoring service empowers users to unlock sustainable coastal zone management through understanding patterns from the past.

Artificial Glacier Helps Mountain Village in Kyrgyzstan Meet Water Needs 
In southern Kyrgyzstan agriculture is the main source of income and food. To increase the communities’ resilience to weather anomalies, experts from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) proposed the construction of an artificial glacier in the region as part of the “Shared prosperity through cooperation in border regions of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan” project.

New Test Chamber Created to Find Better Ways to Keep People Cool 
A shipping container that can test passive cooling systems could help researchers and builders find carbon-free ways to keep people cool in extreme temperatures. Washington State University researchers created the 60-square-foot chamber to test passive systems that use wind towers along with water evaporation instead of electricity to cool spaces.

Global Heating Likely to Hit World Food Supply Before 1.5C, Says UN Expert 
The world is likely to face major disruption to food supplies well before temperatures rise by the 1.5C target, the president of the UN’s desertification conference has warned, as the impacts of the climate crisis combine with water scarcity and poor farming practices to threaten global agriculture.

Investing in Resilience: Innovative Finance for Drought Preparedness 
The policy brief demonstrates that enhancing resilience is one of the most cost-effective actions countries can take, and is typically far less expensive than interventions focused on responding to, and recovering from, the impacts of droughts, but innovative financing mechanisms are essential to fund the necessary long-term investments.

Leveraging Blockchain Technology for Crisis Management 
In the aftermath of climactic disasters, questions can often be raised that scrutinize the response from government authorities in aiding those affected. Taken from their research presented in Public Administration Review, Wendy D Chen and Ilia Murtazashvili explore the role of blockchains in disaster management. The authors argue that blockchains provide mechanisms of transparency and security that can enable governments to respond more effectively to disasters.

Comparison and Analysis of national Climate Change Adaptation Policies in the Nordic Region 
This report presents the findings from a comparative study of climate change adaptation policy in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Based on a comparative analysis of the policy landscape, including legislative frameworks, policy instruments, and financing mechanisms, the report identifies best practices and main challenges as well as key factors influencing the progress of national adaptation.

Machine Learning-enabled Regional Multi-hazards Risk Assessment Considering Social Vulnerability 
This study proposes a multi-hazards risk assessment method which considers social vulnerability into the analyzing and utilize machine learning-enabled models. The regional multi-hazards risk assessment poses difficulties due to data access challenges, and the potential interactions between multi-hazards and social vulnerability.

Weathering the Storm: Insurance in a changing climate 
This report explores the role of the insurance market in responding to these complex issues. It is informed by a nationwide survey of people that have home insurance, as well as interviews with homeowners and people who rent in communities affected by extreme weather events.

Climate Ambition Summit 
To accelerate action by governments, business, finance, local authorities and civil society, and hear from “first movers and doers,” the United Nations Secretary-General is convening a Climate Ambition Summit at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 20 September 2023.

3rd International Forum on Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (FBAS) 
Thursday 7 September 2023; 13:30 to 15:00 CST (UTC +8, Beijing time) a CODATA+ Session on ‘Data and AI Policy for the Responsible Governance of Big Data During Crisis Situations for Achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals’ as part of The 3rd International Forum on Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (FBAS 2023). Here is a registration link for online participation.

Introduction to the Scorecard Action Guide: Prioritization of DRR Actions
This webinar session aims to introduce the Scorecard Action Guide and present a methodology for cities to frame and prioritise their programmes of action using data from the Scorecard assessment.

GCF Private Investment for Climate Conference 2023 
Wednesday, 27 September 2023, 13:00 to 15:00 UTC; 15:00 to 17:00 CEST (Brussels time): A Research Data Alliance’s (RDA) 10th Anniversary Webinar organized by the AIDV-WG + GOSC and CODATA IDPC on ‘The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Building Responsible Open Science Infrastructures’. Here is a registration link for online participation.

CODATA Connect Webinar - Data Stewardship, What’s in it for me?
This webinar will cover the practical aspects of data stewardship: what do people mean by it, why it is important (= the selfish benefits of good data stewardship), and, crucially, where and how to look for help. The session will be interactive, with plenty of time for questions and discussion.18 September:

UNDRR GETI, UNITAR & WHO E-learning Course] Resilience of Local Governments
In line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, SDG 11.B and SDG 3.D, this e-Learning Course aims to contribute to strengthening the capacity of local government officials for risk reduction and resilience planning inclusive of health threats management.

International Conference on Science and Technology for Sustainability 2023 – Transforming Society to Become Resilient and Sustainable beyond Catastrophic Disasters 
The Science Council of Japan, the Japan Hub of Disaster Resilience Partners (JHoP) and the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED) invite you to the “International Conference on Science and Technology for Sustainability 2023 – Transforming Society to Become Resilient and Sustainable beyond Catastrophic Disasters”.

Why climate action is critical to reducing poverty and what it means for policy trade-offs
Lifting people out of poverty requires helping households acquire and use capital and ensuring that they earn a good return from it. Poor households often rely on livelihoods that rely on natural capital, such as farming, pastoralism, or fishing. Climate change and the increase in temperature, rainfall extremes, and storms will have a big impact on the ability of poor people to earn income.

GCF’s 2024-2027 Strategic Plan sets out greater ambitions and results for critical global climate action 
The 2024-2027 Strategic Plan of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) was successfully adopted at the 36th meeting of the GCF Board on 10 July. As GCF nears the end of its first programming period, 2020-2023 (GCF-1), and is undergoing replenishment for its next programming period (GCF-2), the Strategic Plan reflects the urgency of the climate crisis and the organisation’s growth and maturation in becoming even more transformative and accessible.

Five tips for Inclusive disaster-risk management planning
The recent floodings in Malawi and Pakistan, earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, and Typhoon Mocha in Myanmar are painful reminders of nature’s wrath. By including women, persons with disabilities, the elderly, Indigenous Peoples, and other marginalized groups as active participants in building resilience to climate change and natural hazards, we tap into their unique, often overlooked knowledge, fostering resilience.

Cooling the heat: can India lead the world in green cooling innovation?
In recent months, India has broken several temperature records, recording its hottest February in 120 years. Heatwaves have devastating impacts on the health, economy, and environment of the nation, causing deaths, illnesses, crop failures, power outages, and water shortages. They also worsen air pollution, a major public health crisis in India.

A community-driven flood resilience information platform for Nicaragua
IIASA researchers and colleagues from Plan International are using modern digital tools to enhance community-driven flood resilience in rural flood-prone communities in Nicaragua. Communities in flood-prone regions worldwide are increasingly being impacted by the effects of flooding. Floods affect more people globally than any other natural hazard and cause some of the largest economic, social, and humanitarian losses.

Bringing a gender perspective to disaster risk finance can save lives
and support recovery
Global studies have shown that disasters – in general – often affect women harder than men. Even after years of significant economic and social progress, women face barriers in many areas. And when a natural disaster strikes, women tend to face life-threatening challenges, which could hamper both their economic and physical survival.

Surviving the aftermath of heavy snowfall in Merak, Bhutan: A story of tackling Loss and Damage
In Merak, Bhutan, we meet Ms. Pema Wangmo, who, with the help of her community, worked to restore greenhouses destroyed by climate change-induced snowfall. This is the fifth of the “Voices from the Frontline (Phase III)” stories by GRP and ICCCAD, supported by Irish Aid.

RISK Award 2023: Best project proposals “Climate resilience and early warning” 
The RISK Awards contribute to the target of disaster risk reduction and resilience building through early warning systems (EWS) as an essential strategic asset. The 2023 award focuses on early warning, particularly in building resilience to
climatic risks.

Solving climate displacement through proactive land policy 
This report speaks to three key areas: accessibility and policy as the root cause, the need for proactive planning to start now, and the fact that protecting house, land, and property rights must be at the core of climate policy responses.

Heat early warning systems roundtable 
This report contains insights, recommendations, and best practices emerging from the discussion, highlighting the importance of collective action to protect vulnerable populations from the impacts of heat waves. Extreme heat and heat waves, exacerbated by climate change, pose significant threats to public health, and effective early warnings are crucial for mitigating these risks.

Climate and equity: a framework to guide policy action 
This brief highlights that reducing the impact of climate change on poor and vulnerable households is essential to hastening poverty reduction. In thinking about policies that do this, this brief finds it helpful to apply the same hazard, exposure, and vulnerability framework often used to understand the physical impacts of climate change and add the non-climate benefits and costs to households that these policies can also bring.

State of the Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean 2022 
The State of the Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean 2022 report shows how climate change is triggering a vicious cycle of events with spiraling impacts on countries and local communities. Explaining how prolonged drought led to a drop in hydroelectricity production in large parts of South America, prompting an upsurge in demand for fossil fuels in a region with major untapped potential for renewable energy.

The 3rd International Forum on Low-Carbon Cities 
The 3rd International Forum on Low-Carbon Cities will be jointly organized by ESCAP East and North-East Asia Office and Incheon Metropolitan City on 29 August 2023 during the Korea Global Adaptation Week, in collaboration with Green Climate Fund, Incheon Carbon Neutrality Center, ICLEI, innovative Green Development Program, CityNet, Climate Change Center and Local Government Association for Climate and Energy Transition.

Sixth meeting of the Pacific Meteorological Council hosted by the Government of Fiji 
The Government of Fiji, through the Fiji Meteorological Service is the host of the sixth Meeting of the Pacific Meteorological Council (PMC-6) in Denarau, Nadi from 14-16 August 2023. The meeting will discuss, promote and explore opportunities to strengthen weather, climate, water, ocean and related development services in the context of sustainable development.

Korea Global Adaptation Week 2023
The Korea Global Adaptation Week (KGAW) 2023 will be one of the spotlight adaptation events of the year. It will be a platform to showcase and promote actions and practices to adapt to the impacts of climate change by accelerating the formulation and implementation of countries’ National Adaptation Plans and by providing adaptation practitioners with foresight thinking for resilience building.

CODATA Connect Webinar, An Ecosystem Perspective on the Ethics of AI and Emerging Digital Technologies
Smart information systems (SIS) are systems that incorporate artificial intelligence techniques, in particular machine learning and big data analytics. These raise significant hopes, for example, to better understand and cure diseases, but also to revolutionise transport, optimise business processes, or reduce carbon emissions.

JRC Summer School on the evaluation of air, soil and water pollution in support to the European Green Deal: a holistic approach
The JRC is pleased to announce the Summer School on the evaluation of air, soil and water pollution in support of the European Green Deal: a holistic approach organised by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre in partnership with Novi Sad University.

Australian Disaster Resilience Conference 2023 
It has never been more important to reduce disaster risk and build resilience. We must reimagine the future to create the change we need. Our partnerships, programs, actions, and ideas all play an essential part in creating and safeguarding the world we want to live in now and the world we want to pass on to future generations.

New comprehensive toolkit to support countries after natural disasters 
World Bank Group announces comprehensive toolkit to support countries after natural disasters. The World Bank Group today announced a suite of new and expanded actions to help countries respond quickly and effectively to an ever-growing onslaught of crises.

Government of Barbados forms a coalition to develop resilient infrastructure
The Government of Barbados forms a coalition of multilateral banks and organizations to develop resilient infrastructure and to drive new social and nature capital investments, building on its Resilience and Sustainability Facility at the IMF

Integrating gender and social inclusion in nature-based solutions: a way forward
Vietnam, with its vast coastline of over 3,000 kilometres, is not only home to prosperous fisheries and socio-economic activities but also bears the brunt of rising sea levels, flooding, and storms. Women and vulnerable groups are especially susceptible to the negative impacts of disasters and face a continuing income gap. To address both challenges, the World Bank is working with the Vietnamese government to implement a project to enhance coastal resilience through nature-based solutions (NBS).

‘Drought is on the verge of becoming the next pandemic’
Little old England manages to encompass many global water problems – scarcity, over abstraction, pollution, underinvestment, government and regulatory failings, environmental degradation and corporate misconduct – all within the confines of one small country in the far west of Europe.

Embracing nature’s resilience: Combating desertification in Central Asia with Nature-Based Solutions
Drylands in Central Asia are among the most rapidly degrading and climate-vulnerable areas worldwide. Desertification caused by climate change and human activities has led to land degradation, soil erosion, and loss of vegetation and biodiversity that is costing Central Asia over 5% of regional GDP.

Seven ways to reform the global financial system for climate and sustainable development goals
Next week’s high-level summit in Paris for a New Global Financing Pact seeks to find ways to reform the global financial system to simultaneously address climate change, biodiversity and sustainable development challenges worldwide. This is an opportunity to act on the Bridgetown Initiative, which calls for a remake of the global financial architecture to tackle these issues. What changes are needed? A team of SEI researchers offers seven ideas.

Common threads: what we can learn from analyzing multiple disasters
Examining why some natural hazards develop into disasters can reveal resilience-building opportunities with the potential to protect communities from future catastrophe. Just as important as disaster analysis itself is the process of identifying key learnings that can be applied in other contexts, in the pursuit of a more resilient world.

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst: South Asia’s fiscal needs in the era of climate shocks
South Asian countries have come out of the pandemic with eroded fiscal space and record public debt.  Global financial tightening is putting additional pressure on government budgets. At the same time, the region’s vulnerability to climate risks—with more than 800 million people currently living in communities that are projected to become climate hotspots—demands substantial resources to prepare for future disasters and build climate resilience.

Struggling with the rain: Weather variability and food insecurity forecasting in Mauritania
This paper incorporates microeconomic estimates of the effect of the rainy season quality on food consumption into a catastrophe risk modeling approach to develop a novel framework for early forecasting of food insecurity at sub-national levels. Weather-related shocks and climate variability contribute to hampering progress toward poverty reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Building resilience through livelihoods and economic recovery
This guidance note presents UNDP’s updated approach to livelihoods and economic recovery programming in Fragile and Post-Crisis/Transition Settings (FACTS). Over the years, UNDP has contributed to strengthening the livelihoods of millions of people affected by conflict and natural disasters, as well as catalyze structural transformation towards more inclusive and greener economies.

CREWS 2022 Annual Report
The CREWS 2022 Annual Report maps and illustrates how the Climate Risk Early Warning System (CREWS) initiative is making the world safer with early warning. It captures progress against key programme indicators since the initiative’s first projects.

Climate Finance Shadow Report 2023: Assessing the delivery of the $100 billion commitment

This Briefing Paper notes that in 2009, high-income countries committed in the Copenhagen Accords to mobilize US$100 billion a year by 2020 in climate finance for low- and middle-income countries. This year’s report finds that high-income countries have not only failed to deliver on their commitment, but also – as in previous years – generous accounting practices have allowed them to overstate the level of support they have actually provided.

Caribbean regional workshop on integrated disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation planning 
The workshop seeks to enhance the capacities of Caribbean countries in developing and implementing integrated plans, and to support regional efforts in streamlining climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) measures in light of past and projected climate change impacts.

Eighth session of the Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction
The eighth session of the Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction will be held from 25 to 27 July 2023 As a subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction is the intergovernmental legislative forum on disaster risk reduction.

HLPF Side Event: Infrastructure Resilience – safeguarding gains in sustainable development 
The 2023 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development will be held on 10-19 July 2022 under the theme of “Accelerating the recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels”.

2023 RISK Award Online Ceremony “Climate resilience and early warning”
Disaster risk reduction saves lives, protects people from injury and prevents damage. The RISK Award contributes to this goal by recognizing the efforts of practitioners globally in making communities safer and more resilient.