{"id":3345,"date":"2026-08-31T11:16:56","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T11:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/?p=3345"},"modified":"2026-08-31T11:16:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T11:16:56","slug":"disaster-risk-reduction-and-open-data-newsletter-august-2026-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/2026\/08\/31\/disaster-risk-reduction-and-open-data-newsletter-august-2026-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"Disaster Risk Reduction and Open Data Newsletter: August 2026 Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A data engineering approach to tracking global climate resilience<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

What counts as a climate-resilient road? One country might build to withstand a 1-in-50-year flood, another a 1-in-100-year flood, and both report against the same indicator. COP30 in Bel\u00e9m adopted 59 indicators for the Global Goal on Adaptation. Bapon Fakhruddin of the Green Climate Fund and Matti Heikkurinen of CODATA warn that figures which look comparable often are not. Their answer is not a single global standard but the Cross-Domain Interoperability Framework, which acts as a translator between existing sectoral standards, so communities need not change how they collect data. Building it in from the outset costs far less than retrofitting it and decides whether the Global Stocktake measures genuine progress or merely records the attempt to describe it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Energy strategy: The path for a prosperous, sustainable future<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

New Zealand’s electricity supply still turns on how much rain reaches a handful of South Island hydro lakes, and dry years keep exposing how little affordable firming sits behind them. Dr Tim Fisher, Group Managing Director of Tonkin + Taylor, argues the country lacks an energy strategy durable enough to survive successive electoral cycles. The cost is mounting: electricity is 65% more expensive than when the retail market opened in 1999, and project delays have cost NZ$11.8 billion over 25 years. Getting it right could add NZ$22 billion a year to GDP by 2035. Fisher calls for distributed renewable generation, a mandatory firming and flexibility market, gas transition planning, and security of supply that accounts for natural hazards and ageing grid assets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Climate change is driving widespread marine heat waves across the globe<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The largest marine heatwave currently on record covers 63 million square kilometres of the Pacific, roughly 17% of the world’s ocean surface, and climate change is responsible for an estimated 86% of it. It is far from alone. Climate Central finds every major ocean basin running unusually warm: 82.9% of the Mediterranean is under marine heatwave conditions, with parts of the western basin 5-6\u00b0C above normal. Those conditions also extend across 39.7% of the Gulf of Mexico, 33% of the Indian Ocean and 23.3% of the Atlantic. Some North Pacific hotspots have now persisted beyond 180 consecutive days. Marine heatwaves are no longer discrete events to be waited out, but a background condition the ocean is increasingly held in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Droughts: Europe’s economy is paying the price, \u20ac439 billion already lost while the damage almost doubles with +2\u00b0C<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Drought is usually costed as an agricultural problem. Research from the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC) and Politecnico di Milano suggests that is where the damage starts, not where it ends. The 2015-2018 European drought cost \u20ac439 billion, cutting EU-27 and UK GDP per capita growth by 2.72 percentage points, reducing investment by over 12% and leaving 5.8 million jobs uncreated. Critically, the largest losses accumulated over the following six years: agriculture absorbs the initial hit but recovers within a couple of years, while manufacturing and construction keep losing ground long afterwards. At 2\u00b0C of warming the same event would cost close to \u20ac760 billion, with Spain’s GDP loss rising from 2.2 to 7.7 percentage points.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Japan’s earthquake shows extreme heat can turn one disaster into two<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

When an earthquake struck Kumamoto in late July, the response unfolded in temperatures that climbed into the high 30s and, in places, hit 40\u00b0C for the first time on record. At least 38 people died in the quake; some 7,000 sheltered across 130 evacuation centres with water and power disrupted, and one older woman died of heatstroke while sheltering in her car. Glenn McGregor argues this is a compound event, in which heat acts as a disaster risk multiplier, raising heatstroke risk among evacuees while degrading responders’ physical performance. The comparison is instructive: the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake struck in mild April conditions. The climate a disaster lands in is becoming as consequential as the hazard itself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Acting before the crisis: The Colombian Red Cross is combining science and anticipation in its response to the El Ni\u00f1o phenomenon<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Colombia’s first fully implemented Early Action Protocol did not wait for the drought to arrive. When forecasts from national hydrology and meteorology institute IDEAM showed a greater than 50% probability of below-normal rainfall from June to August, and a Standardised Precipitation Index at or below -1.4, the trigger was met. The Colombian Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) released funds ahead of impact. Some 2,400 people across Tolima and Cesar are being reached: water-retention soil additives for 600 people to stretch irrigation, livestock supplements to prevent deaths during pasture shortages, cash transfers for 900 people without bank accounts, and a community water treatment plant producing 30,000 litres a day. Financed through the anticipatory pillar of the IFRC\u2019s Disaster Response Emergency Fund (DREF), it shows drought response can be pre-agreed and science triggered.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A Livable Future: Protecting Jobs and Growth from Extreme Heat in South Asia’s Cities<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

In South Asia’s cities the night no longer brings relief: urban areas can run up to 10\u00b0C hotter after dark than the countryside around them. Covering six countries from Bangladesh to Sri Lanka, this World Bank report finds heat already costs the region the equivalent of 31 million full-time jobs per year. Without adaptation, GDP could be around 7% smaller by 2050, and by 2070 an estimated 520 million people may face at least one month annually of dangerous heat. Fifteen priority interventions are identified across three pillars \u2014 infrastructure, policy and private capital \u2014 with Ahmedabad’s heat action plan cited as a proven model that cut peak-heat mortality by 47%. The report makes a compelling case that investment in heat adaptation is as much a fiscal priority as a humanitarian one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The 2025 small island developing states report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: building resilience in the face of rising heat<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Small island developing states (SIDS) contribute less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions and are among the first to pay for them. Tracking 28 indicators across health impacts, adaptation, mitigation, finance and public engagement, this Lancet Countdown report compares recent exposure with the 2000-09 baseline. Between 2015 and 2024, infants across SIDS were exposed to seven times more heatwave days than that baseline, and older adults five times more. In 2024 alone, 4.4 billion potential work hours were lost to heat. Drought and heat together contributed to food insecurity for around 2.7 million people across 26 SIDS, compounding risks from vector-borne disease and sea-level rise. Adaptation and climate finance remain far short of what that exposure warrants, and the report argues for health-centred resilience as the organising principle for both.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Heat-Resilient Infrastructure: Lessons from Emerging Global Experience<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Heatwaves already inflict an estimated US$23.9 billion in annual losses on critical infrastructure globally, and the remedy is not simply more concrete. This multi-author issue gathers field experience, policy perspectives and community voices on building heat resilience into infrastructure and urban systems, with a focus on South Asia. Contributors examine the role of water systems in heat action plans, the cooling potential of urban tree cover and green-blue infrastructure, and thermally comfortable housing design for low-income communities. A review of more than 250 city-level heat action plans across India illustrates both rapid progress and significant implementation gaps. The issue’s central argument is that heat resilience cannot be achieved through infrastructure investment alone: it requires governance reform, sustained finance and genuine engagement with the communities most at risk.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of heat action plans<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Cities are writing heat action plans faster than anyone can establish whether they work. Reviewing 34 subnational heat action plans worldwide, this Global Disaster Preparedness Center study finds most handle emergency preparedness, early warning and public health interventions competently, but often lack clear indicators to measure effectiveness and long-term outcomes. Governance, stakeholder coordination, sustainable funding and data availability emerge as the factors separating plans that function from plans that merely exist. To close the measurement gap, the authors developed the Heat Action Plan Implementation and Effectiveness (HAPIE) Tool, which helps local governments define goals, monitor progress and evaluate outcomes using practical, context-specific indicators. Piloted in Seattle, Vienna, Cape Town and Nepalgunj, it offers a route to embedding continuous evaluation in heat resilience planning rather than treating publication as the finish line.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Land-use and atmospheric shifts jointly amplify U.S. drought-driven crop losses<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Two things determine how badly a drought hits a harvest: the weather, and what has been planted in its path. Using an integrated multi-scale, multi-sector modelling framework across the contiguous United States, researchers project drought-driven production losses through 2055 rising by almost 60% for corn and 135% for soybean against historical levels. The striking finding is that land-use and land-cover change operates as a driver of comparable magnitude to atmospheric change itself, with the sharpest amplification occurring where cropland expansion overlaps drought-prone regions such as the Great Plains. The implication is uncomfortable but useful: a meaningful share of future drought loss is being locked in right now by land-use decisions, which also means a meaningful share of it remains avoidable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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16th Annual Conference of the International Society for Integrated Disaster Risk Management (IDRiM 2026)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Now in its 16th year, IDRiM brings its annual conference to Bali under the theme \u201cResilient Cities in Multi-Hazard Crises: Bridging Innovation, Implementation Science, and Grassroots Action\u201d. Hosted by the Resilience Development Initiative and the Research Center for Disaster Mitigation at Institut Teknologi Bandung, it draws academics, practitioners, policymakers and community leaders together around urban resilience where several hazards arrive at once. The emphasis on implementation science and grassroots action speaks directly to the gap between what is known about risk and what actually gets built.<\/p>\n

Date & location: 5 \u2013 9 September 2026 | Bali, Indonesia<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Global Cooling Pledge Assembly 2026<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Launched at COP28, the Global Cooling Pledge commits signatories to a triple strategy of passive cooling, super-efficient technologies and climate-friendly refrigerants, targeting a 68% cut in sector emissions by 2050. The Cool Coalition, an initiative of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), hosts the assembly, bringing signatory countries, cities, industry and development finance institutions together to turn that commitment into deployment. Sessions cover national cooling policy, urban heat resilience for cities and subnational governments, and the strategic direction of the Intergovernmental Committee on Cooling, with outcomes intended to shape the global cooling agenda heading into COP31. Access to cooling is the other half of the heat exposure story.<\/p>\n

Date & location: 15 \u2013 18 September 2026 | PARKROYAL on Beach Road, Singapore<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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UNDRR Masterclass series: AI for Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Delivered by the Global Education and Training Institute of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) with Google, this three-part online series looks at where AI is genuinely useful in early warning. The sessions cover AI-driven flood prediction (16 September), advances in weather prediction (23 September), and Earth science and impact assessment (30 September). Aimed at governments and humanitarian organisations strengthening early warning and anticipatory action programmes, it was capped at 1,000 participants on a first-come basis, with a certificate for those attending all three sessions. Registration has now closed, but the series is worth noting for anyone tracking where AI is being put to practical use in early warning.<\/p>\n

Online registration (now closed):\u00a0<\/strong>https:\/\/undrr.zoom.us\/webinar\/register\/WN_buu2Xn0dQ8aSNE6Dc5AOEg<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Date & location: 16, 23 & 30 September 2026 | Online<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Pacific Symposium on Loss and Damage: Understanding Non-economic Losses<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Some losses never reach a balance sheet: language, cultural heritage, sense of place, the ties that hold a community together. This symposium focuses on non-economic loss and damage across the Pacific, and on the harder question of measuring it well enough to inform policy and finance. UNDRR\u2019s Pacific sub-regional office leads it alongside the Pacific Community, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), the Santiago Network and UN partners. Together they work with governments, regional agencies, civil society, Indigenous Peoples and community leaders to strengthen data systems, policy frameworks and institutional capacity. Attendance is by invitation, but the outputs will be worth following.<\/p>\n

Date & location: 28 \u2013 29 September 2026 | Tanoa International Hotel, Nadi, Fiji<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Global Heat Forum: Unlocking Solutions to Scale Heat Resilience<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The Global Heat Health Information Network runs the forum with support from the World Meteorological Organization, gathering more than 500 policymakers, scientists, funders, community leaders and private sector representatives around a single question: how to scale what already works. The programme spans plenaries, workshops and field visits, with the stated aim of moving past documenting the problem to building an investable roadmap for heat resilience. Pre-registration is open on a rolling basis, and plenaries will be live streamed for those unable to travel.<\/p>\n

Date & location: 6 \u2013 9 October 2026 | Bangkok, Thailand + online<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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