The explosion of data offers new ways to understand the economy—and change what gets measured, not just how.
Digital technologies are redefining how we see and manage the global economy. As Kenneth Cukier writes in Finance & Development, the earth is developing a “digital nervous system” through satellites, sensors, and AI that measure everything from deforestation and traffic to crop yields and emissions. These vast data streams give policymakers and businesses an almost live view of the planet’s condition—a continuous “heartbeat” of global activity. But Cukier notes that the benefits come with risks: interpreting billions of signals at once requires new rules of governance, privacy, and judgment to ensure that data enlightens decision‑making rather than distorts it.
What is the global water cycle and how is it amplifying climate disasters?
In the past few days, hundreds of bushfires have ignited in south-east Australia during an extreme heatwave. And communities in north Queensland have been lashed by heavy rain and flash flooding from ex-tropical Cyclone Koji. This is the seventh cyclone so far this season.
Behind these disasters is a deeper and less visible influence: ongoing shifts in the global water cycle. Our latest report shows how changes in rainfall, air temperature and humidity combined to amplify water-related disasters across the world in 2025.
These floods and fires are not simply isolated weather extremes, but signs of a water cycle that is being increasingly destabilised by global warming. The result: more volatile floods, droughts, and fires shaping new extremes worldwide.
CRAF’d drives faster, more targeted, and more dignified crisis action. Since inception, partners have committed over $40 million to crisis data, analytics, and AI, advancing the Fund’s mission to finance, connect, and reimagine data that saves lives. CRAF’d-funded data and insights help shape over $12 billion in emergency funding each year, with more than 96,000 users across 390 organizations using them to anticipate risks, prevent impacts, and respond when crises strike.
Major river delts are sinking faster than sea-level rise
A new global study led by Virginia Tech and published in Nature finds human-driven land subsidence now outpacing sea-level rise in many of the planet’s major river deltas. More than 236 million people live on these sinking floodplains, where water extraction, urban development, and sediment loss are driving the ground downward.
The findings warn of a growing coastal vulnerability, from the Mekong to the Mississippi, as deltas lose their natural elevation buffer faster than climate change lifts the seas.
Inside new science exposing how humidity can escalate a heat wave
When Floridians talk about extreme weather, hurricanes dominate the conversation. Each season brings updates on storm tracks, cone predictions and wind speeds, all in the hopes of predicting the unpredictable. But a quieter, more deceptive threat is already reshaping the way people live and work in the Sunshine State: extreme heat.
“Heat waves actually kill more people in the U.S. than hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, or any other form of extreme weather,” said David Keellings, Ph.D., associate professor of geography. “The Centers for Disease Control attribute over a thousand deaths annually to hyperthermia, but that number is probably really underestimated considering subsequent complications of dehydration, heat exhaustion and heat stroke.”
The invisible costs of wildfire disasters in 2025
Wildfires burned through 390 million hectares in 2025 – equivalent to 92% of the European Union’s land area – yet the costliest event of the year, the January fires in and around Los Angeles, burned just 23,000 hectares while causing more than USD 53 billion in damage.
In 2025 the total cost of damages caused by natural hazards has been calculated at USD 224 billion, of which USD 108 billion was insured, according to the global reinsurance company Munich Re. UNDRR highlights that the non‑financial costs—including damage to health, livelihoods, and ecosystems—greatly extend the human toll of wildfire disasters and call for stronger systemic responses worldwide.
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