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Displaying 75 of about 5012 resultsThe islands of Hawaii are world renowned for their generally pleasant and tranquil weather. However, the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfire tragedy on Maui was a stark reminder that Hawaii also can experience drought and hot, dry, windy weather, providing the conditions for destructive fires.Hawaii has seen a generally rising trend in the amount of land that burns…
The climate event called El Niño is a natural pattern that has important implications for the ecosystems and biodiversity of the Americas and the Caribbean region, given its frequency, intensity and negative impacts. The prolonged droughts resulting from El Niño are its main manifestation, causing alterations in the dynamics and physiological cycles of…
The US National Weather Service has declared that El Niño conditions are now present and expected to strengthen in the Pacific Ocean. In this blog, we explore what this means for the anticipatory action community.What is ENSO?The El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, is a cycle of warming and cooling events in the area of the Pacific Ocean along the eq…
This summer, global temperatures soared on July 4, reflecting one of the hottest days recorded on Earth, according to climate data from the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction. Average global temperatures were approximately 63 degrees Fahrenheit—one of the warmest days in 125,000 years.Anthony Lupo, professor of atmospheric sciences in th…
[...]Vulnerability to climate shocks such as this drought is destroying the local livelihoods of small-scale farmers and herders. Already, pastoralists are losing thousands of animals, and the livestock market in places like Kajiado County has collapsed. Scientific evidence points to the frequency of droughts, floods, and other extreme climate events, a…
This paper is related to the recent empirical literature on the effects of dry shocks and droughts on economic performance. Much of this work exploits granular data on local water availability, to estimate the direct and indirect impacts of rainfall variability or water availability on economic productivity. The results show that increases in…
Under the Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme (PICAP), implementation partners conducted a study with the University of the South Pacific to understand farmers’ and fishers’ perspectives such as: (1) which climate risks farmers and fishers in Fiji are facing; (2) their exposure to cyclones and drought; (3) what coping and adaptation measu…
As climate change accelerates, many countries around the world are increasingly facing the risk of drought. Water scarcity has become one of the major constraints of food production in the 21st century, and a major threat for our current and future food security. In the Horn of Africa, four consecutive rainfall deficit seasons have led to more than 16 m…
On an overcast Thursday morning in September, a team of five people slowly makes its way down Broadway Avenue, a residential street in the city of Huntington Park, California. Every couple hundred feet they park their pickup trucks, loaded with 275 gallon water tanks, hop out, and fan out along the street, dousing the roots of young trees lining the str…
This factsheet assesses anticipatory cash transfers and early warning information ahead of drought in Ethiopia. Ahead of the March-May 2021 rainy season, forecasts indicated below-average rainfall was highly likely in the Somali region in Somalia. WFP and its partners implemented two anticipatory actions, anticipatory cash and early warning information.…
In early 2020, Welthungerhilfe began to roll out its forecast-based action (FbA) mechanism to tackle drought-induced food insecurity in Zimbabwe, under a multi-country programme to establish a participatory, localized anticipatory action approach for this hazard. This included developing Early Action Protocols (EAPs) and, during this process, Welthunger…
Most comprehensive study to date on water storage in Tibetan Plateau projects dramatic losses of freshwater storage in parts of Asia by mid-century under modest climate policy scenario.
The Tibetan Plateau, known as the “water tower” of Asia, supplies freshwater for nearly 2 billion people who live downstream. New research led by scientists at Penn Sta…
New research on early warning and early action for typhoons in Palau and drought in Tuvalu, published at the end of July by the Climate Centre, will help shape the Green Climate Fund programme enhancing climate resilience in five Pacific island nations, preparing the ground for new early action protocols.
The Community-based Early W…
Continuing drought brings food insecurity and a risk for emerging or ongoing conflict in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, as well as Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, according to a new quarterly update that analyses finds from a global early warning tool. Meanwhile, floods in South Sudan and South Africa contributes to a risk of conflict there.
The update, issu…
Along the River Elbe, in Germany and the Czech Republic, is a series of rocks that are submerged in all but the lowest water conditions. The locals call them “hunger stones” because they are warnings: if the stone is visible, then famine will follow. Carvings on the stones record droughts back to the 15th century, and one has text translating to “If you…