Knowledge Base highlights and editors' picks

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Every week the PreventionWeb team of editors selects the latest news and research, reports and publications on disaster risk reduction – here is their selection of the latest must-read content.

Three Indian female textile workers standing together in solidarity at factory

Update

4 June 2024

Why we need gender-responsive climate finance

Providing climance financing tailored to meet the needs and priorities of women and girls, as well as addressing the root causes of gender inequality, has multiplier effect of supporting development and reducing the impacts of the climate crisis.

Girls' Globe

Human hands hold wooden dish with Australian plant branches, the smoke ritual rite at a indigenous community event in Australia

Update

6 June 2024

Bhutan explores controlled burning of mountainsides

Reviving the traditional practice could protect pastureland ecosystems in the Himalayas from destructive climate change-driven wildfires

Dialogue Earth

Update

5 June 2024

Why climate finance is pivotal to alleviating harm from South Asia's extreme heat

In the sweltering streets of South Asia, where temperatures soar to staggering heights, heat waves are not merely weather phenomena but existential threats, casting a long shadow over the region's future.

World Economic Forum

Research briefs

5 June 2024

Fighting fires from space in record time: How AI could prevent a repeat of Australia’s devastating wildfires

Australian scientists are getting closer to detecting bushfires in record time, thanks to cube satellites with onboard AI now able to detect fires from space 500 times faster than traditional on-ground processing of imagery.

University of South Australia

Update

5 June 2024

Global temperature is likely to exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial level temporarily in next 5 years

There is an 80 percent likelihood that the annual average global temperature will temporarily exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for at least one of the next five years, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

Documents and publications

6 June 2024

Drowning and disasters: climate change priorities

The publication highlights the increasing public health impact of disasters related to climate change, with a specific focus on drowning as a significant cause of death during extreme weather events such as floods, cyclones, heatwaves, and droughts.

Update

5 June 2024

As water shortages plague Bogotá and other cities, nature-based solutions can help

More cities will likely face water shortages as climate change, deforestation and ecosystems degradation increasingly threaten the natural systems that maintain water supplies. But nature offers solutions, too.

World Resources Institute

Digital thermometer showing a high temperature in a town

Update

5 June 2024

Heat index warnings can save lives on dangerously hot days − if people understand what they mean

This article covers what you need to know about the heat index and some better ways meteorologists can talk about the risks of extreme heat.

Conversation Media Group, the

Hurricane in the Caribbean, palm tree on a beach

Update

6 June 2024

With a record-breaking 2024 Atlantic hurricane forecast, here’s how scientists are helping Caribbean communities adapt to a warming world

Dozens of researchers teamed up in 2023 to form the Caribbean Climate Adaptation Network to connect scientists with communities and government agencies in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico to provide information to prepare for climate extremes.

Conversation Media Group, the

Documents and publications

5 June 2024

Assessing top-down climate finance needs: Methodology

While global climate finance has steadily increased over the past decade, much more is needed to keep global temperature rises within 1.5°C by the end of this century and avoid the worst impacts of climate change.