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.

Aerial view of a fishing vessel catching fish using a net in the ocean.

Research briefs

5 June 2023

Lessons from ‘The Blob’ will help us manage fisheries during future marine heatwaves

In early 2014, a great anomaly descended upon the seas: A patch of warm water that manifested in the Gulf of Alaska. Scientists called it “The Blob.”

University of California, Santa Barbara

Update

7 June 2023

Why insurance companies are pulling out of California and Florida, and how to fix some of the underlying problems

Reinsurance costs have been rising fast in response to expensive disasters around the world in recent years. Reinsurers’ risk-adjusted property-catastrophe prices rose 33% on average at their June 1, 2023, renewal, after a 25% rise in 2022.

Conversation Media Group, the

Research briefs

7 June 2023

Flash droughts are getting flashier

Warming temperatures and less rain are causing flash droughts to develop more quickly and strike more often.

Eos - AGU

Rice terraces in the Philippines. The village is in a valley among the rice terraces. Rice cultivation in the North of the Philippines, Batad, Banaue.

Update

6 June 2023

Putting communities in the driver seat: Good practices from the Philippines

In the spirit of the localization agenda, the flood resilience project of the Philippine Red Cross accompanies, enables, and connects communities to become more resilient to floods and other hazards.

Flood Resilience Portal

Update

2 June 2023

Kochi, India adopts nature-based solutions for climate resilience

WRI India worked with Kochi’s local government to establish urban forests in flood- and heat-prone areas of the city – building communities’ resilience to the impacts of climate change, creating employment opportunities and improving quality of life.

World Resources Institute

A Syrian girl at Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan.

Update

6 June 2023

Refugee camps are at higher risk of extreme weather – new research

Around the world, climate change, violence and poverty are forcing people from their homes. The UN’s refugee agency estimated that by mid-2022, there were 103 million people displaced from their homes, compared to 90 million at the end of 2021.

Conversation Media Group, the

Update

5 June 2023

Wildfire preparedness and response must include planning for unhoused people and other vulnerable populations

The 2023 Canadian wildfire season is off to a roaring start. In Alberta, there have been more than 560 wildfires so far — the highest recorded number of fires since 2018, and the season has only just begun

Conversation Media Group, the

Documents and publications

6 June 2023

The unequal effect of temperature on test scores: Evidence from Colombia

This paper investigates the unequal impact of environmental shocks on high-stakes test scores across income levels to document that climate change will exacerbate inequality.

Update

2 June 2023

Introducing super drought: A new framework and web service

In recent years, the world has witnessed an alarming increase in the occurrence and severity of catastrophic droughts across various regions. What truly defines an extreme drought?

Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Gold money coin with trading graph, financial investment concept can use as background

Update

2 June 2023

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.

World Bank, the