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.

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

Update

16 April 2023

A dive into the deep past reveals Indigenous burning helped suppress bushfires 10,000 years ago

Indigenous Australians have conducted cultural burning for at least ten millenia and the practice helped reduce bushfire risk in the past, our new research shows.

Conversation Media Group, the

Documents and publications

14 April 2023

Taming the wildfire infosphere in Interior Alaska: Tailoring risk and crisis communications to specific audiences

This research draws on focus group data to map residents' understandings of the infosphere of Interior Alaska throughout the stages of wildfire events. Fire communicators can best cater to these audiences by using a tailored approach.

A women farmer in Zimbabwe walking along her field checking the crops

Update

13 April 2023

Climate-smart: How smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe are reaping bumper crops by adapting to a changing climate

In the 11th Century, a few hours south of present-day Harare, a vibrant farming and trading empire was emerging. At its heart, in the fertile watershed between the Zambezi and the Limpopo rivers, the city known as Great Zimbabwe.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Big storm approaching the coastal front in Australia

Update

14 April 2023

Cyclone Ilsa: how disasters, the housing crisis and underinsurance can conspire to worsen inequality

Most communities along the northwest coast of Western Australia appear to have dodged a bullet after Cyclone Ilsa made landfall overnight. While some structures, such as the Pardoo Roadhouse, were damaged, the destruction was less than we feared.

Conversation Media Group, the

Skyline of Santiago de Chile during sunrise. View of the city and the mountains in the background.

Research briefs

13 April 2023

How cities use energy to regulate temperature – just like mammals

A University of Arizona undergraduate looked at cities as living things to investigate how human energy use changes with rising temperatures. Her research could help save lives from heat waves.

University of Arizona

Research briefs

13 April 2023

Predictive power of climate models may be masked by volcanoes

Simulated volcanic eruptions may be blowing up our ability to predict near-term climate, according to a new study published in Science Advances.

National Center for Atmospheric Research

Update

13 April 2023

The app helping farmers weather the climate crisis in West Africa

Every day in the town of Baroueli in south-central Mali, Radio Soumpou crackles with the weather for the coming days.

United Nations Environment Programme

Areal view on Johannesburg, South Africa.

Research briefs

11 April 2023

Cities will need more resilient electricity networks to cope with extreme weather

Dense urban areas amplify the effects of higher temperatures, due to heat islands in cities. This makes cities more vulnerable to extreme climate events. Large investments in the electricity network needed to cool down heatwaves and warm cold snaps.

Lund University

Documents and publications

12 April 2023

Digitalization in Disaster Risk Reduction: The use of smartphones to enhance the safety of informal settlements in Iringa, Tanzania

The aim of this study was to assess the current use of smartphones by the masons of the informal settlements of Iringa, Tanzania, and to identify pathways for improving their construction practices.