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.

Cover_Building resilience to climate change-related and other disasters in Ethiopia

Documents and publications

31 October 2022

Building resilience to climate change-related and other disasters in Ethiopia

This study reviews and documents strategic interventions by the government of Ethiopia in building resilience to natural hazards and human-induced disasters and quick recovery in recent years

Homeowners in front of their house after floods.

Update

30 October 2022

Floods are natural, but human decisions make disasters. We need to reflect on the endless cycles of blame

As the Victorian city of Echuca prepared for flooding this week, the council moved rapidly to build a temporary earthen levee as others sandbagged. This kept some homes dry, likely worsened flooding in others, and prompted blame from many sides.

Conversation Media Group, the

Asian woman sitting on a red chair looking at her phone in flooded street.

Update

30 October 2022

In disasters, people are abandoning official info for social media. Here’s how to know what to trust

In an emergency, where do you turn to find out what’s going on and what you should do to stay safe?

Conversation Media Group, the

Global failures to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis are causing massive losses and costly damages to the lives, livelihoods, and futures of communities around the world. Efforts to address the issue have been highly insufficient, and national and international humanitarian response systems are already overstretched and underfunded. There is a moral imperative to act in solidarity with those who are suffering now, and to develop an approach that will protect generations to come. This policy brief fr

Documents and publications

28 October 2022

Closing the gaps: A framework for understanding policies and actions to address losses and damages

Global failures to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis are causing massive losses and costly damages to the lives, livelihoods, and futures of communities around the world.

Research briefs

27 October 2022

Plant processes may be key to predicting drought development, according to Stanford researchers

Based on new analyses of satellite data, scientists have found that hydrologic conditions that increase flash drought risk occur more often than current models predict. Incorporating how plants change soil structures can improve Earth system models.

Stanford University

Update

27 October 2022

Droughts don’t need to result in famine: Ethiopia and Somalia show what makes the difference

The Horn of Africa is facing its worst drought in 40 years. Scientists suspect that a multi-year La Niña cycle has been amplified by climate change to prolong dry and hot conditions.

Conversation Media Group, the

Women eating together in Senegal in the traditional manner.

Research briefs

24 October 2022

Lower than normal rainfall linked with a higher chance of food insecurity

New research led by Penn State found that a lack of rainfall was associated with the highest risk of food insecurity in Tanzania.

Pennsylvania State University

Woman carrying a basket walking through the sandy desert with her livestock.

Update

26 October 2022

Analysis: Africa’s unreported extreme weather in 2022 and climate change

From deadly floods in Nigeria to devastating drought in Somalia, Africa has faced a run of severe – and sometimes unprecedented – extreme weather events since the start of 2022.

Carbon Brief

Update

26 October 2022

Beyond a state of sandbagging: What can we learn from all the floods, here and overseas?

“We are […] sandbagging the state”, New South Wales Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke declared on Saturday. And so we endure the third La Niña season with this waiting-for-the-next-disaster attitude.

Conversation Media Group, the

Documents and publications

26 October 2022

ASEAN Framework on anticipatory action in disaster management

This framework provides guidance for defining and contextualising anticipatory action at the regional level with some considerations for its implementation by Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).