Knowledge Base highlights and editors' picks

Top stories and editors' picks from the most recent additions. Explore the whole Knowledge Base.

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.

Research briefs

25 July 2022

Cities are often 10-15 °C hotter than their rural surroundings

A recent global study conducted by the Joint Research Centre looks at the difference between surface temperatures of urban areas and their neighbouring rural areas in summer.

European Commission Joint Research Centre

A farmer takes a break in the midday heat

Research briefs

15 August 2022

Today’s heat waves feel a lot hotter than heat index implies

An analysis finds that the apparent temperature, or heat index, calculated to indicate how hot it feels—taking into account the humidity—underestimates the perceived temperature for the most sweltering days, sometimes by more than 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

University of California, Berkeley

Research briefs

15 August 2022

New research shows communities around small reservoirs more vulnerable to climate extremes

The water volume in small reservoirs is significantly more susceptible to seasonal and climate variability than larger reservoirs, leaving communities that rely on them more vulnerable to water scarcity and food insecurity, according to new research.

Deltares

An extreme heat warning sign warns tourists in Death Valley, California

Update

15 August 2022

Emerging “extreme heat belt” will impact over 107 million Americans by 2053

New research from First Street Foundation finds that about 8 million people in the United States this year will be under "Extreme Heat", and grows to impact about 107 million people in 2053.

First Street Foundation

Man walking barefoot in a flooded street in Wilsele, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium (2021)

Update

12 August 2022

European cities need more legal flexibility to prepare and protect residents from the climate emergency, study warns

Laws intended to protect the environment in European cities must be more flexible in order to protect residents from the climate emergency, experts have warned.

University of Exeter

A woman fetches water from a nearly dry well at Shahapur Taluka, Maharashtra, India

Update

9 August 2022

Water scarcity in India: How disinformation aggravates inter-state disputes

The pressure on the Kaveri river is relentless: water-intensive crops of sugarcane and paddy, pollution from industries, and changes in land use have diminished the river's ability to fulfill the needs of those who depend on it.

Water Science Policy

A hut lies toppled after a cyclone hit Vanuatu

Update

12 August 2022

Vanuatu breaks ground with 'loss and damage' costing in new climate plan

Pacific island state seeks donor funding for clear measures to tackle rising damage from climate change impacts.

Thomson Reuters Foundation, trust.org

Update

11 August 2022

Manchester scientists launch new interactive tool for agricultural water management and climate risk assessment

A powerful new crop management tool has been launched today, to enable farmers, businesses, and governments to make more informed decisions about water management, irrigation investments, and climate risks.

University of Manchester

Tourists traverse the side of a road eroded by floods in Doubtful Sound, New Zealand

Update

11 August 2022

NZ’s first climate adaptation plan is a good start, but crucial questions about cost and timing must be answered

Some aspects of the plan lack strategy and structure. It is more a series of actions, some connected, others discrete, many already happening. The absence of Te Tiriti in the framing is concerning, as is the imminent end of some main funding sources.

Conversation Media Group, the

A road is destroyed by flash flooding in Sidi Ouaaziz, Morocco

Update

11 August 2022

Supporting Morocco’s journey to disaster and climate resilience

The World Bank estimates that disasters, such as flooding, earthquakes, and drought cost Morocco over US$575 million each year. Moreover, rapid urbanization and climate change threaten to increase the frequency and severity of weather-related events.

World Bank, the