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.

Research briefs

15 June 2022

Inadequate charging networks could thwart electric vehicle adoption goals

Shocks to parts of electric vehicle (EV) charging networks can have significant and unexpected ripple effects, which could undermine public confidence in the support infrastructure and hence usability of EVs, derailing efforts to increase adoption.

National University of Singapore

Update

15 June 2022

Inspired by palm trees, scientists develop hurricane-resilient wind turbines

Wind technology is growing—literally. Today’s offshore wind turbines can tower more than 490 feet above ground, their spinning blades churning out up to 8 megawatts (MW) each—about enough to power 4000 homes in the U.S.

University of Colorado Boulder

A woman protects herself from the hot sun in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Update

14 June 2022

Satellites zoom in on cities’ hottest neighborhoods to help combat the urban heat island effect

Mapping of urban heat islands using satellite images and population data shows that the hottest neighborhoods are typically low-income and often have predominantly Black or Hispanic residents.

Conversation Media Group, the

Woman crossing her hands in front of her body.

Research briefs

13 June 2022

Extreme weather and climate events likely to drive increase in gender-based violence

As the climate crisis leads to more intense and more frequent extreme weather and climate-related events, this in turn risks increasing the amount of gender-based violence experienced by women, girls, and sexual and gender minorities, say researchers.

University of Cambridge

Two people who are helping a woman who is feeling unwell due to the heat in the city.

Update

14 June 2022

How can we make heat waves less deadly?

What makes heat waves so dangerous? Why do we underestimate their dangers, and what can we do about it? To learn more, State of the Planet spoke with Robbie Parks, an environmental epidemiologist at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

Columbia Climate School

A little girl trying to open a water tap in Mexico.

Update

13 June 2022

As taps run dry, Mexican drought fuels anger over water inequality

Strict rationing has left millions of Monterrey residents without tap water for hours or days at a time, fueling long-standing anger over water concessions that favor big companies - including soft drinks and beer makers

Thomson Reuters Foundation, trust.org

Lismore on a map of Australia's East coast.

Update

14 June 2022

It’s time to come clean on Lismore’s future. People and businesses have to relocate away from the floodplains

More than three months after the monster floods wrecked much of Lismore, there is still no clarity for the town’s residents and businesses who urgently need to make investment decisions. Should they move to higher ground, make temporary fixes, renovate?

Conversation Media Group, the