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.

Tornado going over land close to a house.

Update

23 March 2022

Tornadoes, climate change and why Dixie is the new tornado alley

Tornadoes tore up homes in New Orleans and its suburbs and were reported in communities from Texas to Mississippi and Alabama as severe storms swept across the South in late March 2022.

Conversation Media Group, the

Blog

24 Mar 2022

Ares Gabàs Masip

Barcelona’s top tips for tackling disaster risk: Inclusion and participation at the heart of resilience building

Barcelona is Europe’s first MCR2030 Resilience Hub. The city has taken a proactive approach to tackling climate risks and vulnerabilities for many years, and is now eager to share its experience with other MCR2030 cities and partners.

Informal Township outside Cape Town, South Africa.

Update

22 March 2022

A billion of the world’s most climate-vulnerable people live in informal settlements – here’s what they face

Flooding is common in informal settlements in Bwaise, in Kampala, Uganda. Bwaise’s residents are largely excluded from planning and local decision-making processes, and have poor housing and limited access to sanitation and other essential services.

Conversation Media Group, the

Young African businessman showing something on his laptop to a trader.

Update

23 March 2022

Results in resilience: How youth at work are closing the risk data gap in African cities

In many cities across Africa—a continent that is urbanizing faster than any other—the buildup of disaster and climate risks has gone largely unnoticed, and unmanaged. A roadblock for urban resilience planners is the scarcity of reliable risk data

Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, the (GFDRR)

ooden boats carrying passengers sailing along the Nile along the temple of Philae in Aswan, Egypt, North Africa

Update

22 March 2022

Egypt erects sand barriers as rising sea swallows the Nile Delta

COP27 host hopes low-cost sand dikes can help hold back the Mediterranean Sea and protect the homes and incomes of people in the country's breadbasket

Thomson Reuters Foundation, trust.org

Update

17 March 2022

Resilient and inclusive public financial management systems enable governments to better respond to disasters

When Hurricane Maria hit Dominica in 2017, it destroyed over 90 percent of the country’s infrastructure. Electricity and communications networks were down for months. Losses and damage amounted to 226 percent of Dominica’s GDP.

World Bank, the

Research briefs

21 March 2022

NASA researcher finding ways to turn down the heat in cities

Rooftop gardens and greenery can help ease some of the severe heat in cities, according to research from climate scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Blog

21 Mar 2022

Martha McPherson Manleen Dugal Ria Sen

Nature-related risk in the public–private continuum

The concept of nature-related risk reflects the pervasive economic impacts of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. Clear frameworks are needed for evaluating and managing nature-related risk, and developing appropriate financial strategies.

Update

21 March 2022

How can we mainstream anticipatory action in disaster risk-management systems?

Decision-makers in Kenya are keen to use forecasts to manage drought risk, but modifying existing systems to integrate anticipatory action poses challenges. To be sustainable, funding and policy frameworks must be more conducive to anticipatory action.

Anticipation Hub

Cover of the IFRC report We need to do better: Climate-related disasters and child protection in Southeast Asia

Documents and publications

21 March 2022

We need to do better: Climate-related disasters and child protection in Southeast Asia

This joint report by the IFRC and the Global Child Protection Area of Responsibility offers a series of practical actions to improve the protection of children in Southeast Asia during climate-related disasters.