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.

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

Update

6 February 2024

One year on from Cyclone Gabrielle, NZ still needs a plan to fix its failing infrastructure

Cyclone Gabrielle simultaneously exposed New Zealand’s dependence on “horizontal” infrastructure (electricity and roading networks, for example), and how tenuous and potentially prone to damage it is.

Conversation Media Group, the

Australian native performing traditional ritual with fire.

Update

6 February 2024

Climate change will strike Australia’s precious World Heritage sites – and Indigenous knowledge is a key defence

Bringing climate science and Indigenous knowledge systems together promises to produce better results for heritage protection as the climate changes. And there is no time to waste.

Conversation Media Group, the

Hurricane Florence seen from Space in September 2018

Research briefs

5 February 2024

In a warming world, climate scientists consider category 6 hurricanes

Increasing ocean temperatures contribute to ever more intense hurricanes, climate scientists Michael Wehner and James Kossin wondered whether the open-ended Category 5 is sufficient to communicate the risk of hurricane damage.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Research briefs

1 February 2024

The jump in global temperatures in September 2023 is very difficult to explain by natural climate variability alone

September broke the global mean temperature record by a staggering 0.5°C difference from the previous record. A new study calls for further analysis of the impact of volcanoes and anthropogenic climate forcing on the new record.

Finnish Meteorological Institute

A girl lines up for water in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Update

2 February 2024

Examining the role of anticipatory action in complex crises

Our recently published study explores how an anticipatory action intervention was perceived and experienced among Ethiopians living with drought, alongside other crises including conflict and inflation.

Anticipation Hub

A cyclist rides past a destroyed car dealership in the aftermath of the 1994 Northridge earthquake

Update

1 February 2024

Inequality persists after an earthquake’s impact

A new study highlights how predominantly minority neighborhoods in Los Angeles — and especially those with Black populations — will be most affected in the aftermath of a large earthquake.

Temblor

Update

23 January 2024

Water recycling could be key to cooling Sydney’s west

A new research project is poised to deliver the formula to safely recycle water into gardens and parklands at scale, addressing both urban heat and sustainability challenges in western Sydney.

Macquarie University

Update

2 February 2024

Enabling a conflict-sensitive approach to disaster recovery and resilience in the southern Philippines

Drawing on emerging best practices, a team provided in-depth training to regional and municipal officials in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao on how to design conflict-sensitive disaster recovery frameworks.

World Bank, the

Documents and publications

2 February 2024

Production vulnerability to wheat blast disease under climate change

In this study, researchers coupled a wheat crop simulation model with a newly developed wheat blast model, to provide quantitative global estimates of wheat blast vulnerability under current and future climates.