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.

Update

25 June 2023

The Black Summer bushfires put an enormous strain on families with young children. We can’t make the same mistakes again

Families affected by Australia’s catastrophic Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20 found that preparing to evacuate was especially complex and physically difficult. Parents were under-prepared, and many did not have an evacuation plan.

Conversation Media Group, the

Update

22 June 2023

How oysters are helping protect Apalachicola’s vulnerable shoreline

This nature-based solution involves creating up to 20 acres of engineered oyster reefs and up to 30 acres of salt marshes to attenuate wave action and help protect the vulnerable coastline and critical infrastructure from erosion.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

Young woman and a child sitting at a market in Mauritania

Update

22 June 2023

How climate change affects health in Africa

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, tens of millions of Africans are already feeling the negative health impacts of climate change, in the form of heat stress, extreme weather and increased transmission of infectious disease.

Carbon Brief

Research briefs

22 June 2023

Flooding tackled by helping citizens take action – study

Extreme weather caused by climate change - such as flooding - will be to easier to prepare for after scientists developed a new method that empowers citizens to identify solutions to the threats their communities face.

University of Reading

A three-metre rupture in the Kahramanmaraş-Gaziantep highway, close to the village of Tevekkelli in the earthquake zone. Hasan Sözbilir/Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Author provided

Research briefs

22 June 2023

How can the Chignik, Alaska, earthquake help predict future risk?

Jeffrey Freymueller is an internationally recognized expert in geodesy, or the study of Earth’s size and shape, and serves as MSU’s Endowed Chair for Geology of the Solid Earth.

Michigan State University

Update

22 June 2023

Flood risk rising despite below-average monsoon

The 2023 monsoon is projected to be average – but this does not mean a reduced risk of floods. Climate change has led to alarming changes in rainfall patterns, with heavy rainfall with short durations becoming more common, posing severe flood risks.

International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development

Update

14 June 2023

Suriname initiative to further disaster risk reduction and climate resilience

Suriname is taking new initiatives to further its commitment to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, implementing the Paris Agreement, and reducing disaster risks.

Pacific Disaster Center

Australian native performing traditional ritual with fire.

Update

21 June 2023

We burned small and burned often to avoid big fires. It’s time to relearn cultural burning

For 60,000 years, many First Nations peoples managed the land that sustained us. Fire, for us, was not destructive. It created new life. We believe bringing back cultural burning is an important step towards creating a more just and sustainable future.

Conversation Media Group, the