In 2024, the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) recorded 393 natural hazard-related disasters. These events caused 16,753 fatalities and affected 167.2 million people. Economic losses totaled US$241.95 billion. The year 2024 was marked by extreme temperature events in Asia that caused thousands of deaths, severe droughts in Africa affecting over 25 …
Climate extremes have profound implications for urban infrastructure and human society, but studies of observed changes in climate extremes over the global urban areas are few, even though more than half of the global population now resides in urban areas. Here, using observed station data for 217 urban areas across …
As the water vapor content in the atmosphere scales with temperature, a warmer world is expected to feature an intensification of the hydrological cycle. Work to date has mainly focused on mean precipitation changes, whose connection to climatic modes is elusive at a global scale. Here we show that continental …
The growth in BRT and bus priority systems worldwide presents an opportunity to save lives and improve the health and safety of cities. A new report, Traffic Safety on Bus Priority Systems, shows that high-quality public transport systems can improve traffic safety, reducing injuries and fatalities by as much 50 …
The current global gold rush, driven by increasing consumption in developing countries and uncertainty in financial markets, is an increasing threat for tropical ecosystems. Gold mining causes significant alteration to the environment, yet mining is often overlooked in deforestation analyses because it occupies relatively small areas. As a result, we …
The global number of dam constructions has increased dramatically over the past six decades and is forecast to continue to rise, particularly in less industrialized regions. Identifying development pathways that can deliver the benefits of new infrastructure while also maintaining healthy and productive river systems is a great challenge that …
The separate and combined effects of different drivers of change to water fluxes and resources on land (CWOL) remain difficult to distinguish and largely unknown, particularly at a global scale. Our study analyzes CWOL during the period 1901–2008, based on available hydroclimatic data for up to 859 hydrological basins. We …
This report focuses on the risks of climate change to development in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, and parts of Europe and Central Asia. Building on earlier Turn Down the Heat reports, this new scientific analysis examines the likely impacts of present day (0.8°C), …
This report has been prepared in response to growing concerns about the impacts of climate change on Latin American economies, agriculture, and people. Findings suggest that because of the climate change impacts on agricultural production (yield change) and international food prices, unless proper mitigation measures are implemented, by 2050 Brazil …
Recent studies have shown that black carbon, a component of particulate matter (PM), is the second most powerful climate warming pollutant after carbon dioxide (CO2), and international experts have linked it to cancer and other serious health problems. In Latin America, the expanding use of diesel fuels and vehicles, coupled …
Metallurgical activities have been undertaken in northern South America (NSA) for millennia. However, it is still unknown how far atmospheric emissions from these activities have been transported. Since the timing of metallurgical activities is currently estimated from scarce archaeological discoveries, the availability of reliable and continuous records to refine the …
This full version of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability released on 16 October 2014 provides the most comprehensive look to date at the widespread impacts and risks of climate change and the opportunities for response. There has been an evolution in the treatment …
Climate change vulnerability assessments (CCVAs) help us to understand the extent to which ecological and human systems are likely to be affected by climate change and provide information on sensitivity and exposure to changes in climate as well as the adaptive capacity of systems and populations to withstand these changes. …
Based on 56 rainfall stations, which cover the period 1961–2008, we analyzed the presence of trends in the drought-affected area over southern South America (SSA) at different time scales. In order to define drought conditions, we used the standardized precipitation index, which was calculated on time scales of 1, 3, …
A report by the UN ECLAC calculates that, in a 2.5°C temperature rise scenario, the economic costs of climate change will equal approximately 2.5% of the region's annual gross domestic product (GDP). The study notes that the region is faced with “an asymmetrical dual challenge” given its limited contribution to …
Global food security must address the dual challenges of closing yield gaps (i.e., actual vs. potential yield) while improving environmental sustainability. Nutrient balance is essential for achieving global food security. Historical (in distinct “Eras” from late 1800s to 2012) and geographical (in United States vs. remainder of World) changes in …
Since the recognition that allopatric speciation can be induced by large-scale reconfigurations of the landscape that isolate formerly continuous populations, such as the separation of continents by plate tectonics, the uplift of mountains or the formation of large rivers, landscape change has been viewed as a primary driver of biological …
The number and extent of roads will expand dramatically this century. Globally, at least 25 million kilometres of new roads are anticipated by 2050; a 60% increase in the total length of roads over that in 2010. Nine-tenths of all road construction is expected to occur in developing nations, including …
Urbanization is a result as well as a driver of growth, but has often been accompanied by problems with pollution, congestion, slums, and damage to the environment and ecosystems. This comparative report is a collaborative effort of the Asian Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank to anticipate and respond …
This report investigates the climate of two target regions of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS): Central and South America (CA and SA, respectively). The report assesses the implications of climate change for agriculture, with a particular focus on those aspects of climate change …
