The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
This document describes Zurich's Post-Event Review Capability (PERC) methodology to illustrate how strikingly similar challenges are faced by risk managers regardless of where they operate or the particular hazards they face. The PERC research shows that: Disaster risk management is playing catch-up to an increasingly larger exposure to natural hazards. …
Climate during 2017 over India was substantially warmer. The annual mean temperature for the country this year was +0.71°C above the 1971-2000 average, thus making the year 2017 as the fourth warmest year on record since the nation-wide records commenced in 1901. Higher mean temperatures during the winter season (January- …
Global temperatures have increased at an unprecedented pace in the past 40 years. This paper finds that increases in temperature have uneven macroeconomic effects, with adverse consequences concentrated in countries with hot climates, such as most low-income countries. In these countries, a rise in temperature lowers per capita output, in …
The U.S. depends heavily on Chinese manufacturing and trade, but those are likely to suffer if Chinese flooding increases by 80% in the next 20 years, as is now predicted They say a butterfly flapping its wings in China can cause a hurricane in the U.S. weeks later. That's a …
PARIS: Ten families and a group of reindeer-herding youngsters have filed suit against the European Union, seeking stronger measures against the global warming they say is already harming their livelihoods. From eight countries, in Europe and beyond, the group have an eclectic mix of stories. In the countryside of southeast …
The Government of Nigeria has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the African Risk Capacity to work together to address the impact of extreme weather events in Nigeria, including training support to Government personnel. The signing ceremony, which happened on the margins of the Annual Meetings of the African Development …
Kenya is among five countries that will receive insurance cover for farmers suffering losses caused by weather-related disasters. This is part of a rural resilience initiative launched by the UN World Food Programme and Oxfam to protect poor farmers and strengthen their income as well as food security. Benoit Thiry …
The great disasters of the past – like the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD or the hurricane that devastated Santo Domingo in 1930 – can provide valuable lessons to help governments and institutions increase the resilience of communities in the face of modern challenges, such as climate change and …
Global warming of 1.5°C or 2°C: The lower limit would reduce flood hazards Access to clean water is a major challenge facing many people, such as this boy in the semi-arid Northeast Region of Brazil. Credit: Petra Döll What difference does it make to the Earth's water resources if humans …
The Green Climate Fund, set up to help developing countries tackle climate change, could seek to refill its coffers in 2019, a year which is likely to see "a huge amount of attention on climate finance", said the fund's executive director. Howard Bamsey, a former Australian diplomat, said the fund …
Rapid intensification (RI) of hurricanes is notoriously difficult to predict and can contribute to severe destruction and loss of life. While past studies examined the frequency of RI occurrence, changes in RI magnitude were not considered. Here we explore changes in RI magnitude over the 30‐year satellite period of 1986–2015. …
An attribution study has been performed to investigate the degree to which the unusually cold European winter of 2009/10 was modified by anthropogenic climate change. Two different methods have been included for the attribution: one based on large HadGEM3-A ensembles and one based on a statistical surrogate method. Both methods …
This document provides an overview of the projected effects of climate change on environmental health, and how it may impact on the health of New Zealanders. A review of the relevant local and international literature was conducted to identify environmental health risks for New Zealand linked to climate change, and …
Every year natural and man-made catastrophes cause a distressing loss of lives and considerable economic costs around the world. Both industrialised and developing countries are affected, and surprisingly, both are also materially underinsured. This is the 3rd edition of a Closing the Protection Gap – Smart solutions for the public …
Cameroon is already facing consequences of climate change, including an abnormal recurrence of extreme weather phenomena such as violent winds, high temperatures, and heavy rainfall, which endanger communities’ ecosystems and the services they provide. The consequences of climate change may undermine Cameroon's efforts to reduce poverty, develop a strong, diversified, …
Hurricane Harvey made landfall in August 2017 as the first land-falling category 4 hurricane to hit the state of Texas since Hurricane Carla in September 1961. While its intensity at landfall was notable, most of the vast devastation in the Houston metropolitan area was due to Harvey stalling near the …
Coral bleaching is the detrimental expulsion of algal symbionts from their cnidarian hosts, and predominantly occurs when corals are exposed to thermal stress. The incidence and severity of bleaching is often spatially heterogeneous within reef-scales (<1 km), and is therefore not predictable using conventional remote sensing products. Here, we systematically …
Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have agreed to hold the “increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre‐industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C”. Comparison of the costs and benefits for different warming limits requires …
Global warming is rapidly emerging as a universal threat to ecological integrity and function, highlighting the urgent need for a better understanding of the impact of heat exposure on the resilience of ecosystems and the people who depend on them. Here we show that in the aftermath of the record-breaking …
This publication shows that, without improved water management or adaptation to climate change, the global sustainability goals cannot be achieved. The report highlights the urgent need for an integrated approach to limiting climate- and water-related risks. Using maps and infographics, The geography of future water challenges shows the water-related challenges …
