Climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of floods across the globe. As recent severe events in Italy, Brazil, Croatia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Malawi, the Philippines, Somalia and Western Australia have shown, floods affect nature and society, leaving communities, cities and entire regions devastated. Jointly produced by United Nations University institutes in
Ahead of the Flood Knowledge Summit 2022, the UNU Climate Resilience Initiative (CRI) of people in seven countries from the Global South. Contributors from Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Nepal, Nigeria and the Philippines provided insights on the impact of flooding on their lives, families and communities. All interviewees offer anecdotes and information on the havoc floods and extreme weather events
On 28 February 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its most worrying report. The report underscores the impact of climate-induced shocks on cities, people, and nature while stressing the crucial need for cross-border cooperation. In recognition of the multifaceted effects of the climate emergency witnessed during the 2021 floods in Europe, the UNU Climate Resilience
A post-Covid19 world troubled by multi-faceted environmental, political and economic crises, requires us to rethink the interconnected global challenges at hand today. A combination of drastic geopolitical shifts, restructured economic and social domains, novel political opinions, amplified environmental emergencies and complex migration waves poses unprecedented, hybrid risks threatening every as
The UNU Climate Resilience Initiative will participate in IWPP3 BUDAPEST – The International Public Policy Association’s International Workshops on Public Policy, June 28 – 30, 2022, Budapest, Hungary contributing to thematic session: Policy Process, Policy Making, Policy Implementation in the sub-section (W05) “Climate Policy Integration at Stake” The working title of the
Special Issue: Water-Related Disasters and Risks A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section Hazards and Sustainability. Complex and excessive interactions and interlinkages between human activities and the water cycle result in water-related disasters. Such disasters are frequently visible globally, such as floods, droughts, landslides, storms, an
In July 2021, several European countries including Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands were affected by catastrophic floods, causing deaths and widespread damage. Such extreme weather events are expected to increase in both frequency and severity in the coming decades, according to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). To understand the risks of climate chan
On 25 November 2021, UNU-CRIS (Belgium), UNU-EHS (Germany) and UNU-MERIT (the Netherlands) jointly organised a session at the European Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction to showcase the newly established United Nations University Climate Resilience Initiative (#UNUCRI), set up in response to the floods of July 2021 that particularly devastated Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. Noting the signif
The lives of billions of people are at stake at this month’s COP26 Summit, as regional and national leaders meet to mitigate the worst case scenarios of climate change. Against this backdrop, we know that thousands of lives are already being lost every year – but what about the climate survivors? What are the long-term psychological effects at play?