‘Abnormal is the new normal’. May sets global climate records
June 15, 2016
(This web story, edited here for length, appeared first yesterday on the website of the […]
New WWA analysis: strong climate link to French deluge but data on Germany inconclusive
June 9, 2016
Human-caused climate change played an important role in the heavy rains that pounded parts of France late […]
The hidden toll of El Niño in Timor-Leste
June 6, 2016
(This blog by IFRC operations manager Jesper Fridolf, from the Swedish Red Cross, edited slightly […]
Now scientists probe possible climate link to Europe floods
June 3, 2016
Scientists are this weekend urgently analysing whether climate change made the latest flood disaster in […]
As Pacific returns to ‘ENSO neutral’ state, La Niña edges onto humanitarian radar
June 2, 2016
(This story was first published earlier today on the Asia Pacific area of www.ifrc.org.) For […]
UN: ‘Fundamental culture change’ by humanitarian donors required for action based on forecasts
May 31, 2016
A new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) earlier this month looks at […]
Near-normal hurricane outlook most likely for season that’s ‘particularly difficult’ to predict, says NOAA
May 30, 2016
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Friday said the coming Atlantic hurricane season from […]
Brazil Red Cross volunteers brace for ‘more active’ wildfire season in Amazon
May 27, 2016
The IFRC’s science partners, the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), earlier this […]
Social protection ‘key policy tool’ in battle against climate impacts
May 27, 2016
Social protection programmes can build people’s “anticipatory, adaptive and absorptive” capacity to resist climate shocks and disasters, […]
Disaster preparation means forecast-based financing, not band-aids
May 25, 2016
(This article, reproduced here under Creative Commons, appeared first yesterday on the website of the […]
WHS closes in Istanbul: ‘The test is what happens next’
May 24, 2016
(This story is an IFRC press release published first earlier today on ifrc.org.) The World […]
SG’s address to Istanbul summit roundtable on natural disasters and climate change
May 24, 2016
(This is the text of an address by IFRC Secretary General Elhadj As Sy at […]
Over 55,000 community volunteers help move half a million people out of harm’s way before Cyclone Roanu strikes Bangladesh
May 23, 2016
(This story appeared earlier today on ifrc.org and has been slightly edited here for length.) […]
Preparation and innovation key to reducing risk, and ‘a few days’ can decide life or death, 2016 Understanding Risk Forum hears
May 23, 2016
The head of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, Laura Frigenti, Friday told the closing […]
‘Extreme climate vulnerability’ among Movement concerns ahead of first-ever global humanitarian summit in Istanbul
May 20, 2016
The Red Cross Red Crescent Movement has affirmed its key messages to the World Humanitarian […]
IFRC to scale up response to drought and strengthen resilience in Southern Africa
May 17, 2016
(This story is an IFRC press release issued today.) The IFRC today announced a major […]
What the world needs now: ‘preparedness and resilience’ (and forecast-based financing)
May 13, 2016
Two of the most influential figures in the sector yesterday called for a more “forward-looking […]
Climate science initiative will help South Asian and East African societies prepare for extreme weather
May 11, 2016
(This story is a press release issued today by the UK-based Climate and Development Knowledge […]
Resilience tops ‘high-value’ UN to-do list at
May 9, 2016
The major global ‘public-private’ conference announced at COP 21 last year to gather leaders from […]
UN ‘loss and damage’ committee discusses managing climate impacts
May 3, 2016
The third meeting took place at the UN campus in Bonn last week of the […]
Second humanitarian distribution in Uganda under forecast-based financing
May 3, 2016
The Katakwi district branch of the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) Friday carried out another […]
La Niña watch now in force
May 2, 2016
The US Climate Prediction Center and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) […]
CBA10: ‘Without involvement of the urban poor, no city will be resilient’
April 29, 2016
The tenth-anniversary Community-Based Adaptation Conference – ‘CBA10’ (proceedings) – ended yesterday on the Dhaka campus […]
‘Let’s enlist the Paris climate deal to build resilience’
April 25, 2016
(This opinion piece appeared first Saturday on the website of the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Dr […]
IFRC hails Paris agreement signing in New York as ‘breakthrough for vulnerable populations threatened by climate change’
April 23, 2016
(This is a press release issued by the IFRC Friday shortly after the signing of […]
Paris agreement: 175 nations sign in New York, but
April 22, 2016
The text of the historic global agreement thrashed out at the COP 21 UN climate talks […]
German-supported forecast-based action in Bangladesh will be all-cash
April 22, 2016
Planning for the operational roll-out of forecast-based financing (FbF) in Bangladesh is now at an […]
Paris agreement: World eyes 55-55 ‘double threshold’ for climate deal to take effect
April 21, 2016
The text of the historic global agreement thrashed out at the COP 21 UN climate talks […]
Up to date satellite-based climate services plus equals resilience
April 19, 2016
(This article, edited slightly here for length, first appeared on the Understanding Risk website. Through the […]
Nearly 50m people in Southern Africa expected to be food-insecure before year end, says IFRC
April 18, 2016
(This is a press release issued by the IFRC in Nairobi on Saturday. Its full appeals […]
Conflict and climate push Cameroon’s Far North to food-security brink
April 13, 2016
(This story appeared first on Monday on the website of the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The […]
Humanitarian sector grapples with El Niño’s global legacy
April 11, 2016
A cluster of agency reports from the field over the past week, including the IFRC, […]
Resilience building through indigenous knowledge and scientific information
April 8, 2016
A case study from PfR Philippines that shows that traditional knowledge and practices reinforced with scientific […]
Integrated risk management and the Philippine Red Cross
April 8, 2016
A case study from PfR Philippines. The Philippine RC has deepened its understanding on empowering […]
Building resilient communities by strengthening livelihoods and giving people more options
April 8, 2016
A case study from PfR Indonesia. PfR’s interventions have focused on helping farmers improve their livelihood […]
World Bank will ‘bring early warning systems to 100m people’ as part of new action plan on climate
April 8, 2016
The World Bank Group yesterday unveiled a new action plan on climate designed to accelerate efforts […]
Coral bleaching on Great Barrier Reef ‘the worst in its history’, say Australian scientists
April 6, 2016
Aerial surveys between Cairns, in northern Queensland, and Papua New Guinea show the Great Barrier […]
Small and simple actions to address climate change
April 1, 2016
This publication sets out several simple strategies that can help to manage the unavoidable impacts of […]
Red Cross mangroves in Vietnam and Climate Training Kit among case studies for GDPC 2016 Annual Event
March 30, 2016
(This story is a press release, slightly edited here for length, from the The Nature […]
Ghana handwashing game used in schools in Central Region
March 24, 2016
The Ghana Education Service and Red Cross and the Climate Centre earlier this month joined […]
Humanity faces a ‘hotter, drier, wetter’ future, says World Meteorological Organization
March 23, 2016
The World Meteorological Organization – which today marks the anniversary of the 1950 convention establishing […]
Record February global temperature shocks scientists, impacts Pacific fisheries
March 22, 2016
February has set a record for being the most abnormally warm month since global records […]
El Niño complicates Cyclone Pam recovery
March 18, 2016
(This story first ran earlier this week on ifrc.org. The opening a year ago of […]
FbF distribution in Peru second of its kind by the Movement worldwide
March 16, 2016
A humanitarian distribution under Forecast-based Financing (FbF) has now been carried out in the rain-swept […]
PMI reviews El Niño/La Niña scenarios
March 14, 2016
The Indonesian Red Cross – often known internationally by its Indonesian-language acronym PMI for Palang […]
Climate change has ‘profound effects on disease vectors’, says UN risk-reduction chief
March 14, 2016
Government officials and risk-management experts on Friday called for health resilience to be placed at […]
Mongolian dzud disaster echoes 2011 SREX report on extremes, prompting new climate uncertainty
March 11, 2016
Many thousands of animals could starve over the next few weeks on Mongolia’s vast steppe […]
Climate and Zika: an expert Q&A
March 2, 2016
(This is an interview between the Wellcome Trust and Madeleine Thomson, Senior Research Scientist at IFRC […]
Red Cross readies forecast-based action as heavy rains blamed on El Niño lash Peru
March 1, 2016
The Peruvian Red Cross is assisting 2,000 families as part of its German-supported ‘Forecast-based Financing’ […]
Dangerous heatwaves could be yearly events without ‘stringent emissions reduction’, says new US research
February 29, 2016
Potentially dangerous heatwaves that normally strike once every two decades could become yearly events across […]
IFRC renews appeal to donors as ‘drought, erratic rains and floods’ halve yields for Southern Africa farmers
February 26, 2016
(This story is an IFRC press release issued yesterday in Pretoria and distributed by the […]
Winston may be Southern Hemisphere’s strongest-ever cyclone
February 24, 2016
With sustained winds of 230 kph and gusts of 325 kph – capable of blowing […]
El Niño past its peak but impacts will linger, say forecasters
February 22, 2016
The current Pacific El Niño phenomenon that has been linked to devastating extreme-weather impacts worldwide […]
Millions of African children at risk from hunger, water shortages and disease, says UNICEF
February 18, 2016
The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF says nearly a million children are in need of […]
Weather and climate dominate disaster trends, says 2015 CRED data
February 12, 2016
The head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), Robert Glasser, said yesterday […]
Risk reduction ‘only way’ to deal sustainably with growing weather and climate hazards, says UN chief
February 10, 2016
World leaders must unite to renew their commitments to humanity and end crisis and reduce […]
Protecting water supplies during floods: a BRACED case study from Myanmar
February 9, 2016
(This story, slightly edited here for length, appeared first on the BRACED website. In its […]
IFRC issues multimillion-dollar appeal for mosquito-borne Zika virus
February 3, 2016
The IFRC yesterday launched an appeal worth nearly US$ 2.4m in response to the outbreak […]
IFRC calls for urgent action on Zika as WHO declares global emergency
February 1, 2016
An emergency meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva today declared a “public […]
What does ‘resilience’ mean in practice? New global campaign has one answer
January 27, 2016
The ICRC, International Federation and Devex – a prominent media platform for the global development […]
Forecasters: drought in Southern Africa to continue for several months at least
January 25, 2016
The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) – a leading global provider of early […]
Climate Change – an introduction for staff and volunteers
January 23, 2016
The course provides an introduction to climate change and aims to help staff and volunteers […]
At Davos, IFRC calls for longer view of humanitarian action amid unprecedented ‘broad landscape of risk’
January 21, 2016
Humanitarian need over the past decade has grown “at a staggering rate,” IFRC Secretary General […]
IFRC releases climate e-learning course in four more languages
January 21, 2016
The IFRC’s Community Preparedness and Risk Reduction Department yesterday announced that the e-learning course Climate […]
UN and Red Cross Red Crescent systems step up appeals for worsening drought and ‘El Niño shocks’ in Ethiopia
January 14, 2016
The IFRC last week launched an emergency appeal worth US$ 2.2m to enable the Ethiopian […]
UK December: warmest and wettest on record, Met Office confirms
January 8, 2016
Temperatures in much of the UK in December 2015 were closer to those of the […]
Red Cross volunteers assist communities affected by El Niño in Papua New Guinea
January 7, 2016
(This story appeared first last month on the IFRC’s news site. The most recent IFRC […]
Geneva-based assessment specialists add ‘El Niño risks’ to 2016 humanitarian country list
January 5, 2016
The Geneva-based Assessment Capacities Project (ACAPS) last month published its first annual report based on three […]
A year of firsts: 2015 in review
December 23, 2015
(This is the Climate Centre’s review of highlights of 2015 – a historic year of […]
Paris climate deal was the start of something, not the end
December 23, 2015
To the campaigners who for years lobbied for a global deal on climate, to the […]
COP 21: just a big game?
December 17, 2015
(This story appeared first last month on the website of the Institute of Development Studies; […]
EU to help countries affected by El Niño with 125m euros for emergency response and resilience
December 14, 2015
The European Union has announced it’s contributing €125m to finance emergency response in countries affected […]
Red Cross Red Crescent welcomes Paris climate agreement, urges focus on ‘most exposed, at risk, vulnerable’
December 12, 2015
(This story is an IFRC press release issued this evening shortly after the historic climate agreement […]
UK floods: the big clean-up begins as climate scientists say probability of extreme rainfall higher with warming
December 11, 2015
(This article appeared first yesterday on the Climate Central website; it has been slightly edited […]
Can artists help humanitarian thinking ‘take flight’? (Yes)
December 10, 2015
(This web story is an abridged version of a longer piece that first appeared on […]
UK minister links floods in north-west of England to climate change
December 9, 2015
The British Red Cross (BRC) this week launched a major operation in the north-west English […]
‘Stars aligned’ for strong, concerted action on climate, UN chief says
December 6, 2015
The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon – summing up the first week of the COP […]
‘Bold action’ on climate needed now, D&C Days participants in Paris told
December 6, 2015
(This blog on the first day of Development and Climate Days in Paris also appears […]
Development and Climate Days underway in Paris alongside pivotal COP 21 climate talks
December 5, 2015
The 13th Development & Climate Days (D&C Days) weekend workshop alongside annual UN climate talks got […]
Vanuatu pre-positions relief with as many as six cyclones anticipated in next few months
December 4, 2015
(This story appeared first on the news site of ifrc.org.) Nine months have passed since […]
Releasing disaster funds before crises would transform humanitarian response, says WFP-IFRC joint statement
December 2, 2015
(This story is a joint statement by the IFRC and the World Food Programme, issued […]
Netherlands signs new partnership with civil society to help disaster-prone regions
December 2, 2015
(This is a joint press release issued simultaneously this morning in the Netherlands and at COP […]
IFRC: More support for communities facing climate change must be in COP 21 agreement
November 30, 2015
(This story was first published earlier today as a press release on www.ifrc.org.) As climate […]
Helping Sri Lankan farmers become climate smart in a changing world
November 19, 2015
(This story appeared first earlier this week on the IFRC news site. It has been edited […]
‘Humanitarian history’ made as Uganda Red Cross launches forecast-based financing for real
November 15, 2015
In a ground-breaking humanitarian action triggered by a scientific forecast of flood risk, the Uganda […]
Climate-smart development ‘can keep more than 100m people out of poverty’
November 9, 2015
(This story appeared first as a press release by the World Bank yesterday.) Climate change […]
US ‘BAMS’ attribution studies focus on heat and climate signal
November 6, 2015
(This story appeared first yesterday on the website of Climate Central, convenor of the World […]
Building community resilience bridges humanitarian and development goals
November 2, 2015
(This opinion piece appeared first on the IFRC news site last week.) We are increasingly seeing debates […]
Climate change and the Red Cross and Red Crescent
November 1, 2015
The Red Cross Red Crescent recognizes that climate change is a ‘threat multiplier’ in the […]
In the Pacific, Vanuatu battles El Niño impacts
October 27, 2015
(This story appeared first last week on the IFRC news site. It has been edited […]
National adaptation planning for communities in Kenya and Malawi
October 23, 2015
An IFRC programme to help National Societies engage with National Adaptation Plans (NAP) reached Kenya […]
Climate negotiators gear up for war of words at Bonn talks
October 19, 2015
“It does not inspire,” Prakash Javadekar, India’s minister for environment, forests and climate change, said […]
WFP: El Niño challenge to Ethiopia ‘incredibly serious’
October 15, 2015
(This is a press release issued by the UN-OCHA Ethiopia Humanitarian Country Team on 13 […]
NL resilience partners mark International Day for Disaster Reduction
October 14, 2015
(These stories first appeared yesterday on the Cordaid and Wetlands International websites. They are edited […]
Weather and climate information to aid resilience in Vanuatu
October 12, 2015
The small Vanuatu village of Epau now has its own draft action plan for climate […]
NL government to Partners for Resilience: ‘We want to continue’
October 8, 2015
“We want to continue with you, we want to learn from you, we can also […]
‘Engage, negotiate, cajole,’ Abbas Gullet tells resilience conference in The Hague
October 7, 2015
The Secretary General of the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS), Abbas Gullet, who is in […]
How to protect against future shocks: ‘#pfrconference’ underway in NL
October 5, 2015
A major international conference on resilience taking a 360-degree look at both lessons learned over […]
Red Cross Red Crescent worldwide will help deliver on new global goals
September 29, 2015
The IFRC in a press release yesterday strongly welcomed the adoption at a special UN summit […]