Increased understanding of ‘EAR Watch’ in Vanuatu
January 17, 2020
(A version of this story appeared last month in the Vanuatu Daily Post.) A workshop […]
ICRC: Climate change and violence trap millions in near-constant crisis in Ethiopia and Somalia
January 15, 2020
(This story is an ICRC press release issued earlier today in Addis Ababa.) Millions of […]
‘Red Cross scrambles to address surging climate-related risks’
January 13, 2020
(This story appeared first last month in French and English on the news service of […]
IFRC releases cash for Mongolian herders facing new in first-ever use of early-action funding mechanism
January 9, 2020
(This story is an IFRC press release issued earlier today in Ulaanbaatar, Geneva and Kuala […]
Hundreds of elderly people died in 2019 UK summer heatwaves, official data says
January 8, 2020
Official UK data released yesterday says there were just under 900 excess deaths during the […]
UK Met Office: 2020 set to extend series of Earth’s warmest years
January 2, 2020
A British Met Office forecast last month found the global average temperature for the coming […]
‘The crying COP’
January 2, 2020
(This story appeared first late last month on the website of the Thomson Reuters Foundation. […]
Struggling to survive climate impacts and conflict in Afghanistan
January 1, 2020
Karimullah (his first name), 30, from Helmand province, is a single father with a six-year-old […]
Climate change, violence against women and girls among agencies’ top priorities for 2020, survey shows
January 1, 2020
Senior figures in most of ten international humanitarian agencies, including the IFRC, have listed either […]
Review of the Year 2019
December 19, 2019
The last year of the decade saw many intense climate impacts, extreme heat to storms […]
First national dialogue on forecast-based financing in Nepal
December 17, 2019
The first national dialogue platform on forecast-based financing in Nepal was held in Kathmandu at […]
Red Cross Red Crescent climate specialists: ‘Small steps at UN climate talks not enough’
December 15, 2019
At the end of a second day of extra time at the COP 25 UN […]
Development and Climate Days 2019: ‘Grass-roots ideas need to shape climate policy if it’s to be effective’
December 11, 2019
(This story appeared first on the website of the Thomson Reuters Foundation earlier this week.) […]
Opinion: At the life-or-death edge of climate change, we all have to take action
December 11, 2019
(With ambitious efforts on climate adaptation and climate-smart development, we could reduce the number of […]
Historic virtual hook-up between humanitarians and UN climate community
December 10, 2019
A joint virtual event from COP 25 in Madrid and the 33rd International Conference of […]
Development and Climate Days 2019: Illumination amid ‘a sea of warnings’
December 8, 2019
The 17th annual Development and Climate Days took place in Madrid today, over a single […]
Climate change at the centre of IFRC global strategy for 2030
December 5, 2019
(This story has been edited mainly from today’s IFRC press releases issued in Geneva on the […]
Climate Centre board member Jagan Chapagain is new IFRC Secretary General
December 4, 2019
(This story is a press release issued by the IFRC yesterday; it has been edited […]
‘Nepal villages learn to cope with climate crisis’
December 3, 2019
(A longer version of this article and a video to accompany it appeared in the […]
Forecast-based financing operation underway as Typhoon Kammuri bears down on Philippines
December 2, 2019
(A version of this story appeared earlier today on the FbF website of the German […]
Two new UN warnings on carbon in the atmosphere (and a theory about what could happen if the world doesn’t listen)
November 29, 2019
Two new warnings this week from within the UN system suggest that the world will […]
Anticipatory humanitarian action: ‘commitment, courage, humility, questioning’
November 21, 2019
This year’s Global Dialogue Platform on Anticipatory Humanitarian Action in Berlin last week gathered more […]
New will help Kenyan farmers plan for both drought and floods
November 21, 2019
(This story appeared first on Tuesday on the website Thomson Reuters Foundation.) Kenya will launch […]
: Climate change injuring health of children worldwide and threatening lifelong impact
November 18, 2019
New research from 35 global institutions published last week in one of the world’s leading […]
Can we see ‘risk’ from space? Humanitarian workshop at week-long Group on Earth Observations session
November 15, 2019
(An earlier version of this blog was published to coincide with GEO Week 2019: Earth Observations for Disaster Risk […]
Climate change: new warnings from science
November 7, 2019
Two grave warnings with major humanitarian implications published this week and last by international scientists […]
More than 2m people in Zambia face severe food insecurity – country could see ‘potentially catastrophic’ above-average warming by century’s end
November 5, 2019
(This story is a press release issued by the IFRC jointly in Lusaka, Pretoria and […]
Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology and IFRC will jointly chair Pacific climate services panel
November 4, 2019
(A version of this story first appeared on the website of the Pacific Meteorological Desk […]
Indonesia emerges from devastating drought
October 24, 2019
Nearly 50 million people in Indonesia may have been affected by the country’s long-running drought […]
‘Urgent action needed for countries in Southern Africa threatened by drought’
October 21, 2019
(Dr Michael Charles heads the IFRC Southern Africa Cluster. His article was first published by […]
‘Inextricable link between hunger and climate’ highlighted in 2019 Global Hunger Index
October 18, 2019
The 2019 Global Hunger Index (GHI), launched Tuesday by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe, says that […]
Redouble efforts for climate resilience and risk reduction, says UN chief, as Super Typhoon Hagibis lays waste to parts of Japan
October 14, 2019
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres yesterday called for climate resilience and disaster risk reduction to […]
#redinnovation: Ideas, new technology or ‘just making things simpler’
October 10, 2019
At least 130 people from 50 National Societies and two reference centres were this week […]
Scientists say extreme rain and floods with Storm Imelda up to 2.6 times more likely due to global warming
October 7, 2019
A new rapid analysis by World Weather Attribution (WWA) scientists at the end of last […]
IFRC joins forces with social media giant TikTok to recruit climate volunteers
October 7, 2019
The IFRC last month joined forces with TikTok, regarded as the world’s leading social-media platform […]
IFRC Governing Board approves , with climate top of list of global challenges
October 7, 2019
The IFRC’s Governing Board (pictured) last week approved the organizations’s new Strategy 2030 that “proposes […]
Seasonal rain and warmer temperatures blamed for ‘unprecedented’ dengue spike across Central America
October 1, 2019
(This story is an IFRC press release first issued Friday in Panama City and Geneva.) […]
Social protection schemes expanding to encompass climate hazards, says new research
October 1, 2019
The latest in a series of series of background papers commissioned by the Global Commission […]
Climate action is a central theme of Humanitarian OpenStreetMap summit
September 25, 2019
Last week’s Humanitarian OpenStreetMap (HOT) summit at Heidelberg University, Germany gathered more than 200 people […]
IPCC: Oceans and ice caps ‘taking the heat’ for climate change – the consequences for humanity will be sweeping and severe
September 25, 2019
(The Climate Centre today issued a lay person’s guide in cartoon form to the IPCC […]
A Guide to Effective Collaboration and Learning in Consortia
September 23, 2019
This guide shares examples and lessons from a range of consortia working in adaptation and […]
Risk-informed Early Action Partnership – ‘REAP’ – launched at #climateaction summit: ‘Let us work together for a safe world for our future generation’
September 23, 2019
The much-heralded Risk-informed Early Action Partnership (REAP) intended to protect a billion people in the […]
Partners for Resilience to #climateaction summit: ‘Speed up support for the most vulnerable’
September 22, 2019
(A version of this story appeared earlier today on the PfR website. It has been […]
An Australian face of climate change – ‘we need to do more’, says Red Cross CEO
September 20, 2019
The chief executive of the Australian Red Cross, Judy Slatyer, today said extreme weather events […]
200 million people in need and 20 billion dollars needed to respond: IFRC report estimates ‘cost of doing nothing’ on climate
September 19, 2019
(This story is an IFRC press release issued earlier today in New York.) A new […]
IFRC this week launching global campaigns on climate
September 17, 2019
(This story is an IFRC media advisory issued yesterday in New York and Geneva.) The […]
‘Early warning, earlier action. Resilience in the face of rising risks’: (New) Professor Van Aalst’s inaugural lecture
September 16, 2019
Climate Centre Director Maarten van Aalst – who is now Professor Dr Van Aalst – […]
Opportunities and barriers to the access and use of climate information for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Uganda and Kenya
September 11, 2019
This report highlights the outcomes of a study to assess the opportunities and barriers to […]
Elhadj As Sy on #AdaptOurWorld report: Invest in climate adaptation, pay less later
September 11, 2019
IFRC Secretary General Elhadj As Sy yesterday called for greater “political will” to tackle the […]
Planning ahead for early action in the Pacific: disaster-manager forum in Nadi, Fiji
September 10, 2019
Disaster managers from 13 Pacific National Societies met in Nadi, Fiji at the end of […]
New official data in Europe exposes heatwaves as still the ‘silent killer’ of the elderly
September 9, 2019
The authorities in France and the Netherlands are both reporting significant “excess mortality” during this […]
Helped by the young, Asia Pacific steps up to lead transformation to a ‘1.5°C climate-resilient world’
September 9, 2019
Asia-Pacific Climate Week (APCW 2019) ended in Bangkok Friday with agreement on an overarching key […]
Hurricane Dorian: Red Cross issues urgent appeal for Bahamas as scale of devastation becomes clearer
September 4, 2019
(This story is an IFRC press release issued earlier today from Geneva.) With access to […]
Asia Pacific Climate Week gets underway in Bangkok against backdrop of damaging floods in northern Thailand
September 2, 2019
The Asia Pacific Climate Week got underway in Bangkok today, aimed at raising global ambition […]
‘Europe is heating up faster than predicted by climate models’
August 30, 2019
A study first published last month designed to test climate models by cross-referencing actual observations […]
Flood forecasting for African National Societies: University of Reading summer school
August 26, 2019
The Climate Centre last month facilitated a group of specialists from Mali, Mozambique, Uganda and […]
Companies and climate resilience: Mobilizing the power of the private sector to address climate risks
August 19, 2019
This paper explains these linkages and the opportunities of collaborating with the private sector.
New study calls for humanitarians and private sector to ‘learn each other’s language’ on risk
August 19, 2019
A working paper published by the Climate Centre today argues for the Red Cross and […]
‘Wading through waist-deep flood waters to reach communities in India’
August 15, 2019
(This article is adapted from a photo story that appeared first on Tuesday on the […]
Opinion: Dengue and climate – how close a relationship?
August 14, 2019
(The Climate Centre’s director here argues for more research that would enable the climate question […]
Northern Kenya: Ewaso Nyiro Camel Caravan 2019
August 12, 2019
This year’s camel caravan in northern Kenya aimed at raising awareness of the importance of […]
IPCC report on climate and land ‘confirms our worst fears’
August 8, 2019
A report out today from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says climate change […]
Second big European heatwave broke records due to climate change, scientists say
August 6, 2019
A new rapid analysis from the international World Weather Attribution group of climate scientists says […]
Hugo Slim on the future of ICRC partnerships amid conflict, disaster and ‘an escalating climate crisis’
August 5, 2019
The ICRC late last week published the full text of the talk by its Head […]
WMO says July ‘rewrote climate history’
August 2, 2019
The World Meteorological Organization yesterday said July at least equalled, if not surpassed, the hottest […]
IFRC announces huge increase in assistance for Bangladesh, facing ‘highest river-levels in a century’
August 1, 2019
(This story is an IFRC press release issued yesterday in Dhaka, Kuala Lumpur and Geneva.) […]
UK breaks modern-era temperature record as new Met Office report points finger at climate change
July 31, 2019
The UK Met Office said today its latest analysis of the annual temperature record going […]
North Pacific Red Cross ‘supercamp’ readies youth for climate action, Y-Adapt rollout
July 29, 2019
The first ever North Pacific youth leadership ‘supercamp’ that ended in Pohnpei, Micronesia earlier this […]
Four European countries set new temperature records in second ‘historic’ heatwave of the summer
July 26, 2019
For the second time in a month, Western Europe has experienced an intense heatwave that […]
Temperature records again set to be broken amid dangerous new European heatwave
July 23, 2019
At least yellow alerts for extreme heat were in force as of midday Tuesday in […]
IFRC: Severe flooding puts more than 4 million people in Bangladesh at risk of food insecurity and disease
July 19, 2019
(This story is an IFRC press release issued earlier today. With support from the German […]
IFRC: Nearly 6m people in South Asia threatened by monsoon floods
July 17, 2019
(This story is a press release issued by the IFRC yesterday in Kuala Lumpur and […]
Urgent action needed to tackle climate change’s ‘silent killer’: heatwaves
July 16, 2019
(This story is an IFRC press release issued earlier today in New York and Geneva.) […]
Ireland: ‘Put the most vulnerable at the centre of our work’
July 15, 2019
A panel at the UN in New York heard a strong call Friday from Ireland’s […]
‘Higher than average’ monsoon rainfall triggers humanitarian interventions across Asia
July 15, 2019
The IFRC said late last week that heavy monsoon rain had triggered landslides in camps […]
The battle against extreme heat: IFRC will issue new guidelines to assist cities next week
July 11, 2019
IFRC President Francesco Rocca – at a press conference at UN HQ in New York […]
‘One climate-crisis disaster is happening every week’
July 9, 2019
Mami Mizutori, the UN secretary-general’s special representative on disaster risk reduction (photo, centre), has said […]
‘Hotter but less deadly? Preparedness may cut toll of Europe’s heatwave’
July 4, 2019
(This story appeared first on Tuesday on the website of the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The […]
WMO: ‘Visible and increasing urgency of climate action’ in focus at the UN Abu Dhabi climate meeting
July 1, 2019
After a week in which much of Europe was engulfed by extreme heat, the World […]
Climate change, conflict and resilience: Debating humanitarian policy at a high-level round table in Amman
July 1, 2019
(This story appeared first on the ICRC website last month. It has been edited slightly […]
Red Cross Red Crescent launches Climate Training Kit 2.0
June 28, 2019
The Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre today launched an updated and expanded version of […]
International Federation at ECOSOCHAS: ‘Listen to the science on climate’
June 27, 2019
IFRC Secretary General Elhadj As Sy Tuesday issued a new call for the international community […]
Air pollution and irrigation mask true severity of Indian heatwave, study shows
June 26, 2019
(A longer version of this article, by scientists of the World Weather Attribution collaboration that […]
Red Cross urges public to check on neighbours as Europe braces for heatwave
June 25, 2019
(This story is an IFRC press release that appeared on its news site earlier today.) […]
‘We need to talk about conflict and climate change’
June 18, 2019
(This article appeared first in The Canberra Times last week. Leonard Blazeby is ICRC Head […]
4th International Solferino Youth Meeting includes workshop on ‘major humanitarian challenge’ of climate change
June 17, 2019
(This is an edited version of the press release issued in Geneva and Rome that […]
Northern summer heatwaves on separate continents may set modern-era records
June 13, 2019
The IFRC in Europe yesterday said an 80-year temperature record had been broken in the […]
UN humanitarian chief, praising German leadership on early action, announces $45m for Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya
June 7, 2019
Mark Lowcock, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Wednesday told an audience in Berlin he […]
Norwegian Red Cross research ‘leaves no doubt’ about scale of global commitment required on climate
June 6, 2019
The Secretary General of the Norwegian Red Cross, Bernt Apeland, says the evidence of the […]
Bangladesh: How forecast-based financing supported objective decision-making in advance of Cyclone Fani
June 6, 2019
(This story appeared first yesterday on the IFRC news site. It has been edited slightly […]
EU science academies: growing evidence climate change affecting human health
June 5, 2019
Experts from 27 national science academies in the European Union say in a new report […]
Cook Islands prepares for ‘early action rainfall watch’
May 30, 2019
(A version of this story first appeared last week on the SPREP news site.) Cook […]
Afghanistan: millions still in desperate need after flood crisis
May 22, 2019
(This story appeared first on the IFRC news site yesterday.) Afghan Red Crescent volunteers and […]
IFRC at #GPDRR2019: ‘Let’s be climate smart and risk informed in all we do’
May 17, 2019
The week-long Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, hosted by the Swiss government in Geneva […]
UN: ‘If we continue engaging with each other and the planet as we do, then our very survival is in doubt’
May 16, 2019
(This story appeared first on the Thomson Reuters Foundation news site yesterday and has been […]
IFRC: Cyclone Idai casts a shadow over global disaster conference
May 15, 2019
(This story is a press release issued by the IFRC yesterday. It has been edited […]
‘Early warning must reach the last metre. The last mile is not enough’
May 15, 2019
The Second Multi-Hazard Early Warning Conference (MHEWC) organized by the World Meteorological Organization ended in […]
Afghanistan: ‘Drought has finished all our livestock – now it’s killing people’
May 8, 2019
(This personal story was one of three told to Gorata Fembo published by the IFRC’s […]
Netherlands wants development programming that’s sensitive to both conflict and climate
May 8, 2019
The Dutch government last week called for “more and better [development] programming that is both […]
With climate change ‘greatest long-term threat’ facing Maldives, Red Crescent 2030 strategy focuses on resilience
May 8, 2019
The recently launched Maldivian Red Crescent (MRC) Strategic Plan 2019–2030 calls for the inclusion of […]