As extreme weather events like wildfires, heat waves, downpours, and droughts continue to make headlines in the United States and around the world, many have wondered what their connection is to climate change. A new report sheds some light, firmly drawing correlations between several extreme weather events in 2012 and human-induced warming.
In a report published yesterday in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS), scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the UK’s Met Office, and other institutions examine the extent to which manmade
Given that the global scientific community know so much of the processes and mechanisms of hazards; and globally there are the resources to prepare and adapt, how is it possible that so many people still suffer unnecessary from hazards?
“The little improvement we gained with hard work over the years was again back to zero because of the flooding” – Celia from the Philippines, a COMPASS 2015 contributor.
COMPASS 2015 perhaps provides an answer why Celia and many millions continue to suffer from preventable disasters every single day.
Global damage from flooding could cost coastal cities as much as US$1 trillion per year — and developing countries will be hardest hit, a study warns.
According to the paper published today in Nature Climate Change, a "risk sensitive planning" strategy is needed to protect coastal cities, which are increasingly at risk because of climate change, subsidence and a growing population.
The researchers looked at the 136 largest coastal cities in the world and found that cities in developing countries are particularly vulnerable to flood losses as they often lack resources for long term planning.
VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese scientists have voiced their deep concern about the fate of the Mekong Delta and the Vietnamese rice farming in the context of the hydropower plant boom.
If the Mekong River is compared as a tree, then the upstream part which runs through the Chinese and Myanmar’s territories would be the main root, the river branches pouring into the mainstream are aerial root. The mainstream from Laos to Vietnam is the tree trunk; the ramifications running to the sea are the branches of the tree, while the deltas along the river bank are the leaves.
