Menu

News archive

Heavy, continuous monsoon rain across East Asia tests humanitarian system as IFRC announces emergency cash for Philippines

Heavy, continuous monsoon rain across East Asia tests humanitarian system as IFRC announces emergency cash for Philippines
1 August 2018

Three intense weather systems in five days have caused floods in the Philippines affecting nearly 2 million people, the IFRC [...]

Summer wildfires continue to cause havoc in northern hemisphere

Summer wildfires continue to cause havoc in northern hemisphere
30 July 2018

The Greek authorities this weekend raised to 88 the number of people who died in the wildfire in the coastal [...]

International assistance arrives in Sweden to help fight ‘70 forest fires, large and small’

International assistance arrives in Sweden to help fight ‘70 forest fires, large and small’
20 July 2018

The Swedish Red Cross says a combination of very little rain and hot weather has placed many parts of the [...]

Tabitha Berg: Cook Islands climate champion

Tabitha Berg: Cook Islands climate champion
19 July 2018

(This story appeared first earlier today on the IFRC news site.) By day Tabitha Berg (photo) is the Cook Islands [...]

With 3m people affected by floods in China and Mongolia rain of ‘unprecedented intensity’, Red Cross confronts extreme weather across E Asia

With 3m people affected by floods in China and Mongolia rain of ‘unprecedented intensity’, Red Cross confronts extreme weather across E Asia
18 July 2018

The IFRC yesterday released nearly US$ 400,000 from its Disaster Relief Emergency Fund to aid relief and recovery efforts on [...]

Climate change tripled likelihood of drought that pushed Cape Town water crisis to ‘Day Zero’ brink, say scientists

Climate change tripled likelihood of drought that pushed Cape Town water crisis to ‘Day Zero’ brink, say scientists
16 July 2018

(This story is a press release issued by the WWA partnership on Friday, along with a technical summary of the [...]

: Influence of climate change on weather becoming clearer (say hello to a warmer world)

: Influence of climate change on weather becoming clearer (say hello to a warmer world)
11 July 2018

A collaboration between European meteorological services known as EUPHEME will soon be able promptly to answer questions about the influence [...]

‘I have lived here all my life. I have never seen anything like this’

‘I have lived here all my life. I have never seen anything like this’
9 July 2018

Japanese public broadcaster NHK Monday reported that an all-out search and rescue operation is now underway after a flood disaster [...]

Lethal eastern Canada heatwave forecast to abate

Lethal eastern Canada heatwave forecast to abate
6 July 2018

Local officials yesterday raised to 34 the number of people they say have died in the heatwave that has been [...]

AMCDRR: Integrated risk management puts down roots in Indonesia

AMCDRR: Integrated risk management puts down roots in Indonesia
5 July 2018

The Partners for Resilience country team in Indonesia this week published a compendium of case studies of PfR work in [...]

AMCDRR: Red Cross tackles humanitarian needs in Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

AMCDRR: Red Cross tackles humanitarian needs in Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
5 July 2018

(Thanks to its unique mandate the Red Cross is one of few humanitarian organizations working in the Democratic People’s Republic [...]

AMCDRR: ‘Female leadership is crucial in building resilient communities’

AMCDRR: ‘Female leadership is crucial in building resilient communities’
3 July 2018

(This opinion piece appeared first last week on the website of the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Mongolia is hosting the 2018 [...]

The climate science that matters for humanitarians: first IPCC lead-author meeting of ‘AR6’ cycle

The climate science that matters for humanitarians: first IPCC lead-author meeting of ‘AR6’ cycle
3 July 2018

Lead authors from the IPCC’s Working Group I, covering the science of climate change, Friday ended their first meeting of [...]

WMO: Caribbean edges toward regionwide, people-centred early warning

WMO: Caribbean edges toward regionwide, people-centred early warning
2 July 2018

The Caribbean is moving closer to a regional strategy to “strengthen people-centred early warning systems across the islands”, according to [...]

Cape Town #AF2018 session debates adapting social protection for adaptation

Cape Town #AF2018 session debates adapting social protection for adaptation
2 July 2018

The 2018 Adaptation Futures in Cape Town was all about possibilities. Discussions at both plenary and parallel sessions shared best [...]

SA Red Cross at #AF2018: Scientists, researchers and people directly affected must find common language on climate

SA Red Cross at #AF2018: Scientists, researchers and people directly affected must find common language on climate
28 June 2018

“Adaptation requires much greater collaboration by all stakeholders”: this was the conclusion of Fernel Campher, Disaster Management Officer at the [...]

EU to world: time for action on climate, security, peace

EU to world: time for action on climate, security, peace
25 June 2018

The ICRC Brussels delegation and the Red Cross EU Office took part in a major high-level event (photo) organized by [...]

Heatwave threats rarely a priority for city officials, even as risks rise

Heatwave threats rarely a priority for city officials, even as risks rise
22 June 2018

(This story appeared first yesterday on the Thomson Reuters Foundation website. It is the second Thomson Reuters Foundation story we [...]

Cities face dramatic rise in risks from heat and flood by 2050, researchers say

Cities face dramatic rise in risks from heat and flood by 2050, researchers say
21 June 2018

(This story appeared first yesterday on the Thomson Reuters Foundation website. It has been edited slightly here for length.) In [...]

First Adaptation Futures conference in Africa

First Adaptation Futures conference in Africa
18 June 2018

The fifth international climate change adaptation conference – ‘Adaptation Futures 2018’ – got underway in Cape Town today, the first [...]

New state of emergency in snowbound Peru districts includes earlier FbF distribution sites

New state of emergency in snowbound Peru districts includes earlier FbF distribution sites
14 June 2018

With parts of the country suffering extreme cold and heavy snow in the southern winter, the authorities in Peru Wednesday [...]

Red Cross-supported goat-rearing helps sustain households in north-east Uganda

Red Cross-supported goat-rearing helps sustain households in north-east Uganda
14 June 2018

(A version of this story appeared last week on the website of the Uganda Red Cross Society.) Sabina Menhya, 40, [...]

As monsoon intensifies, ‘unsung heroes’ bring health and maternal care to Cox’s Bazar camps

As monsoon intensifies, ‘unsung heroes’ bring health and maternal care to Cox’s Bazar camps
8 June 2018

(This story appeared first on the IFRC website earlier this week) Amidst intensifying monsoon season in Bangladesh, a team of [...]

‘What does not get measured cannot be managed’

‘What does not get measured cannot be managed’
7 June 2018

(This article appeared first earlier this week on the World Bank’s Let’s Talk Development site. It has been edited slightly [...]

Arctic indigenous communities witnesses to ‘unprecedented challenge of climate change’

Arctic indigenous communities witnesses to ‘unprecedented challenge of climate change’
6 June 2018

Surface temperatures in the Arctic are expected to remain above average this month and in July and August while sea ice [...]

Sri Lanka Red Cross drone assesses monsoon disaster from the air

Sri Lanka Red Cross drone assesses monsoon disaster from the air
5 June 2018

The Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS) says it has now launched a recovery operation to assist 50,000 people affected [...]

Report: Business must gauge first-order impacts – heat, rain, drought, storms, sea levels – in new global drive for climate-related financial disclosure

Report: Business must gauge first-order impacts – heat, rain, drought, storms, sea levels – in new global drive for climate-related financial disclosure
31 May 2018

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is today hosting a key London conference on climate-related ‘financial disclosure’: corporate [...]

Apps transforming rebuilding projects after typhoons in Viet Nam

Apps transforming rebuilding projects after typhoons in Viet Nam
25 May 2018

(This story appeared first earlier this month on the UNDP Viet Nam website. Jenty Kirsch-Wood specializes in climate adaptation and [...]

Mining history (and the skies) for risk informationat fifth Global UR Forum

Mining history (and the skies) for risk informationat fifth Global UR Forum
23 May 2018

A new report by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) says the great disasters of the past [...]

‘We can’t engineer a way out of the Bangladesh camps’

‘We can’t engineer a way out of the Bangladesh camps’
17 May 2018

(This story appeared first last month on the website of the Australian Red Cross. A photo story by the IFRC’s [...]

IFRC writes its page of climate ‘history’ for Talanoa Dialogue in Bonn

IFRC writes its page of climate ‘history’ for Talanoa Dialogue in Bonn
14 May 2018

Governments last Thursday ended two weeks of talks in Bonn on operational guidelines for realizing the Paris Agreement to be presented [...]

Attribution scientists examining devastating Kenya rains for climate change fingerprints

Attribution scientists examining devastating Kenya rains for climate change fingerprints
11 May 2018

With devastating seasonal rains in Kenya yesterday reported by the Kenya Red Cross (KRC) to have displaced nearly 300,000 people [...]

Inter-agency collaboration in Solomon Islands holds out hope of better warning on drought

Inter-agency collaboration in Solomon Islands holds out hope of better warning on drought
11 May 2018

The Climate Centre is working with Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) [...]

‘New humanitarian forecast-based fund could be a game changer’

‘New humanitarian forecast-based fund could be a game changer’
8 May 2018

(This story is a press release issued yesterday by the IFRC in Geneva; a Thomson Reuters Foundation story on the new fund [...]

Climate change could make atolls uninhabitable as soon as the 2030s, new study says

Climate change could make atolls uninhabitable as soon as the 2030s, new study says
4 May 2018

US- and Netherlands-based scientists have used the latest computer technology to estimate the time frame in which the world’s low-lying [...]

UK blending science, innovation and finance to speed recovery and build resilience

UK blending science, innovation and finance to speed recovery and build resilience
2 May 2018

The UK Department for International Development (DFID) has announced new measures highlighting how “science, innovation and the City of London” [...]

Report: Two-thirds of human race would face reduced risk from extreme temperatures with better response to forecasts

Report: Two-thirds of human race would face reduced risk from extreme temperatures with better response to forecasts
2 May 2018

Better, quicker action in response to forecasts of extreme temperatures could reduce the risks and discomfort endured by five billion [...]

Drafting an ‘operating manual’ for Paris: IFRC, PfR engage with Bonn effort to unlock practical actions on climate

Drafting an ‘operating manual’ for Paris: IFRC, PfR engage with Bonn effort to unlock practical actions on climate
1 May 2018

Red Cross Red Crescent and Partners for Resilience specialists yesterday joined government leaders and other stakeholders in Bonn where the [...]

On Guatemala’s Pacific coast, PfR helps womenget standards raised on land use, mangrove conservation

On Guatemala’s Pacific coast, PfR helps womenget standards raised on land use, mangrove conservation
1 May 2018

When they saw how local beaches valued by fishers and tourists alike were being polluted and the mangroves that protect [...]

Pacific communities at the forefront of local action and adaptation

Pacific communities at the forefront of local action and adaptation
25 April 2018

(This story appeared first on the IFRC news site on Friday. The Marshall Islands Red Cross is due to be [...]

Going shelter to shelter to survive the monsoon in Cox’s Bazar

Going shelter to shelter to survive the monsoon in Cox’s Bazar
24 April 2018

(This story appeared first yesterday on the IFRC news site. IFRC Head of Emergency Operations, Steve McAndrew, describes the ongoing [...]

In just 2 months in even the ‘normal’ monsoon now forecast, Bangladesh could get rainfall close to UK

In just 2 months in even the ‘normal’ monsoon now forecast, Bangladesh could get rainfall close to UK
22 April 2018

Pre-monsoon rains fell last week on what is now regarded as the most densely populated refugee settlement in the world [...]

Local action, local heroes: PfR works on climate, resilience and livelihoods in the Philippines

Local action, local heroes: PfR works on climate, resilience and livelihoods in the Philippines
18 April 2018

A week of intensive activity by Partners for Resilience (PfR) and other agencies in the Philippines has produced agreement on [...]

Resilience and environmental protection with PfR in Guatemala (and a school trip)

Resilience and environmental protection with PfR in Guatemala (and a school trip)
18 April 2018

Since the beginning of last year, Partners for Resilience in Guatemala’s Santa Rosa department, through Wetlands International, have trained more than [...]

Climate Centre partner scientist’s international award for ‘outstanding service’

Climate Centre partner scientist’s international award for ‘outstanding service’
18 April 2018

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) last week gave the 2018 Commission on Climatology Award for Outstanding Service to Simon Mason [...]

CRED data: Almost 90% of 2017 deaths due to climatological, hydrological or meteorological disasters

CRED data: Almost 90% of 2017 deaths due to climatological, hydrological or meteorological disasters
13 April 2018

The catastrophic impact of Hurricane Irma last September on the Dutch Caribbean island of Sint Maarten is one stark datum [...]

Only about 10% of available climate finance reaches local level, NAP Expo told

Only about 10% of available climate finance reaches local level, NAP Expo told
10 April 2018

Only about 10 per cent of the climate finance available from international donors is channelled to the local level, and [...]

Red Cross Red Crescent scientists to work on next IPCC assessment of the global climate

Red Cross Red Crescent scientists to work on next IPCC assessment of the global climate
9 April 2018

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – the UN body created 30 years ago for assessing the science related [...]

Bracing for a crisis within a crisis in Bangladesh

Bracing for a crisis within a crisis in Bangladesh
9 April 2018

(This story appeared first on the IFRC news site on Friday. Rosemarie North is the IFRC communications manager for the [...]

PfR advises South Sudan on new strategic plan that ‘integrates community resilience into humanitarian assistance’

PfR advises South Sudan on new strategic plan that ‘integrates community resilience into humanitarian assistance’
5 April 2018

South Sudan’s Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management (MHADM) last week published its Strategic Plan 2018–20 for saving life [...]

Kenya Red Cross hosts first dialogue platform for forecast-based financing in Africa

Kenya Red Cross hosts first dialogue platform for forecast-based financing in Africa
4 April 2018

Ten national African meteorological services were last month represented at the first dialogue platform for forecast-based financing (FbF) to be [...]