Climate Resilience (Animation)

Authored by IRI on December 5, 2015

Climate resilience: it’s the ability for communities to recover from the impacts of climate events. It’s the difference between weather being manageable…or a catastrophe. But for many parts of the world, where livelihoods depend so much on the climate, critical weather and climate information is unavailable or unusable.

The International Research Institute for Climate and Society and its partners are working in some of the most impoverished areas of the world to increase food security, decrease vulnerability to disasters and predict outbreaks of diseases such as malaria. We learn from the past, by bringing historical climate data online, we monitor present conditions, and look to the future, through forecasts and models. We’re giving experts the access and training they need to be able to use this information and develop different climate services, such as:

Early warning systems for disasters, that save both lives and recovery costs.
Rainfall predictions, that help farmers better plan their crops and increase food security.
Historical data that allows companies to issue more reliable and affordable weather-based crop insurance.
Surveillance systems that use satellite information to help malaria control managers anticipate and control epidemics.
Seasonal climate forecasts to help communities better understand and manage water systems, pushed to their limits by rapid urbanization and food production demands.

Every situation is unique. Scientists, development partners and policy makers like elected officials, must work together to generate the right data and information that meets the needs of farmers, disaster managers, city planners and other users. They must also solicit and incorporate user feedback. This iterative collaboration ultimately helps technical experts refine tools to deliver better climate services.

When we build up capacity to use climate information and help implement decision support systems, decision makers can act, knowing that the climate information they use is based on sound science.

If the world learns to cope with the climate of today, we’ll be better informed, better prepared and more resilient for the climate of the future.

The IRI was established as a cooperative agreement between NOAA’s Climate Program Office and Columbia University. It is part of The Earth Institute, Columbia University, and is located at the Lamont Campus.

Climate Resilience (Animation)

Early warning systems for disasters, that save both lives and recovery costs.

Rainfall predictions, that help farmers better plan their crops and increase food security.

Historical data that allows companies to issue more reliable and affordable weather-based crop insurance.

Surveillance systems that use satellite information to help malaria control managers anticipate and control epidemics.

Seasonal climate forecasts to help communities better understand and manage water systems, pushed to their limits by rapid urbanization and food production demands.

The IRI was established as a cooperative agreement between NOAA’s Climate Program Office and Columbia University. It is part of The Earth Institute, Columbia University, and is located at the Lamont Campus.