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A flooded street in Germany with a rescue boat pulled up to a window to evacuate people from a building.

When Record-Breaking Is the Norm: Mitigating the Impacts of Extreme Rainfall Events in a Changing Climate

This story was originally written by Kai Kornhuber, Mona Hemmati, and Andrew Kruczkiewicz and published on the State of the Planet blog, as part of Climate Week NYC coverage. Learn more about Climate Week, read other stories, and check out upcoming events. Torrential rainfall quickly transformed New York City’s streets and expressways into rivers and lakes on Wednesday night […]

Insurance Tools for Climate Adaptation: Q&A with Rahel Diro

The world’s 570 million smallholder farmers are among the most vulnerable to the impacts of current and future climate variability and climate change. They need support and science-based strategies to make their communities resilient to these impacts and enable them to have sustainable livelihoods no matter what the climate might bring. One adaptation strategy being […]

Warfare, Not Climate, Is Driving Resurgent Hunger in Africa, Says Study

After Years of Progress on Food Security, Some Nations See Sharp Reversals This story was originally written by Kevin Krajick and published on the State of the Planet blog. For years, it seemed the world was making progress eliminating hunger. Then, starting in 2014, the trend slid back slowly and reversed in many nations; now, some […]

A Bangladesh man punts an empty boat across a river, with buildings of Dhaka in the background.

Populations Exposed to Flooding Growing Much Faster Than Thought – New Study

Originally adapted from a press release from Cloud to Street. A new study indicates that the number of people affected by floods is growing much faster than scientists previously had thought, due both to increased inundation and migration of people into flood-prone areas. Using direct satellite observations rather than standard model estimates, the authors showed […]

iKON: Playing to Adapt

Climate risk instruments are designed to help farmers adapt to climate variability and change. These instruments are usually driven by data from satellites and weather stations, but these data sets can be improved over time using community-sourced observation data. Currently, such farmer data collection is limited to small-scale focus groups. However, increasing constraints on direct […]

A figure, seen from only the shoulders down, in the background walks along the edge of a rice paddy. The rice grains are in focus in the foreground.

To Tackle Food Insecurity, Invest in Digital Climate Services for Agriculture 

This piece was originally authored by Tyler Ferdinand, Cristina Rumbaitis del Rio, and Katiuscia Fara and published by the World Resources Institute. New recommendations by the World Resources Institute, International Research Institute for Climate and Society, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, World Food Programme and the Global Center on Adaptation outline path to maximize impact of […]

Virtual Climate Services Training for Professionals in Bangladesh

In the pre-pandemic era, much of the work of expanding the capacity of government agencies, meteorological departments, and local partners to combat hunger by increasing climate knowledge carried out by the Adapting Agriculture to Climate Today, for Tomorrow (ACToday) Columbia World Project took place in-person. Staff from the International Research Institute for Climate and Society […]

A herd of white cattle with tall horns walk towards the camera. There is a walled village and two Senegalese herders in the distant background.

Beyond Food Security: ACToday Addressing Climate-Nutrition Linkages in Senegal

The Adapting Agriculture to Climate Today, for Tomorrow (ACToday) Columbia World Project is working with Senegal’s Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD), home to the country’s largest master’s and doctoral training programs, to address one of the most under-researched topics in development: the links between climate and nutrition.  In March, ACToday-Senegal hosted an online event that […]

A photograph of several pink canvas bags of different types of grain on the ground at a market in Hosaena, Ethiopia.

Launching Ethiopia’s Future in Climate Services

The ACToday Columbia World Project has supported the government of Ethiopia in launching a national climate plan that will ensure the availability of the best climate information and use of that information to guide the country’s adaptation strategies for years to come. Ethiopia’s National Meteorological Agency (NMA) unveiled the new plan, which it developed in […]

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