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IRI to develop climate adaptation tools to help farmers in South and Southeast Asia

A new two-year climate change initiative, led by the International Research Institute for Climate and Society aims to help farmers in Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Bangladesh reduce their vulnerability to climate risks. The International Fund for Agricultural Development is the primary project sponsor and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has provided additional resources. The project was […]

Climate adaptation tools to help farmers in South and Southeast Asia

A new two-year climate change initiative, led by the International Research Institute for Climate and Society aims to help farmers in Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Bangladesh reduce their vulnerability to climate risks. The International Fund for Agricultural Development is the primary project sponsor and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has provided additional resources. […]

IRI Names New Deputy Director

Haresh Bhojwani has been appointed to be the Deputy Director of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society, part of Columbia University’s Earth Institute. He will coordinate IRI’s connections with development and humanitarian organizations so that IRI’s research can target the needs of those vulnerable to climate impacts, especially through the institution’s international collaborations. […]

Discussing Climate, Cities and Food

On October 29, the Earth Institute and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society were slated to hold a discussion on climate, food and cities. The event was canceled, though, as Sandy made landfall that night. In the wake of the storm, which left millions without power and washed away neighborhoods on the Jersey Shore, Staten Island and […]

Power Tool Helps Climate, Public Health Researchers Drill into Data

by Brian Kahn Health and climate are intrinsically linked, yet they rarely operate on the same scales. The flu doesn’t last all winter and malaria outbreaks don’t happen with the first drops of rain, yet deciphering the relationships of these and other infectious diseases with climate factors is vitally important to public health professionals. This […]

Rising Tides and Shrimp from the Banks of the Amazon Forest

A team of scientists from the Earth Institute, including IRI’s Katia Fernandez, have come to the Amazon delta to find out how communities are adapting. The researchers want to understand how the climate is changing, and how they can help with better forecasting and strategies for adaptation as part of a project titled, “Socio-Cultural Adaptations of […]

Role-Reversal (and Some Fun) at AGU

Francesco Fiondella is normally behind the scenes writing web stories, developing audio slideshows and videos for the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI). But at this year’s annual American Geophysical Union (AGU), the tables were turned for a brief moment. To see what happened when IRI scientist Andy Barnston ambushed Francesco about his presentation on unconventional […]

Poor Ethiopian Farmers Receive “Unprecedented” Insurance Payout

Oxfam America and The Rockefeller Foundation announced a weather index insurance payout of unprecedented scale directly to poor farmers. Thanks to a groundbreaking new program that relies on advanced satellite technology, more than 12,200 farmers in 45 villages in Northern Ethiopia will benefit from drought protection. As a result of this year’s drought conditions each […]

A River Runs Through It: Predicting Floods in the Midwest

Three of North America’s major rivers run through the Midwestern U.S. In the spring of 2011, major flooding in region caused an estimated $3 billion in damages and killed seven people. Although scientists cannot predict exact precipitation amounts for a given season, they can attempt to predict the odds that a given season will have below average, […]

Visualizing Malaria from Space

By Elisabeth Gawthrop, Climate and Society ’13 Public health professionals are increasingly concerned about the impact climate variability and change can have on infectious diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and bacterial meningitis. However, in order to study the relationships between climate and health, researchers first need access to the appropriate kinds of climate data — an […]

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