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Report: 2020-2021 Highlights from the ACToday Columbia World Project

By Lisa Goddard and Walter Baethgen, co-leads of ACToday We are excited to share our latest highlights from the Adapting Agriculture to Climate Today, for Tomorrow (ACToday) Columbia World Project. During a period marked by global upheaval and tragedy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been especially inspired to keep our work on track. […]

April Climate Briefing: La Niña Packing Her Bags

Read our ENSO Essentials & Impacts pages for more about El Niño and La Niña. In mid-April, the tropical Pacific sea-surface temperatures remained just within the weak La Niña range, and while some atmospheric indicators appeared weakly La Niña-like, others were consistent with ENSO neutral conditions. A new set of model runs predicts La Niña conditions are likely to dissipate by […]

Combining Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge Enhances Fire Management in the Sahel

This blog was originally published on the Earth Institute’s State of the Planet blog. It was written by Natalie Duncan, an intern with IRI’s Adapting Agriculture to Climate Today, for Tomorrow (ACToday) project. The Sahel is an unforgivingly hot and arid belt stretching across the African continent, from Senegal to Chad. It marks the transitional […]

March Climate Briefing: La Niña Starting to Wrap Up

Read our ENSO Essentials & Impacts pages for more about El Niño and La Niña. In mid-March, the tropical Pacific sea-surface temperatures remained below average and within the moderate strength La Niña range. All atmospheric parameters also indicated La Niña conditions. A new set of model runs predicts La Niña conditions are likely to dissipate by June 2021, with neutral […]

Improving Risk Indicators: Introducing the Next Generation Drought Index Project

Across the globe, food security continues to be a significant challenge, one that is estimated to increase with the compounding factors of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. The Next Generation Drought Index (NGDI) project addresses this challenge by leveraging satellite technology and drought modeling to provide humanitarian and development agencies access to the latest and most […]

Q&A with Lisa Goddard on Leadership in Climate Science

Lisa Goddard’s career at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society stretches back to when the institute was based on the West Coast and some of its scientists surfed on their lunch breaks (we won’t name names…).  Goddard is internationally recognized for her work in climate science, and has held several leadership positions in […]

A New Definition of Rainy Season Onset Dates In Vietnam Tailored to Agriculture

Researchers at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society have found a significant relationship between the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the start of the rainy seasons in two agriculturally important regions of Vietnam: the Central Highlands, where most of the country’s coffee crop is grown, and the Mekong River Delta, which produces the […]

Coffee for the birds: Connecting bird-watchers with shade-grown coffee

Adapted from a release published by Virginia Tech. Since 1970, bird populations in North America have declined by approximately 2.9 billion birds, a loss of more than one in four birds. Factors in this decline include habitat loss and ecosystem degradation from human actions on the landscape. At the same time, enthusiasm for bird-watching has […]

February Climate Briefing: La Niña to Hold on a Bit Longer

Read our ENSO Essentials & Impacts pages for more about El Niño and La Niña. In mid-February, the tropical Pacific sea-surface temperatures rose slightly but remained below average and within the moderate strength La Niña range. All atmospheric parameters also indicated La Niña conditions. A new set of model runs predicts La Niña conditions are likely to dissipate by April-June […]

Video: Adapting Agriculture to Climate Today, for Tomorrow

For decades, the International Research Institute for Climate and Society has worked across the globe to build climate information resources. Adapting Agriculture to Climate Today, for Tomorrow (ACToday), a Columbia World Project, is in many ways a culmination of this work. The project aims to combat hunger by increasing climate knowledge in six countries that […]

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