The World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) are engaging Tanzanian students in a large community-driven initiative for identifying flood risks. The data students collect will be critical to improving drainage, health care, and social service delivery. This initiative is guiding the development of a bachelor’s degree curriculum on sustainable […]

View from the field: Three examples of how livelihood adaptation has helped make rural Nepalese communities more resilient to flooding.

An new early warning system, installed by ICIMOD in Pakistan, protects mountain village communities from deadly glacial lake outburst flooding. This system is providing much needed resilience building for communities who’s lives, homes and livelihoods are increasingly threatened by climate change. 

 A new vision for Udon Thani transforms the city into a green ‘sponge city’ that uses natural infrastructure to protect a growing population from flooding. 

Wetlands, large and small, can be a valuable resource for creating flood resilience in cities. 

The city of Tarapoto, Peru lies roughly 950km to the northeast of the capital Lima in the San Martin region. Situated on the outskirts of the Peruvian Amazon, Tarapoto and San Martin see heavy rainfall on a periodic basis every year. At the very end of this past October heavy rains started to fall upon […]

‘Unprecedented’ events and ‘unexpected’ impacts are commonly to blame after major floods and other disasters. While the realities of both disaster risk and climate change are that they are uncertain, many disasters have historical precursors and foreseeable impacts if careful attention is paid to the dimensions of risk including physical hazards and the exposure and […]

Pumpkin farming in Bangladesh helps some of the most vulnerable people to cope with floods & climate change and so escape poverty. This reveals critical lessons for some of the biggest problems our world faces.

The island of Rajapur is a place literally made by floods, created as the Karnali River drops sediment from the Himalayan foothills just a few kilometers north of the Nepal-India border. As the river loses momentum, it splits to form a large inland delta riddled with wandering channels and sandbars. Changeable landscapes like this are […]