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NewSecurityBeat

The blog of the Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program
Showing posts from category extreme weather.
  • The Climate and Ocean Risk Vulnerability Index: Measuring Coastal City Resilience to Inform Action

    ›
    Guest Contributor  //  January 26, 2021  //  By Jack Stuart, Sally Yozell, Miko Maekawa & Nagisa Yoshioka
    shutterstock_1125870605

    As the climate crisis continues to worsen, climate finance remains a fraction of what is needed. The Climate Policy Initiative estimates that $579 billion was spent on average on climate finance in 2017/18. This includes domestic and international investment from both the public and private sectors towards climate mitigation and adaptation actions. Of this amount, only $30 billion—five percent—was allocated for climate adaptation. This amount stands in stark contrast to $180 billion, which the Global Commission on Adaptation estimates is needed every year to build resilience to current and future climate impacts. This catastrophic funding gap is intensifying climate security threats and elevating the vulnerability of people across the world, particularly in coastal urban centers.

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  • Sharon Guynup, Mongabay

    Brave New Arctic: Sea ice has yet to form off of Siberia, worrying scientists

    ›
    Navigating the Poles  //  November 4, 2020  //  By Wilson Center Staff
    shutterstock_497256760

    The original version of this article, by Sharon Guynup, appeared on Mongabay.

    At this time of year, in Russia’s far north Laptev Sea, the sun hovers near the horizon during the day, generating little warmth, as the region heads towards months of polar night. By late September or early October, the sea’s shallow waters should be a vast, frozen expanse.

    But not this year. For the first time since records have been kept, open water still laps this coastline in late October though snow is already falling there.

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  • 21st Century Diplomacy: Foreign Policy is Climate Policy (Report & Project Launch)

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    From the Wilson Center  //  October 1, 2020  //  By Lauren Herzer Risi & Alexander Carius

    This article is an excerpt from “21st Century Diplomacy: Foreign Policy is Climate Policy,” a new report by the Wilson Center and adelphi.

    Climate change will upend the 21st century world order. It will redefine how we live and work, and change the systems of production, trade, economics, and finance. Even now, in the midst of a global pandemic, it is clear that climate change will be the defining issue of this century. In fact, COVID-19 has only underscored the inadequacy of our responses to global crises and heightened the urgency of this call to action. 21st century diplomacy will have to raise climate ambition, shape the transformative systems change needed, and promote and facilitate new modes of multilateral collaboration.

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  • China’s Post-Pandemic Water Woes

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    Covid-19  //  Guest Contributor  //  July 20, 2020  //  By Scott Moore
    11792197813_ba004f60a5_o

    Few places have suffered more from the COVID-19 pandemic than southern China, the region where the novel coronavirus was first detected in the city of Wuhan. But it turned out that the pandemic is not the only calamity to befall south China this year. The region has been inundated by heavy rainfall since late May, creating a risk of catastrophic flooding. While southern China typically sees heavy rainfall in the summer months, state media reported that this year’s precipitation has been roughly 20 percent higher than normal. Other outlets report that flooding has affected over 30 million people across dozens of provinces and resulted in over 120 deaths. 

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  • From Crises to Building Resilience for U.S. National Security

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    From the Wilson Center  //  July 6, 2020  //  By Johnny Quispe
    190317-F-IT794-1053

    This year, three pandemics have shaken the fabric of our society, said Les Williams, Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer at Risk Cooperative at a recent event co-hosted by the Wilson Center and Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment on building greater resilience for U.S national security. The spread of COVID-19 highlighted the vulnerabilities in our healthcare system. The murder of George Floyd became the tipping point in communicating the risk that Black Americans have been facing for more than 400 years. And a number of natural disasters exposed society’s vulnerability to climate change.

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  • Our Ocean and Cryosphere Under Threat

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    Guest Contributor  //  Uncharted Territory  //  January 29, 2020  //  By David Balton

    Balton-645x416Evidence of the effects of climate change continues to mount. We see it in extreme weather events, including droughts and intense hurricanes and cyclones, in biodiversity loss, and in erratic weather patterns around the globe. While many of these impacts rightfully make it into front-page news, climate change is also profoundly affecting parts of our planet that we do not understand well—the ocean and the cryosphere.

    In September 2019, the International Panel on Climate Change issued a Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC). The report provides a new and sobering analysis of current conditions, as well as projections into the future. Produced by more than 100 authors from 36 countries, the SROCC painstakingly reviews the latest scientific literature, referencing some 7,000 scientific publications in all.

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  • Starting at the Top: Environmental Security in the Himalayas

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    Guest Contributor  //  Uncharted Territory  //  January 14, 2020  //  By Bishnu Raj Upreti

    Upreti-645x430As an inhabitant of the Himalayan region of Nepal, where 8 of the 10 highest peaks of the world are situated, I am experiencing first hand several environmental stresses and insecurities. Many of the high mountains I can see from my village, once covered in snow, are turning black. Neighboring areas are experiencing massive out-migration and demographic changes. Consequently, agriculture in the region is facing an unprecedented crisis.

    Droughts, irregular rainfall and erratic floods, landslides and mudslides, forest fires, pollution of our land and water, and energy insecurity are frequently observed in Nepal. River systems born out of the Himalayas are shrinking. Erratic climate behavior is heavily affecting the flora and fauna and contributing to biodiversity loss.

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  • Foresight for Action | Improving Predictive Capabilities for Extreme Weather and Water Events in Pakistan

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    Foresight for Action  //  Guest Contributor  //  December 18, 2019  //  By Amanda King & Michael Kugelman
    Pakistan Floods Sept 2010

    The Wilson Center is partnering with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research to develop a framework to improve predictive capabilities for security risks posed by extreme weather events. Our “Foresight for Action” series highlights research used to develop the framework.

    Pakistan ranks eighth on the list of countries most affected by extreme weather events (1998–2017 data), according to the 2019 Global Risk Index. With increasing global temperatures, severe weather and water events, like monsoons and droughts, are likely to become even more frequent and extreme in the future. Since the 1960s, Pakistan has observed changes in temperature and precipitation. By the end of the century, Pakistan’s temperatures are expected to be significantly higher than the global average.

    MORE
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