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When ecosystems are damaged by a disaster, the losses rarely appear in any official record.

Crops lost to a cyclone may be counted. But the wetland that buffered the storm surge, the forest that slowed the flood, the reef that absorbed the wave energy – these losses are harder to measure, and harder still to find in national data systems.

A new framework from United Nations University - EHS, UN Environment Programme, Asia Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN) and UNDRR is there to change that. It introduces a standardised approach to identifying, monitoring, and assessing losses of biodiversity and ecosystem services linked to climate change and disaster events – across both sudden-onset events like storms and slow-onset processes like ocean acidification.

The framework works across three dimensions:
🌿 Ecosystem extent – how much has been lost or degraded
📊 Ecosystem condition – including biodiversity change
💡 Diverse values of nature – from carbon storage to cultural identity to community health

Monitoring across all three, before and after hazardous events, builds the evidence base that planning, finance, and policy decisions currently lack.

Without this data, countries struggle to access finance for ecosystem-related loss and damage, report transparently under the Paris Agreement, or integrate environmental losses into Sendai Framework monitoring.

The DELTA Resilience system is a complementary tracking tool for structured integration of environmental losses – a significant step toward more complete disaster accounting.

Access the Framework ➡️ https://ow.ly/CFTZ50Z8VhL

When two or more hazards collide, the impact can far exceed the sum of its parts.

Compound events – hazards occurring simultaneously or in close succession – are harder to predict and harder to manage – and are becoming increasingly common as the climate changes.

These three examples show the pattern:
🌡️ Australia, 2019 – Extreme heat was followed by flooding that killed more than 500,000 cattle and caused economic losses of more than US$1.2 billion.
🌊 Japan, 2018 – Severe flooding damaged homes and disrupted electricity networks, leaving communities far more exposed to the intense heatwave that followed.
🔥 Mediterranean, 2021 – Temperatures approaching 50°C and coastal flooding struck simultaneously, overwhelming infrastructure and emergency response.

Traditional risk assessments often evaluate hazards in isolation – this can lead to a major underestimation of risk

Reducing compound risk requires integrated responses: resilient infrastructure, nature-based solutions, early warning systems, and risk-informed urban planning that accounts for combined – not just individual – hazard scenarios.

Explore further ➡️ https://ow.ly/ukfH50Z7TTs

Disasters are not defined by natural hazards alone; they are the product of complex interactions between multiple hazards, entrenched social vulnerabilities, and systemic governance failures.

🌍 Interdependent risks – climate, conflict, fragility – interact with systemic governance failures like:
• Fragmented institutions
• Technocratic rigidity
• Social exclusion

These failures generate vulnerability, magnify exposure, and contribute to compound disasters that cross sectors and borders.

An npj Natural Hazards special issue explores how:
– Earthquakes become disasters through social vulnerability
– Climate extremes cascade across agriculture, fire, and infrastructure
– Governance breakdown turns hazard into catastrophe

To tackle this complex dynamic we need integrated, anticipatory, and justice-driven systemic risk governance.

🔎Investigate further ➡️ https://ow.ly/axXI50ZaAuJ

❄️ Why do severe winter storms still occur in a warming climate?

Climate change does not remove cold weather: it changes how it behaves.

As global temperatures rise, winters are milder on average and snow cover is declining. Yet warming also alters atmospheric dynamics, sometimes increasing winter disruption.

Key mechanisms include:
🌀 Polar vortex shifts – when weakened or displaced, it can amplify jet stream swings and push Arctic air south.
💧 More atmospheric moisture – warmer air and oceans fuel heavier snow, sleet, or freezing rain when cold air is present.
⚖️ Competing effects – reduced temperature contrasts can weaken storms, while extremes may intensify.

The result: fewer cold events overall, but potentially sharper impacts when they occur.

Understanding this complexity strengthens forecasting, early warnings, and preparedness.

Learn more ➡️ https://ow.ly/j63S50Z7G9P

More rain is falling across the United States; at the same time, droughts are getting worse.

Both are symptoms of the same disruption: Rising temperatures are pushing the water cycle out of sync. Warmer air holds more moisture – producing heavier downpours. But when rain arrives faster than soil can absorb it, water runs off rather than sinking in and recharging groundwater. Higher temperatures then accelerate evaporation during the gaps between storms, drying out landscapes faster than before.

The apparent paradox is that more water is falling while less is being retained.

Research from UMass Amherst is documenting these shifts across the US and beyond. In the Northeast alone, wet years and dry years are both becoming more frequent. The same dynamic is playing out across climates worldwide.

These shifts call for changes in infrastructure, policy, and behaviour:
💧 Urban design that works with water – rain gardens, bioswales, and drainage systems built for heavier storms
🏙️ Land-use planning that treats flood risk as a baseline, not an exception
🚿 Conservation measures that stretch water supply through dry periods
📊 Climate data infrastructure that gives communities and farmers the scenarios they need to plan ahead

In the long term, reducing greenhouse gas emissions remains the only lever capable of slowing the underlying disruption to precipitation patterns.

The water cycle has always been a system of extremes – what is changing is how far human-driven warming is pushing it.

➡️ https://ow.ly/Sfcm50Zb91W

🌡️ Cities across Europe and Central Asia are increasingly affected by extreme heat.

Through improved governance, data-driven planning, urban design, and community support systems, municipalities are working to reduce risks and protect the most vulnerable.

This article highlights 5️⃣ approaches shaping heat resilience across the region.

Read more here ➡️ https://ow.ly/ArIC50XGll1

El 75% de las empresas que no cuentan con un plan de continuidad cierran dentro de los tres años posteriores a un desastre.

Fortalecer la preparación del sector privado no solo protege negocios: protege empleos, economías locales y medios de subsistencia. Integrar a las empresas en los sistemas de alerta temprana y en la planificación ante desastres es clave para construir resiliencia y reducir pérdidas.

La iniciativa Alerta Temprana para Todas las Personas promueve que, para 2027, todas las personas (incluido el sector privado) estén protegidas por sistemas de alerta temprana multiamenaza. Esto implica mejorar la coordinación entre empresas, gobiernos y comunidades, y asegurar que la información llegue a tiempo para tomar decisiones críticas.

Invertir en preparación empresarial y en alertas tempranas fortalece la continuidad operativa y reduce significativamente los impactos económicos de los desastres.

Assistive technology users are too often invisible in disaster preparedness. That has to change.

🔹 Access to assistive technology is a recognised right
🔹 Inclusive disaster risk reduction protects people from foreseeable risks
🔹 Assistive technology saves lives – when delivered alongside essential inclusion measures
🔹 Assistive technology builds resilience in everyday life, not just in emergencies
🔹 Governments must ensure assistive technology is available, accessible and affordable
🔹 Assistive technology users must lead the solutions
🔹 Co-design with organisations of people with disabilities must span preparedness, early warning and risk communication
🔹 Excluding assistive technology users puts lives at risk

Today, 4 June, is World Day for Assistive Technology. Learn more about leveraging assistive technology for inclusive disaster risk reduction and climate action in this policy brief by UNDRR and ATscale, the Global Partnership for Assistive Technology ➡️ https://ow.ly/Ev9c50Z7whh Unlock The Everyday