Since 2006, local communities in the northeast of Syria have been facing severe drought, due to high temperatures and low rainfall. The drought has led to desertification, as the dry conditions and sandstorms have swallowed up arable land and vegetation. This has had a particular effect on Bedouin communities, who live outside the cities in […]
Cultivating hope in Syria Read More »
This guide has been developed to specifically support Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and IFRC staff to more systematically integrate risk reduction measures into their planning. By describing in detail what key issues need to be considered and when, this guidance aims at ensuring that risk reduction measures are taken into account in different
A guide to mainstreaming disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation Read More »
The Working Group II contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report presents the current state of knowledge on climate impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Compared to the Fourth Assessment Report in 2007, “AR5” has a much stronger focus on risks. It presents a cold, realistic assessment of how risks are already changing and are bound to
This report presents the World Bank’s experience in climate and disaster resilient development, and contends that such development is essential to eliminating extreme poverty and achieving shared prosperity by 2030. The report recognizes, however, that such development requires additional start-up costs, which pay off in the long run if done correctly. Given this, the report argues for closer collaboration between the
Building Resilience: Integrating Climate and Disaster Risk into Development Read More »
Games encourage empowered action and they generate shared experiences and discussions that are truly participatory. For humanitarian organizations and local volunteers it is an active learning experience; a playful dialogue about situated action rather than an abstract discussion or exercise.Despite their usefulness, many people view games as a child’s pastime, as a medium that is not serious, and is
This book addresses a major gap in adaptation efforts to date by pointing to the vital role that an understanding of population dynamics and an extensive use of demographic data have in developing pre-emptive and effective adaptation policies and practices. Politics and an oversimplified understanding of demographic dynamics have long kept population issues out of
The Demography of Adaptation to Climate Change Read More »
This is a card based game designed to accelerate the learning processes required to turn early warning into early action. The game is based on forecast-based options and decisions. In many developing countries, consumers of weather forecasts often cannot understand experts’ statements about likely future conditions; scientists meanwhile cannot understand why their forecasts are not
The Before the Storm game Read More »
This is a resilience game in which players assume the role of subsistence farmers organized into village teams, players make individual decisions that lead to collective patterns of choice and risk. The game features trade-offs between collaboration and competition, as well complex feedbacks and thresholds that enable rich discussions involving key resilience concepts. Online home for
The Dissolving Disasters Game Read More »
The game centres on climate-related information in decision-making at the community level, and how neighbouring upstream and downstream communities can work together to manage consequences of flood, drought and deforestation. Video of the game, Video of the game, Video of the game in Spanish http://vimeo.com/46378989, http://vimeo.com/46378989, http://vimeo.com/45097866
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Ready! enables focused conversations with communities on disaster preparedness and disaster risk reduction. It was designed by students at Parsons School of Design for use by the American Red Cross in the Zambezi river basin. Ready! is a relatively physical game that can be played using virtually any disaster scenario. The game is played with simple materials