What's New in Knowledge | August 2025
The United Nations have released their first Global Risk Report for 2025 which outlines the biggest risks to global society and involves the surveying of 1,100 different stakeholders.
The July 2025 edition of the Australian Journal of Emergency Management is available to read here.
The latest State of the UK Climate report, that looks at the state of the climate across 2024 including climate trends, variations and extremes.
In understanding consequences and recovery, the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute has a new research paper that explores integrating housing policy, settlement planning and disaster management.
In thinking about systemic risk, The UK government has released a Chronic Risk Report that analyses the top 26 risks to the UK including environmental risks, security risks, geopolitical risks etc. Extreme heat is being labelled as the deadliest climate related risk of our time. Here is some research on resilience in practice which explores what is leading Europe’s shift towards systemic climate adaptation.
In disaster risk reduction, this article looks at the links between sustainable development goals and urban resilience, and the opportunities to align urban agendas. This article looks at knowledge gaps in disaster risk reduction and public understanding of social and green infrastructure in Japan. This research seeks to bridge the gap between policy and lived experience by looking at case studies in England.
Focusing on First Nations knowledge, to combat heat in India, people are turning to the traditional use of vetiver grass which can be used to cool both indoor and outdoor spaces.
For children and young people, this article explores the heat burden on children’s sport between 1970 and 2025.
For animals in disasters, the World Organisation for Animal Health has released a new training package on emergency management for animals in disasters which is available on their e-learning platform, along with a plethora of other online learning modules.
Recognizing inequity, here is a research brief provided by the Red Cross and Red Crescent Climate Centre on the topic of mapping refugees and internally displaced persons exposure to climate-related hazards. This is an article that shares new research on gendered vulnerabilities and sexual violence, and intersecting inequalities as they emerged in the 2024 floods in Porto Alegre, Brazil. On a more positive note, across Africa, women’s financial empowerment is helping to build their climate resilience.
Looking at weather matters and climate change, here is the latest edition of The Frontiers Report that is spotlighting the emerging environmental issues before they escalate into global or regional crises.
Focusing on extreme heat, climate change has tripled heat related deaths during the recent European summer heatwave in mid to late July.
In health, more research is being done into the impacts on the human body when exposed to wildfire smoke and how much this danger has been overlooked in the past.
Looking at governance, leadership and capacity building, the Australian Local Government Association has released a new report ‘Adapting together: Local government leadership in a changing climate’.
Looking at knowledge development and translation, research suggests that data released on climate related risks/events and associated data is becoming harder to interpret. This can be tackled by creating clear and simple data representations/visualisations to bring it closer to home. View the Global Data Centres physical climate risk and adaptation report.
Examining the frontiers in technology, this article focuses on a new digital, web based technology called DIGITERRA that enhances accessibility to seismic damage estimation through machine learning techniques. In the US, there is a new technology being utilised in Mississippi called Streetwyze. This digital mapping tool is used to measure neighborhood level exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity to flooding in the city.
On the topic of science and technology, as summer has approached the northern hemisphere, new technology has been developed in the form of a passive cooling paint that maximizes thermal optical and mass transfer properties.
Here is how AI is helping tackle the complexity of disaster risk. AI is also being utilised to ‘see’ landslides and detect them ahead of time/predict severity to target appropriate disaster response.
Did you know, humans have been adapting for millennia? Here are some ways we are currently adapting to climate change.
WNIK Radio
This interesting podcast developed by wonderland labs is called Innovating on the frontlines, and is focused on the frontlines of the wildfire crises in North America. Here is an oldy but a goodie podcast series called After disaster, presented by Kate Brady and developed by the Australian Red Cross and the University of Melbourne.
There is also a brand-new episode of the Disrupting disasters podcast featuring Carl Hammington who talks about health and mindset and doing hard things.
Sources: Prevention Web, Nature, The Conversation, UNDRR, International Journal on Disaster Risk Reduction, LinkedIn, Sandy Whight, Isabel Cornes.