In the face of flooding, we’re all at risk, but marginalized communities are disproportionately affected. As Houston has learned after recurring disasters, floods don’t discriminate, but recovery does. To build long-term, effective resilience, the most impacted communities must be central to decision-making processes. Enter: the Harris County Flood Control District’s Community Flood Resilience Task Force.

Nature-based solutions are key to advancing climate adaptation. These are approaches that work with nature, not against it – from restoring wetlands, which can protect against storms, to conserving forests that stabilize soil and slow water runoff. Mangrove forests, for example, save an estimated $80 billion per year in avoided losses from coastal flooding globally, […]

Heavy groundwater extraction, compounded by worsening floods as the climate warms, raises the prospect of lost land and forced relocation

As the climate emergency unfolds all around us in the developing world, donors are increasingly sponsoring projects intended to reduce people’s suffering. In Nepal too, such projects are burgeoning. A suite of studies, however, warn that many such projects are making people’s lives worse, not better.

Urban poor communities are generating their own evidence to uncover the reasons – overlooked by authorities – that Karachi floods.

On the latest International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction the Albanian Red Cross partnered with the National Agency for Civil Protection, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, and the Ministry of Education and visited schools, city centres and town halls across the country to raise awareness about hazards like floods and build a culture […]

As the climate changes, floods and extreme rainfall events will become more intense. In many cases, the most disadvantaged people are at highest risk from floods and least able to bounce back when their homes and businesses are inundated.

Practical Action is an international development organization that puts ingenious ideas to work so people in poverty can change their world. We’ve been working with flood-prone communities to develop effective early warning systems (EWS) for the past two decades.

Cristina is a 23-year-old woman who lives in a community in El Salvador at risk of flooding from a nearby water reservoir. Christina’s experience has motivated other young women in the community to participate in risk management processes developed by Plan International to build flood resilience. In this blog she shares her story.