Audio slideshow on Index insurance

Index insurance for development and disaster management from IRI Video Pages on Vimeo.

This is our latest audio slideshow, which Jason and I produced in record time for the launch of the Climate and Society publication at the 2009 Global Humanitarian Forum. I’ve written it before, and I’ll write it again: audio slideshows are a fantastic, low budget way to add pop to your stories. And we’ve found they’re much more virulent than traditional web stories. At IRI, we use Vimeo to share our multimedia.

Climate information hot topic in World Disasters Report

The latest World Disasters Report by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies argues that disaster-relief agencies need to shift focus from expensive response operations to cost-effective prevention measures. An important component of this, the report details, is using climate records, monitoring and forecasts to make planning decisions days, weeks, even months ahead. This, of course, is what the International Research Institute for Climate and Society is all about, and our work is mentioned numerous times throughout the document.

Read the whole story on the IRI home page.

Climate training for health professionals

We kicked off the second annual Summer Institute this week. Twelve public-health professionals and climate scientists from ten countries are visiting the Lamont campus, where the International Research Institute for Climate and Society is based, to learn how to use climate information to make better decisions for planning and disease prevention.

It is essential for the health community to better understand the role climate plays in determining the fundamentals of health – air, water and food – as well as its role as a driver of specific outcomes related to infectious disease, says Madeleine Thomson, who runs both the health and Africa programs at the IRI and is one of the brains behind the two-week training course.

“After all, health is fundamental to the way we understand human well-being, and a key indicator of sustainable development. Here, we like to think of climate as both a challenge and a resource,” she says.

Extreme weather events or prolonged droughts are often associated with negative outcomes, Thomson says, but by understanding climate and its associated impacts and potential predictability, decision makers can start responding proactively to climate challenges. In some situations, they can even get ahead of the game, she says. At IRI, we call it climate risk management.

Read more about the Summer Institute on Climate Information for Public Health here.

AMNH biobulletin on peatland fires

The Science Bulletins crew at the American Museum of Natural History has created brief but excellent feature about the work the International Research Institute for Climate and Society is doing in Central Kalimantan (see an earlier post for a description of that work). The piece really connects the way in which satellite and remotely-sensed data can be used to inform decision making for societally relevant issues. The AMNH became interested after viewing the audio slideshow below, which we put together after our trip to the region last year.

Reducing Indonesia’s Peatland Fires from IRI Video Pages on Vimeo.

IPCC Chief Rajendra Pachauri new IRI Board Chairman

Rajendra K. Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, has agreed to serve as the next board chairman of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society.

“I think there’s so much that the IRI can do. Climate change gives us an opportunity to reengage with rest of world and the IRI is uniquely placed to do that,” Pachauri said during IRI’s board meeting last week, the first in which he served as chairman.

Columbia University hosted a small event commemorating Pachauri’s new role in the institution, as well as honoring outgoing chairman and respected climate scientist Michael B. McElroy, from Harvard University.

“We are very appreciative of Mike’s support and counsel, which have helped build the institution from its infancy to where it is today,” said IRI Director-General Stephen E. Zebiak. “And we are both excited and honored to welcome Dr. Pachauri as our board chair. He’s a recognized global leader in climate affairs, and will assist us in engaging the growing international agenda on adaptation and climate risk management.”

The Earth Institute’s Jeffrey Sachs, also an IRI board member, praised the IRI’s mission, which is to enhance society’s ability to understand, anticipate and manage climate risk in order to improve human welfare.

“The IRI was 13 years ahead of its time in seeing the importance of linking climate and society,” he said. “The world is catching up now. Climate-change adaptation is front and center, and no other institution in the world has pioneered this field with such depth and skill.”

Visit the IRI’s Governance pages to learn more about the institution’s board and its role.

Photo: Francesco Fiondella

visual communication + science

I have been asked to give a brownbag seminar on using visuals to communicate science at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society. Should make for an interesting discussion. As I go about researching the talk, I’m sure I’ll find some excellent resources on information graphics, visual communication and design, which I’ll post on my tumblr site Communicating Science.
 
Please feel to use the comments section here to share any good links you’ve come across.

Posted via email from communicating science

Climate and coconuts – a Sri Lanka story

Millions of people in the tropics depend on coconuts for food, raw materials and liveli-hood. They are a high value commercial crop. But like any crop, coconuts are at risk of drought and other prolonged events. By using climate science and better agricultural forecast models, the IRI has helped increase the resilience of coconut plantations to climate variability in one of the world’s major producers, Sri Lanka.

The full story is available on the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) web site.

IRI’s first Q&A

We just kicked off a new series on our home page. Over the next year, I’ll be interviewing many of the luminaries that pass through our halls here at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society. My goal is to give a big picture perspective from big thinkers in the field of climate risk management and adaptation. Rather than write a full story, I’ll post Q&As, which I think can be effective tools for time-strapped science communicators. I also think serve as good resources for journalists, because the content is primary–straight from the scientists’ mouths.

Here’s an excerpt from my interview with Graeme Hammer…

It isn’t the climate forecast, stupid!