A new initiative will use state-of-the-art science to help Asian and African societies to understand the role of climate change in extreme weather events and prepare for future ones.

The ‘Raising Risk Awareness’ initiative brings together scientists from ‘World Weather Attribution’ (WWA) initiative  – an effort led by Climate Central with the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, University of Oxford, University of Melbourne and Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute – with CDKN. It will assess whether climate change has contributed to extreme weather events such as droughts, floods and heatwaves in several countries across East Africa and South Asia.

The team will use peer-reviewed methods to discover the links – and will distribute the information widely to the press, policy-makers and the public in these countries.

“These regions are particularly vulnerable to weather disasters,“ said Paul Hanle, Climate Central President and CEO. “We are pleased to join CDKN in this important international alliance that draws upon the cutting edge climate science to manage climate risk.”

“We are unfortunately living through times when human induced climate change is wreaking havoc for the world. Extreme weather events are increasing in frequency, which is causing mass destruction and casualties all over the world. The ‘Raising Risk Awareness’ project, has the potential to greatly reduce the damage that extreme weather events can cause to vast swathes of populations through a multi-pronged approach of amalgamating robust scientific research, dynamic communication techniques and policy engagement.’’ said Hina Lotia, Director of Programmes, Lead Pakistan/CDKN Asia. For details, visit www.cdkn.org/raising-risk-awareness