“In our work on natural disasters, we visualize data from EM-DAT, the most comprehensive international disaster database. Make a chart of the number of recorded disaster events over time — like the one above — and it looks like the number of disasters rose alarmingly from the 1970s to the millennium. This has led to many media outlets and organizations claiming that the number of disasters has quadrupled over the last 50 years.

However, as EM-DAT itself makes clear, most of this is due to improvements in recording. The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, which builds this database, was not established until 1973, and didn’t start publishing EM-DAT until 1988.

The number of recorded disasters increased due to more focused efforts to obtain globally comprehensive data and improvements in communication technologies, which allowed more events to be included, even in the planet’s most remote areas.”

From Our World in Data.

“One of the nation’s largest homebuilders have created a community of entirely wildfire-resilient homes to help reduce homebuyers’ risks of loss if another Palisades or Dixie fire comes roaring by.

With nothing flammable on the exterior or the roofs and curated desert foliage around the gardens and lawns, the homes aren’t necessarily fireproof, but the design of the entire community was informed by identifying and eliminating the most common causes of homes catching fire.

Available now, and with some already off the market, KB Homes estimates their price at around $1 million, a price consistent with disaster-proof housing around the country.”

From Good News Network.

“Using an innovative planting technique, Javier Munoz has been trialling the ‘Jaspe’ strain created by experts at the Agricultural Research Institute’s (INIA) Rice Breeding Program.

It is one of several research efforts worldwide to come up with less resource-hungry crops at a time of increased water scarcity in parts of the world due to global warming.

Using Jaspe in combination with a growing method that requires only intermittent watering cut the Munoz family’s water consumption in half in a country that has for generations cultivated rice in flooded fields, or paddies.

At the same time, yield rocketed, with each seed yielding about thirty plants — nearly ten times more than a conventional rice field.”

From FRANCE 24.

“The southwest monsoon’s early arrival in India this year is good news for crops, but exactly when, where, and how much rain will fall over the next few months are still difficult questions to answer.

To help solve that dilemma, India is hoping that a new weather model can significantly help boost its capabilities by forecasting at a resolution of roughly 6 kilometers (3.7 miles), doubling the level of detail previously possible. That means it can zero in on smaller geographic areas and give more localized predictions, helping farmers tailor their decisions and enabling better flood preparation ahead of extreme rainfall events.”

From Bloomberg.