March 15

What happened this week?

USA – Floods in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota as Rain and Melting Snow Push Rivers to Record Levels.Via Social Media, NWS Omaha / Valley NE said on 14 March, “Historic river flooding will continue today! Evacuations (are) ongoing in multiple locations. Please listen to local authorities and heed any evacuation orders. This is a very serious situation”...Read more

Damaging storms spawn tornadoes in New Mexico, leave thousands without power in Texas. Tornado damage was reported in Chaves County, New Mexico, Tuesday night, according to the Chaves County Sheriff's Office. The sheriff's office said the rain-wrapped tornado moved into the town of Dexter and damaged several homes...Read more

Extremely heavy rain, deadly floods and landslides hit São Paulo, Brazil. At least 12 people have died and 6 have been injured after extremely heavy rain, floods and landslides hit the state of São Paulo, Brazil on March 10 and 11, 2019. Floodwaters inundated several areas of the city of São Paulo (population 14.7 million), blocked major roads and caused severe traffic disruption. More heavy rain is expected across the country in the days and weeks ahead...Read more

Interesting Facts

The track of all the Fires in Chile. On the afternoon of February 14, in the town of San José Dollinco, municipality of Nacimiento, a forest fire started that destroyed 2,664 hectares, mainly of eucalyptus trees. Until today, a month later, the works continue, because only his control has been achieved, but not the total extinction...Read more

Policy Developments and Outlook


Americans in cool states misjudge threat from rising heat waves. Right now, people in cooler areas "don't experience hotter weather as frequently," said co-author Peter Howe from Utah State University.That means "they have less of that experience ... to handle those hot days"... Read more

Governments seek U.N. scrutiny of technologies to cool the climate. As climate change accelerates, the United Nations Environment Assembly will this week consider whether to start assessing, and setting rules on, technologies that could pull carbon out of the atmosphere or block some of the sun's warmth to cool the Earth... Read more

Hunger, chronic poverty and the effects of climate change demand that we step up our efforts to reduce disaster risk and drought risk in particular.That was the message delivered today in an official statement to the UN Environment Assembly by the UN Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mami Mizutori.“If we don’t win the race against climate change we are not going to be successful in reducing disaster losses,” she added.... Read more

Check out the Newsletter of ECPA, this time: "ECOMICRO- Green Finances for MSMEs and Low Income Household". At a time when climate change is headline news, it may seem like a no-brainer for a financial institution to offer green loans. But it's not as simple as just launching a new product. As a official at the Grenada Development Bank explained, it's importante to first understand the market and the technologies available and the identify solutions that will work locally and meet customers' needs... Read more