Search Results (627)

Climate change and sea-level change (SLC) are intensifying flooding in U.S. coastal communities, with disproportionate impacts on Black and minority neighborhoods that face displacement, economic hardship, and heightened health risks. In Norfolk, Virginia, sea levels are projected to rise by at least 0.91 m (3 ft) by 2100, placing underserved neighborhoods such as Oakleaf Forest at particular risk. This study investigates the compounded impacts of flooding at both the building and urban scales, situating the work within the framework of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). A mixed-method, community-based approach was employed, integrating literature review, field observations, and community engagement to identify flooding hotspots, document lived experiences, and determine preferences for adaptation strategies. Community participants contributed actively through mapping sessions and meetings, providing feedback on adaptation strategies to ensure that the process was collaborative, place-based, and context-specific. Preliminary findings highlight recurring flood-related vulnerabilities and the need for interventions that address both environmental and social dimensions of resilience. The study proposes multi-scale, nature-based solutions (NbS) to mitigate flooding, restore ecological functions, and enhance community capacity for adaptation. Ultimately, this work underscores the importance of coupling technical strategies with participatory processes to strengthen resilience and advance climate justice in vulnerable coastal neighborhoods. Full article

Global warming is modifying precipitation patterns, and hence increasing the hazards of severe and extended rainstorms. Addressing the gap in integrating economic and environmental assessments into urban stormwater management—a key challenge in urban water resource analysis—this study utilizes the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and SUSTAIN model to identify and evaluate low-impact development (LID) stormwater management strategies, assessing their impacts on runoff volume, peak flow reduction, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and suspended solids (SS) across four planning scenarios under five rainfall recurrence intervals, culminating in a cost–benefit analysis to ascertain the optimal scenario. The reduction rates for COD and SS varied from 41.85% to 87.11% across different scenarios, with Scenario Three (RM03) demonstrating the highest efficacy in pollutant management. (The four labels RM01–RM04 are used throughout the text to represent the four scenarios) Implementing the best plan may result in a reduction of yearly carbon emissions of 189.70 metric tons, with emissions from the operational load of the drainage network and COD pollution treatment potentially decreasing by 2.44% and 2.06%, respectively, indicating an overall annual reduction of 85.46%. This approach not only mitigates urban rainwater and flooding issues but also prevents resource wastage, optimizes resource utilization and benefits, offers a scientific foundation for urban construction and planning, and serves as a reference for sponge city development in other regions. Full article

In Mediterranean climate regions, water scarcity, seasonal droughts and hydrological extremes are exacerbated by climate change. In these areas, small dams are increasingly used as decentralized water infrastructure for water supply, especially in agricultural areas. However, several challenges must overcome when planning and managing small reservoirs. This review combines evidence from case studies to analyze the benefits and challenges of small dams. The findings show that small reservoirs may offer a wide array of ecological, agricultural, hydrological, and socio-economic benefits when strategically planned and properly maintained, providing water and contributing to groundwater recharge, vegetative restoration, and biodiversity conservation, while simultaneously controlling flash floods in a cost-effective and participatory manner. On the other hand, evaporation losses and sedimentation may affect water quality and reduce storage capacity. In addition, small dams may negatively affect river ecosystems. Persistent disturbance of downstream flow and sediment regime contributes to altered river morphology and habitat, with effects on biota, and may reduce river system resilience. These impacts are context-dependent, influenced by dam density, geomorphic setting, and climate. Finally, this study highlighted the importance of governance and maintenance practices. Polycentric and participative systems may promote more adaptable responses to water stress, whereas fragmented institutions exacerbate trade-offs between water supply and ecological integrity. Full article

Cities are increasingly vulnerable to flooding due to rapid urbanization and climate change, especially in Mediterranean climates. Although hydroinformatics, numerical modeling, and artificial intelligence can simulate and predict floods with high accuracy, critical gaps persist in assessing flood vulnerability, particularly in data-scarce environments. We present the Virtual City Simulator, a decision-making support platform that evaluates long-term multi-dimension vulnerability to flooding. It combines a synthetic Mediterranean urban model with a composite vulnerability to flooding of index based on four dimensions (social, economic, environmental, physical) and three components (exposure, susceptibility and resilience). We have developed the following: (i) a representative virtual Mediterranean city (500,000 inhabitants, 100 km²; eight neighborhood typologies), (ii) a database with default values of 36 indicators for the eight typical neighborhoods, and (iii) a user-friendly RStudio/Shiny tool that integrates the virtual city and the database, with editable values for indicators and weights, that calculates the multidimensional vulnerability index to floods, and maps the results by dimension and in an integrated way, allowing comparability among scenarios. To illustrate the potential of the tool, the paper includes three case studies: (i) the business-as-usual scenario, using the default values of the indicators and weights of the database, where the most vulnerable neighborhood and dimensions of the virtual city are identified, (ii) the impact of implementing resilience measures in the previously identified vulnerable neighborhood, and (iii) the application of the tool to a neighborhood in a Mediterranean city (Ruzafa-Valencia), combining the available real data with the virtual city database. Full article

Flooding is one of Africa’s most impactful natural disasters, significantly affecting human lives, infrastructure, and economies. This study examines the spatial and temporal distribution of historical flood events across the continent from 1927 to 2020, with a focus on fatalities, affected populations, and economic damage. Data from the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT), the fifth generation of bias-corrected European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis (ERA5), and the Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS) observational datasets were used to calculate extreme precipitation indices—Consecutive Wet Days (CWD), annual precipitation on very wet days (R95PTOT), and Annual Maximum Precipitation (AMP). Spatial analysis tools and the Mann–Kendall test were used to assess trends in flood occurrences, while Pearson correlation analysis identified key meteorological drivers across 16 African capital cities for 1981–2019. A flood frequency analysis was conducted using Weibull, Gamma, Lognormal, Gumbel, and Logistic probability distribution models to compute flood return periods for up to 100 years. Results reveal a significant upward trend with a slope above 0.50 floods per year in flood frequency and impact over the period, particularly in regions such as West Africa (Nigeria, Ghana), East Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania), North Africa (Algeria, Morocco), Central Africa (Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo), and Southern Africa (Mozambique, Malawi, South Africa). Positive trends (at 99% significance level with slopes ranging between 0.50 and 0.60 floods per year) were observed in flood-related fatalities, affected populations, and economic damage across Regional Economic Communities (RECs), individual countries, and cities of Africa. The CWD, R95PTOT, and AMP indices emerged as reliable predictors of flood events, while non-stationary return periods exhibited low uncertainties for events within 20 years. These findings underscore the urgency of implementing robust flood disaster management strategies, enhancing flood forecasting systems, and designing resilient infrastructure to mitigate growing flood risks in Africa’s rapidly changing climate. Full article

Background: The 2022 Pakistan floods devastated healthcare access for pregnant women in already impoverished areas in Sindh province. This study examines how Cash for Health assistance (CH) of USD 112 alleviated financial burdens and improved maternal health outcomes and resilience, bridging a critical literature gap on cash effectiveness in humanitarian crises. Methodology: This study used a mixed-methods approach to assess the CH assistance intervention for families of pregnant/lactating women in flood-affected rural Sindh, Pakistan. A pre-post quantitative analysis of baseline (May–June 2024) and endline (August–November 2024) survey data in ~100 villages (Jamshoro/Sehwan) examined changes in healthcare access, expenditure, and preferences using t-tests, proportion tests, and multivariable regression. Concurrently, five qualitative case studies from key informant interviews provided thematic content analysis, triangulating findings on economic, health, and social impacts. Results: Respondents predominantly had low literacy rates and were from households of daily wage laborers in vulnerable, flood-affected areas. While income and education remained low, instances of forgone care due to financial barriers increased (68% to 97%, p < 0.001). CH significantly improved healthcare access (58% to 98%, p < 0.001). Access to regular physicians (20% to 69%) and private facilities (10% to 41%) notably expanded. Healthcare expenditure significantly increased from USD 9.3 to USD 25, with a shift in spending preference towards medication, consultations, and diagnostics. CH also significantly improved food security (21% to 97%), meal frequency, and overall household stability, including reducing domestic violence. Qualitative data emphasized pre-existing vulnerabilities and CH’s role in addressing health, nutrition, and psychosocial needs. Conclusions: CH significantly improved healthcare access and reduced financial burdens for vulnerable pregnant women post-disaster. However, a sustainable impact requires integrated “cash plus” models, combining financial aid with stronger health systems, psychosocial support, and literacy for long-term resilience. Full article

Climate change is advancing, sea levels are rising, and peak river discharges are increasing. Accelerated sea level rise (SLR) may pose a significant threat to the long-term habitability of the Netherlands. In the short term, further reinforcement of flood defenses is required. However, the key long-term question is which adaptation strategy will most effectively manage flood risk in the Netherlands. As part of the SLR Knowledge Programme, research was conducted on various long-term strategies, focusing on the feasibility of three approaches: Protect, Advance, and Accommodate. The Protect and Advance strategies aim to reduce flood risk primarily through the prevention of flooding. The Accommodate strategy, particularly in its more extreme form, emphasizes Managed Retreat, following the precautionary principle, or seeks to mitigate flood consequences rather than invest in Prevention. This study examined the economic implications of two opposing cornerstone strategies, Protect and Managed Retreat, as well as hybrid strategies that integrate elements of both, across different sea level rise scenarios. Additionally, the study includes a forward-looking assessment of the potential impacts on the financial sector, with particular attention to catastrophe insurance and capital requirements aimed at mitigating default risk. The findings indicate that a Managed Retreat strategy represents a last-resort option and cannot be implemented effectively without concurrent protective measures. Furthermore, the annual flood risk is only marginally reduced under the Accommodate strategy, even when combined with protective interventions, while its associated costs significantly exceed those of the Protect strategy. A combined approach integrating protection with localized Accommodate measures that support multi-functional land use, such as nature-based solutions and water storage, appears to offer a more promising strategy, if these values cover the costs. The results can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of possible adaptation strategies to sea level rise. Full article

The Indonesian coastline holds significant potential for aquaculture but is increasingly vulnerable to climate change impacts such as land subsidence, salinization, and floodings. Ensuring stable income for local communities is essential, especially during extreme events like King Tides, which cause extensive floodings. This study assessed the productivity and economic returns of an agaroid seaweed monoculture compared to co-cultivation with Giant tiger prawn, Milkfish, and Barramundi during a King Tide. The experiment was conducted in conventional ponds with seaweed monoculture or combined with one of the three other commodities. The experiment ran from May until October in 2022 and was performed in triplicate. Floodings equalized water parameters. The results demonstrated that all systems provided stable income, with co-cultivation increasing profitability. Average revenues per hectare were USD 777 (seaweed monoculture), USD 832 (with shrimp), USD 1622 (with Milkfish), and USD 2014 (with Barramundi). Agar content was significantly higher in the seaweed monoculture, and gel strength was found to be significantly higher in the seaweeds co-cultivated with shrimp and Milkfish. Total agar production did not differ between the treatments. These findings suggest that integrated aquaculture systems can enhance income resilience while supporting food security in climate-impacted coastal zones. The approach offers a promising strategy for combining livelihood stability with adaptive coastal management and reduced environmental impact but needs to be tailored to local conditions. Full article

Urban Flooding is one of the most prevalent natural hazards worldwide, leading to substantial human and economic losses. Therefore, the assessment and mapping of flood hazard levels are essential for reducing the impact of future flood disasters. This study develops and integrates a methodology to evaluate urban flood susceptibility in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, a semi-arid region with limited prior research. Landsat imagery from 2004 to 2024 was used to analyze land use land cover change (LULCC), indicating that built-up areas increased from 124 to 180 km² in 2004 to 2024, respectively, while agricultural land decreased from 1978 km² to 1883 km² during the same period. Climate data exhibit increases in temperatures and intensifying rainfall, exacerbating flood hazards. Geospatial analysis of elevation, slope, drainage density, and proximity to water bodies highlights the high susceptibility of low-lying areas. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was employed to integrate diverse flood risk factors and produce accurate flood hazard maps. The findings show that very-high flood susceptibility zones expanded from 1537 to 1699 km² in 2004 to 2024, whereas low-susceptibility zones declined from 131 km² to 110 km². Socioeconomic indicators such as population density, built-up density, and education accessibility were also incorporated into the assessment. This study underscores the need for adaptive land use planning, resilient drainage systems, and community-based flood risk reduction strategies. The findings provide actionable insights for sustainable flood management and demonstrate the value of combining GIS, remote sensing, and multi-criteria analysis in data-scarce, conflict-affected regions. Full article

The relationship between Nile flood variability and Egyptian political stability has been studied since Barbara Bell’s pioneering work in the 1970s, yet precise causal mechanisms linking environmental stress to societal crisis have remained elusive due to chronological limitations. This paper presents a methodological framework achieving annual to decadal resolution through volcanic forcing of the East African Monsoon. Large volcanic eruptions disrupt atmospheric circulation, suppressing monsoon rainfall over the Ethiopian Highlands and reducing Nile summer floods with impacts precisely dated through ice core chronologies (±1–2 years). Applied to Ptolemaic Egypt (305–30 BCE), this methodology demonstrates that volcanic-induced flood failures significantly increased revolt probability (p < 0.02) and correlated with land sales, warfare cessations, and economic stress indicators. Statistical validation distinguishes causal relationships from chance correlations, while comparative analysis of early versus late Ptolemaic responses reveals how political legitimacy, fiscal capacity, and institutional strength determined societal resilience versus vulnerability to environmental shocks. This approach achieves temporal resolution beyond the century-scale resolution of previous studies, determining temporal sequence essential for establishing causation. The methodology is replicable across historical contexts where documentary sources overlap with ice core volcanic chronologies, offering a template for integrating paleoclimatic precision with historical analysis to understand human–environment interactions in past societies. Full article

Coastal flooding driven by sea-level rise and land subsidence poses severe risks to low-lying communities. This study evaluates the causes and impacts of coastal sinking in Sayung, Demak, Central Java, using multi-temporal Landsat imagery (1977, 2024), tidal gauge data, and GPS measurements. A set of spectral indices—Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Weighted Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (WMNDWI), Land Surface Water Index (LSWI), and Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI)—were calculated and integrated as input features for a Random Forest machine learning model to detect and classify environmental changes. Results indicated an average land subsidence rate of approximately 6 cm/year ± 0.8 cm/year, validated against InSAR-based measurements, and a classification accuracy of 91% (RMSE of 0.8 cm/year). A substantial decline in vegetation indices was observed, reflecting the conversion of agricultural land into built-up areas and water bodies. Extensive flooding and shoreline retreat were documented, with high-risk zones concentrated along densely developed coastlines. These findings highlight the urgent need for integrated management strategies, including stricter groundwater regulation, continuous remote-sensing-based monitoring, and large-scale mangrove restoration, to safeguard ecological functions and enhance the socio-economic resilience of coastal communities in the face of accelerating climate change impacts. Full article

Optimizing the shut-in and flowback processes is crucial for improving oil recovery and mitigating formation damage in shale oil development. However, the mechanisms governing fracturing fluid migration and its impact on permeability, particularly across different lithologies, remain poorly understood. This study investigates the spontaneous imbibition behavior of fracturing fluid and the resulting permeability damage in two predominant lithotypes (dolomitic siltstone and argillaceous siltstone) from the Jimsar shale oil reservoir. By integrating low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) monitoring with core flooding experiments, we dynamically characterize fluid migration and quantitatively evaluate damage rates. The results reveal that lithology exerts a fundamental control on these processes. Dolomitic siltstone, with its higher brittle mineral content and well-connected pore network, facilitates deeper fracturing fluid invasion (30.47 mm) and more efficient oil displacement. In contrast, argillaceous siltstone, which is rich in clay minerals, exhibits stronger capillary trapping and suffers more severe permeability damage (~70%) compared to dolomitic siltstone (~46%), primarily due to the synergistic effects of water blocking and clay swelling. Furthermore, the impact of shut-in time on permeability damage follows a non-monotonic trend, reflecting a dynamic competition between imbibition-driven oil recovery and fluid-induced damage. Flowback analysis on core plugs reveals an economic critical point, beyond which further permeability recovery becomes marginal. This core-scale finding underscores the importance of the initial flowback stage for efficient cleanup and provides a scientific basis for optimizing flowback strategies in the Jimsar shale and similar unconventional reservoirs. These findings offer guidance for designing lithology-specific fracturing fluid systems, optimizing shut-in durations, and tailoring flowback strategies in the Jimsar shale and analogous unconventional reservoirs. Full article

As global warming intensifies, extreme weather phenomena such as heatwaves, flash droughts, torrential floods, cold waves, and blizzards are becoming increasingly frequent. Against this backdrop, traditional static food security assessment methods fail to capture the dynamic transmission patterns of agricultural productivity risks and their regional heterogeneity. Therefore, it is imperative to reconstruct a resilience analysis paradigm for food production systems, dynamically investigate the mechanisms through which climate change affects China’s agricultural productivity and discern the interactive effects between technological evolution and climate constraints. This will provide theoretical foundations for building a climate-resilient food security system. Accordingly, this study establishes a multidimensional resilience measurement index system for China’s grain productivity by integrating agricultural factor elasticity analysis with disaster impact response modeling. Through production function decomposition and hybrid forecasting models, we reveal the evolutionary patterns of China’s grain productivity under climate risk shocks and trace the transmission pathways of risk fluctuations. Key findings indicate the following: (1) Extreme climate events exhibit significant negative correlations with grain production, with drought and flood impacts demonstrating pronounced regional heterogeneity. (2) A dynamic game relationship exists between agricultural technological progress and climate risk constraints, where the marginal contribution of resource efficiency improvements to productivity growth shows diminishing returns. (3) Climate-sensitive factors vary substantially across agricultural zones: Northeast China faces dominant cold damage, North China experiences drought stress, while South China contends with humid-heat disasters as primary regional risks. Consequently, strengthening foundational agricultural infrastructure and optimizing regionally differentiated risk mitigation strategies constitute critical pathways for enhancing food security resilience. (4) Future research should leverage higher-resolution, county-level data and incorporate a wider range of socio-economic variables to enhance granular understanding and predictive accuracy. Full article

Rapid urban growth and the expansion of impervious surfaces have intensified environmental issues such as flooding, water pollution, and urban heat islands. Permeable pavements have emerged as a green infrastructure solution to mitigate these impacts and support the sustainable development of cities. The aim of this study was to conduct an integrative review on the state of the art of permeable pavements, with a focus on their technical and environmental contributions. The methodology followed the PRISMA guidelines, using the Scopus database to select the most cited articles across four thematic areas: Life Cycle Assessment; infiltration capacity and pollutant retention; mitigation of heat islands and flooding; and the impacts of climate and clogging. The results show that, despite the initial cost and production-related impacts, permeable pavements offer long-lasting benefits, including reduced surface runoff, pollutant filtration, and evaporative cooling. The main economic limitations identified were clogging, which decreases system efficiency, and the high implementation cost, highlighting the need for regular maintenance and innovations in materials. In summary, permeable pavements are an effective strategy for sustainable urban development, but their longevity depends on proper design and maintenance. Full article

The increasing occurrence of extreme rainfall events often leads to flash floods, infrastructure damage, loss of human life, and significant economic impacts. There is a pressing need for data-driven assessments and the application of robust analytical approaches to better understand these changes. Analyzing ground-level daily rainfall data from 1985 to 2023 from 26 monitoring stations, this study first employs the Mann–Kendall test using robust statistics including minimum, median, various quartiles, and maximum rainfall values for detecting long-term trends across Saudi Arabia. Next, the k-means clustering technique is applied to characterize the annual rainfall cycles across different regions of the country. Finally, the Peaks Over Threshold (POT) approach within Extreme Value Theory (EVT) is employed to identify site-specific thresholds for extreme rainfall using the Generalized Pareto Distribution (GPD). This automated, data-driven method offers a more objective alternative to the commonly used ad hoc percentile-based threshold selection, thereby enhancing the rigour and reproducibility of extreme rainfall analysis. Local specific thresholds were computed ranging from about 16 to 47 mm from Arar and Jazan, respectively. These thresholds were then used to calculate the frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall events. The fitted GPD parameters were further used to estimate return levels (RLs) for different return periods (2-, 5-, 10-, 20-, 50-, and 100-year) into the future. The results underscore considerable spatial variability in extreme rainfall behaviour across Saudi Arabia, with a higher likelihood of intense and infrequent precipitation events in the coming decades. Full article