The most vulnerable communities are being pushed deeper into poverty with each climate-related disaster. Part of the problem is that government aid helps the wealthiest people most.
Boris Johnson and Joe Biden greet each other at the COP26 UN climate conference.
Robert Perry / EPA-EFE
Politicians have more incentive to react to current climate disasters, but more investment is needed in preparing for future problems.
A banner reads “Fuera Luma” (Luma out), opposing the company managing Puerto Rico’s electric grid, at a May Day protest in San Juan on May 1, 2021.
Ricardo Arduengo/AFP via Getty Images
Four years after Hurricane Maria wreaked havoc on Puerto Rico, federal money to rebuild its electricity system is finally about to flow. But it may not deliver what islanders want.
Aid agencies have months of work ahead dealing with the aftermath of the latest Haitian earthquake.
Orlando Barria/EPA
Aid workers are struggling to help Haitians with the latest devastating earthquake. A professor of disaster reduction assesses lessons learnt from the last one in 2010.
Heavy rains struck Middle Tennessee, causing flash floods that killed people and swept away homes and vehicles.
AP Photo/John Amis
The Trump White House questioned the value of foreign aid and neglected policies related to helping low-income countries. But US aid had already needed improvement.
Residents of Cagayan de Oro survey what’s left of their homes the day after Typhoon Washi hit the Philippines in 2011.
Months after Typhoon Washi tore through the Philippines in 2011, relocated residents were moving into newly built housing. They soon began modifying and extending homes that didn’t meet their needs.
Social solidarity networks have an edge over government: speed, innovation, and local responsiveness.
Getty Images
Donated goods often not only fail to help those in actual need but cause congestion, tie up resources and further hurt local economies.
Three-year-old Ailianie Hernandez waits with her mother, Julianna Ageljo, to apply for Puerto Rico’s nutritional assistance program.
(AP Photo/Carlos Giusti
Morten Wendelbo, American University School of Public Affairs
The $4 billion that foundations are pledging to spend within five years amounts to less than 1 percent of what businesses and governments spend on global warming every year.
A sign posted in New Bern, North Carolina after Hurricane Florence.
AP Photo/Gary D Robertson
Shattered by powerful back-to-back earthquakes, Mexico is facing daunting damages across six states. Now Chiapas and Oaxaca, the country’s two poorest states, which were hit first, fear neglect.