The current situation in the region is dire, as low rainfall, above-average temperatures, and persistent heatwaves have triggered one of the most severe droughts in decades. The repercussions of this drought are particularly felt in Uruguay, northern Argentina, and southern Brazil, where the cascading effects of water scarcity are taking a significant toll. Other reports on the drought in Europe or the Maghreb region can be found in the Global and European Drought Observatory websites.

The Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) project produces global spatial information, evidence-based analytics, and knowledge describing the human presence on the planet. A new and improved package of datasets has been produced and publicly released. Take a look at the main features of GHSL 2023 in the full article.

2022 was the second-worst wildfire season in the European Union since 2000 when the Copernicus’ European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) records began. Damages in 2022 exceeded those of 2021 and are only surpassed by those of 2017, according to data from the EFFIS Advance Report on Forest Fires in Europe, Middle East and North Africa 2022, which offers a preliminary assessment of last year’s wildfires.

INFORM products support decision-making on humanitarian crises and disasters, contributing to decisions at different stages of the disaster management cycle, specifically climate adaptation and disaster prevention, preparedness and response. A new mid-term update includes changes in indicators and the addition of new ones.

This report explores concepts and architectures for monitoring the European Union's Disaster Resilience goals, recently adopted by the European Commission. This study suggests involving EU institutions and stakeholders in the design and data collection procedures to make it possible for MS/PS to address key concerns and lead to a more effective implementation of the disaster resilience goals.

We have put together a collection of scientific publications produced by the Disaster Risk Management Unit of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. The studies have been published between January and March 2023. The compendium of scientific outputs is regularly updated and made available on the DRMKC scientific output page.

The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS) is a collaboration between the European Commission and the United Nations providing real-time access to web‐based disaster information systems and related coordination tools since 2004. After almost 20 years of operations, GDACS wants to revisit its functionalities to better fulfil users information needs. If you are or have been a GDACS user, you can help by replying to the quick survey.