A pressing problem facing coastal decision makers is the conversion of "high-level" but plausible climate change assessments into an effective basis for climate change adaptation at the local scale. Here, we describe a web-based, geospatial decision support tool (DST) that provides an assessment of the potential flood risk for populated coastal lowlands arising from future sea-level rise, coastal storms, and high river flows.

In this paper we used two different numerical simulation models to replicate two debris-flow events in Austria and compare the range and sensitivity of the model input parameters. We expect that our results contribute to a better application of simulation models for hazard and risk assessment in alpine regions.

Human vulnerability indicators used by the scientific community are validated in light of past tsunamis (2011 Japan, 2010 Chile, 2009 Samoa, 2004 Indian Ocean). Temporal exposure depends on livelihoods, traditions and gender roles. Vulnerable age groups are the elderly (highest mortality rates) and children. Female mortality is not always higher. There is a high correlation between damaged buildings and victims; distance to the sea, building materials and water depths determine type of damage.

Impacts of storm event chronology in a storm cluster was investigated. The largest event-driven bed level change occurred under the most powerful storm event when it initialised the cluster, and the lowest bed level change occurred for the weakest event when it ended the cluster. Negligible variability in the cumulative impact of the storm clusters occurred in response to different storm wave chronologies. However, the highest erosion was found when the storms approached in increasing severity.

A testing field for debris flow Early Warning Systems (EWSs) has been equipped in the Gadria basin (eastern Italian Alps). The installation is conceived to produce didactic videos and host informative visits. The populace involvement and education is an essential step in hazard mitigation interventions and it should be planned during any research activity on that topic. In the summer of 2014, the occurrence of a debris flow in the Gadria creek allowed for a first test of a geophone-based EWS.

The paper addresses the devastating flood episode (17-18 June 2013) at Kedarnath (Uttrakhand, India). The disaster caused a huge loss of lives and loss of physical/material wealth. To understand the causes of this catastrophic event, rainfall/convective data and associated climate meteorological parameters are investigated. The cause of this disaster seems to be heavy and continuous rainfall, associated with snowmelt and the overflooding/collapse of Chorabari Lake, located upstream.

This paper proposes a new model to assess the economic impact of drought from the perspective of profit loss rate. The study focuses on economic impacts along a simple value chain involving only sugarcane growers and a sugar-producing company. In a rigid farming contract, growers suffer far more than the sugar company when impacted by severe drought. The difference in loss is sensitive to the sugarcane purchase price and considering this would provide potential solutions to such a problem.

In 2011 the Chao Phraya River basin received about 1400mm rainfall, which was 1.2 times more than past large floods in 1995 and 2006. The long-term rainfall-runoff-inundation simulation and its water balance analysis revealed high elasticity in the flood inundation volume (4.2%). 1.2 times more rainfall might result in 1.6 times more flood inundation volume in 2011. The high sensitivity of inundation should be well recognized for a better understanding of the flood hazard characteristics.

Extreme weather conditions can strongly affect arable crop growth and final yields. Early heat waves over Italy from 1995 to 2013 are identified and characterised, and their impact on durum wheat yields is investigated. Results confirm the impact of the 2003 heat waves and highlight a high percentage of concurrence of early heat waves and significant negative yield anomalies in 13 out of 39 durum wheat production areas. In the most important area of production this percentage exceeds 80%.

In this paper, we propose an experimental system called "READY: Risk, Extreme Events, Adaptation, Defend Yourself". It enables us to provide support to the general public and other safety stakeholders (for example, voluntary associations and civil protection organizations) in the prevention, mitigation and preparedness phase of a flood or landslide risk event. READY offers tremendous value owing to its ability to integrate information coming from several sources, all into one visual framework.

Within a confined estuary, a large wetland can play an important role in storm surge mitigation. By use of a numerical model the effects of different wetland sizes, wetland elevations and wetland locations along the estuary on storm surge attenuation along the estuary were investigated. With this paper we aim to contribute towards a better understanding and wider implementation of ecosystem-based adaptation to increasing estuarine flood risks associated with storms.