Globally, the direct cost of natural disasters stands in the hundreds of billions of USD per year, at a time when water resources are under increasing stress and variability. Much of this burden rests on low- and middle-income countries that, despite their relative lack of wealth, exhibit considerable vulnerability such that losses measurably impact GDP. Within these countries, a growing middle class retains much of its wealth in property that may be increasingly exposed, while the few assets the poor may possess are often highly exposed. Vulnerability to extreme events is thus heterogeneous at both the global and subnational level. Moreover, the distribution and predictability of extreme events is also heterogeneous. Disaster managers and relief organizations are increasingly consulting operational climate information services as a way to mitigate the risks of extreme events, but approp...

Geographically isolated places are often sites of exported environmental risks, intense resource extraction,exploitation and marginalization, and social policy neglect. These conditions create unique challengesrelated to vulnerability and adaptation that have direct disaster management implications. Our researchinvestigates the relationship between geographic isolation and flood-related social vulnerability across Peru’secological regions. Ecoregions have different relationships with colonialism and capitalism that shapevulnerability, and we hypothesize that the relationship between vulnerability and geographic isolation variesacross ecoregions. Using mapping techniques and spatial regression analysis, we find that relationshipsbetween vulnerability and geographic isolation vary regionally, with differences that suggest alignment withregional contexts of extraction. We find notable dif...