A new toolkit from the Raising Risk Awareness project aims to help journalists and communicators report on the linkages between climate change and extreme weather events.

The Raising Risk Awareness initiative assesses whether climate change has contributed to extreme weather events such as droughts, floods and heatwaves in several countries of East Africa and South Asia.

The initiative brings together scientists, vulnerability experts and knowledge brokers and is formed of CDKN, Climate Central, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), University of Oxford and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD).

By determining the role of climate change in extreme weather events, scientists can make quantitative statements about how climate change has altered the risk of an event occurring in the future. This can help decision-makers and the public to prioritise adaptation solutions and reduce vulnerability.

One of the project's principal goals is to increase understanding of the impacts of climate change and help journalists and other communicators to spread accurate information. For this purpose, the partners are offering infographics, presentations and high-quality images to help communicate the findings of the initiative. The resources are free to use by anyone reporting on the initiative, or communicating the implications of attributing extreme weather events to climate change.

Check out the communications toolkit here: www.cdkn.org/climaterisk

Image credit: UWM-CIMSS/William Straka III/NASA/NOAA/Flickr