The Kennet Geog Blog

As the gavel came down on the latest round of climate talks in Dubai, there were declarations of “we united, we acted, we delivered” from the COP28 presidency. This was met by a sense of   déjà vu   among delegates of the Alliance of Small Island States ( Aosis ), an intergovernmental organisation representing the nations most vulnerable to climate change. In her post-summit  statement , Aosis lead negotiator Anne Rasmussen expressed confusion that the  UAE Consensus , COP28’s final agreement, was approved when representatives from small-island developing states (or  Sids  were not in the room. While some delegates hailed the  consensus  as “ beginning of the end ” of the fossil fuel era, Aosis countered that the document contained a “litany of loopholes” which did little to advance the key actions needed to stave off climate breakdown and deliver justice to islands and low-lying states facing the gravest consequences of the climate crisis. Read t...

 The Commission on Mitigation of Volcanic Disasters was organized by the Volcanological Society of Japan (VSJ). This commission was set up as a public forum for members and other stakeholders to exchange ideas and views on wide-ranging topics relating to the mitigation of volcanic disasters, to explore possible solutions to various issues pertaining to volcanic disasters and their mitigation, and to put forward recommendations for the benefit of society. In this paper, we present a broad overview of the objectives of this commission, highlighting some of the activities and achievements of the commission to date. The paper also provides an overview of disaster mitigation topics that have been taken up for consideration by the commission. Read the full article  here!

 Video's more your thing? The Viking Geo has a wide array of fantastic videos to support your learning, browse through the channels playlists to find the units that fit our course.  The channel can be found  here.

Article Abstract:  In a disaster-prone country like Japan, learning how to live  with  disaster [ kyozon ] has been crucial. Particularly since the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011, disaster preparedness has been a primary concern of the government. Drawing on Paton’s (The phoenix of natural disasters: community resilience. Nova Science Publishers, New York, pp. 13–31,  2008 ) Community Engagement Theory, which endorses an integrated model that combines risk management with community development, this study discusses the case of Sakurajima Volcano (SV) situated in the south of Japan, with a focus on how the lessons learnt from previous eruption experiences have informed present-day preparedness activities. The study adapts Community Engagement Theory’s quantitative framework to a qualitative analysis to consider the preparedness teaching and learning of a population living with the everyday threat of volcanic hazards in the case of SV. The study argues...

  The epicentre of Morocco’s  devastating earthquake  on 8 September was in the High Atlas Mountains, about 71km south-west of Marrakesh. Moina Spooner, from The Conversation Africa, asked Jesús Galindo-Zaldivar, who has been carrying out research on the formation of the  Atlas mountains  and the geology of the area, about the factors which led to this situation. Read the full article  here!