Environmental intelligence and the measurable impact of cruising moved from aspiration to operational necessity this year. And SeaCras travelled to Miami to listen, connect, and exchange ideas at the heart of the industry at Seatrade Cruise Global2026.
Four days at the world’s largest cruise industry event
The SeaCras team attended four days at Seatrade Cruise Global 2026 in Miami, widely considered the most important gathering in the global cruise calendar. This year’s edition once again brought together the entire industry ecosystem: cruise lines, port authorities, technology providers, destination managers, and sustainability advocates, all under one roof.
Represented by team members our CEO Mario Špadina and our Head of Communications, Ana Čupić, SeaCras engaged in a series of meetings and discussions with industry leaders and key players — exchanging insights on how satellite data and AI can strengthen environmental monitoring, build operational resilience, and sharpen risk assessment across cruise itineraries and port areas.
Why AI and Satellite Data Are Reshaping Maritime Environmental Monitoring
The conversations SeaCras had in Miami reflect a broader shift happening across the maritime sector. And as environmental surveillance of the cruise industry continues to intensify, from regulatory bodies, destinations, and passengers alike, operators can no longer rely on reactive compliance. They need real-time, verifiable environmental intelligence.
Satellite-powered monitoring enables early pollution detection, near-continuous tracking of sensitive marine ecosystems, and automated compliance flagging — capabilities that are fast becoming baseline expectations rather than differentiators. Combined with AI-driven analysis, these tools give cruise lines and port operators an unprecedented level of visibility into their environmental footprint across entire voyage routes.
MARPOL Compliance and the Case for Destination Stewardship
A key focus throughout the event was the role of environmental frameworks such as MARPOL — the International Maritime Organization’s convention for the prevention of ship-sourced pollution. Stronger compliance with MARPOL, supported by real-time data, is increasingly being seen not just as a legal obligation but as a commercial and reputational imperative.
Also, beyond compliance, there were also discussions on how environmental intelligence supports proactive destination management — equipping ports and coastal communities with the tools they need to protect, sustainably manage, and prevent threats to the natural environments that the cruising industry fundamentally depends on. With destinations across the Caribbean, Mediterranean, and beyond facing growing ecological pressure from increased cruise traffic, this kind of data-driven stewardship is rapidly becoming a boardroom priority for both cruise lines and destination authorities.
New Partnerships and a Shared Conviction for Sustainable Cruising
Finally, for SeaCras, Seatrade Cruise Global 2026 delivered more than meetings. It generated new friendships, deepened existing partnerships, and reinforced a conviction that resonated clearly across the industry: that measurable environmental impact is no longer optional. It is the foundation on which the next chapter of cruising must be built.
The team left Miami with energy, new connections, and full sails ahead. And the industry’s flagship event is already in for next year — Seatrade Cruise Global 2027 returns to the Miami Beach Convention Center from 5–8 April 2027.
The UpLink Annual Impact Report 2026 is out, and SeaCras is proud to be recognised as one of only 11 featured case studies in the publication, released by the World Economic Forum on 17 March 2026.
SeaCras was selected based on its measurable and quantified nature-, social-, people- and economic-positive impact. Being among a global cohort of purpose-driven technology ventures is a meaningful milestone for our team — and a signal that the work we are doing in marine and maritime monitoring is resonating well beyond our home waters.
Read the full UpLink Annual Impact Report 2026 to explore how early-stage innovation is reshaping industries and delivering real-world environmental and social outcomes.
The 2026 Report: A Year of Measurable Impact
The 2026 Annual Impact Report captures the collective progress of the UpLink Ventures network across the past year. And the numbers speak for themselves. As the report says, more than 139 UpLink ventures are now actively applying AI across their domains, illustrating how technology can drive data-driven, scalable and system-level change in critical areas including water, climate and nature, cities, health and emerging technologies.
Investment momentum has been equally impressive as UpLink ventures raised over $850 million in 2025. This is a 53% increase in capital compared to 2024, demonstrating that mission-aligned innovation is increasingly attracting serious funding at scale.
Between 2025 and 2026, the UpLink ventures network collectively delivered:
These are not projections or aspirational targets. They are verified outcomes delivered by a network of ventures operating on the front lines of some of the world’s most pressing environmental and social challenges.
The number of people (headcount) has nearly doubled over the past year — growing from eight to 15. And with this new capacity built across public relations, marketing and R&D, we’re more able to keep pace with accelerating demand. Furthermore, alongside that internal growth, we deepened our institutional footprint in Croatia, having created public-private partnerships with national bodies including the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ), with a shared focus on elevating the quality and reach of national and regional monitoring systems.
In parallel, the company secured a blended €1.15 million investment round with the European Investment Band and Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development, further reinforcing its continued global expansion and impact.
What This Recognition Means for SeaCras
For our team, appearing as one of only 11 case studies in a report that documents the impact of hundreds of ventures worldwide is an extremely significant validation of our work. It reflects the momentum we’ve built over the past year. And not just in growth metrics, but in the depth and quality of the partnerships we have cultivated.
Moreover, our inclusion in the UpLink network has opened doors that would have been far harder to reach independently. The platform’s connections to global public and private sector leaders have been instrumental in positioning SeaCras where national-scale monitoring challenges intersect with the need for advanced, AI-powered solutions. The support of UpLink and its collaborators continues to be a genuine accelerant for our mission.
Of course, we look forward to what the next chapter brings, both for SeaCras and for the broader community of ventures working to ensure that the future of our oceans, coastlines and marine environments is one of health, resilience and transparency.
What Is UpLink — and Why Does It Matter?
UpLink is the World Economic Forum’s early-stage innovation engine, launched in 2020 with a clear mission. To help turn bold, purpose-driven solutions into real-world impact. Through its founding collaborators Deloitte and Salesforce, and a sprawling network of public and private sector leaders, UpLink engineers the infrastructure that ambitious entrepreneurs rarely have on their own. These are often capital, strategic partnerships and market entry pathways that allow transformative solutions to take root and scale across industries and economies.
Basically, UpLink is there to bridge a persistent gap in the innovation lifecycle — the disconnect between capital availability and market readiness that too often slows promising technologies from moving from pilot to scale. By accelerating that transition, the platform accelerates progress towards a resilient, sustainable and prosperous future where purpose and profit go hand in hand.
In conclusion, being featured in the UpLink Annual Impact Report 2026 reinforces what matters most. Solutions grounded in real-world impact are the ones shaping the future of sustainable innovation.
A landmark horizon-scanning report maps the most promising emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations in ocean monitoring, and charts where the scientific community should focus its energy in the years ahead. The EU’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has released its latest Observing the Future report, offering a comprehensive scan of the technological horizon for ocean observation.
Subtitled Horizon scanning for emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations in the field of ocean observation, the publication serves as both a roadmap and a rallying call for the research and industrial innovation community — outlining exactly where meaningful progress is within reach over the next several years.
The timing is no coincidence. The UN Ocean Decade, the international framework running from 2021 to 2030 to mobilise science for a sustainable ocean, is now entering its second half. Commitments must translate into tangible results, and fast.
Eight Areas Where Innovation Can Make a Real Difference
The JRC report identifies eight priority technology areas that hold the greatest potential for transforming how scientists and policymakers observe, understand, and protect the world’s oceans:
autonomous eDNA and eRNA samplers;
lab-on-chip systems;
cost-effective and modular sensors;
data fusion between Earth observation and in-situ measurements;
The research examines a mucilage event in the Adriatic Sea, a phenomenon in which large aggregates of organic matter accumulate in the water column, disrupting marine ecosystems, using high-frequency observational methods to capture the phytoplankton community’s response with unprecedented resolution. The findings shed new light on how these communities adapt to acute environmental stress events.
Of critical importance is that the study draws directly on three of the EU Joint Research Centre’s highlighted priority areas:
data fusion between Earth observation and in-situ measurements,
deep learning-enabled imaging,
and flow cytometry and particle-based high-frequency observations of plankton
These cutting/edge technologies and the integrating approach demonstrated the path from technological promise to scientific application is already well underway.
EU’s Joint Research Centre Report Contributors and Acknowledgements
The report authors acknowledge the valuable contribution of Michela Bergamini, Marcelina Grabowska and Olivier Eulaerts (EC – DG JRC, Text and Data Mining Unit), together with Emily Djock and Fabian Reck (Itonics), for their support in gathering the signals used in the report.
They also express their appreciation to the workshop participants, whose time, expertise and input helped shape the work, including Mario Špadina, CEO and co-founder of SeaCras:
Abed El Rahman Hassoun (GEOMAR), Alexander Phillips (NOC), Alfredo Martins (INESCTEC), Andrew King (NIVA), Catarina Lemos (CEiiA), Catherine Dreanno (IFREMER), Cyril Germineaud (ODATIS & CNES), Christina Pavloudi (EMBRC-ERIC), Encarni Medina-Lopez (University of Edinburgh), Eva Chatzinikolaou (HCMR), Fiona Regan (Dublin City University), Gabriele Pieri (ISTI-CNR), Gonçalo Faria (Forum Oceano), Inga Lips (L4M Consulting), Jean-Francois Berthon (EC – DG JRC), Johannes Singer (FUGRO), Klaas Deneudt (VLIZ), Laurent Mortier (ENSTA IP Paris), Louis Demargne (FUGRO), Lumi Haraguchi (SYKE Finland), Mario Špadina (SeaCras), Martha Valiadi (IMBB-FORTH), Michela Martinelli (IRBIM-CNR), Nicolas Pade (EMBRC ERIC), Patrick Gorringe (SMHI), Patrizio Mariani (TU Denmark), Paul Trautendorfer (JPI Oceans), Philippe Blondel (University of Bath), Rodrigo Ataide Dias (EC – DG MARE), Sari Giering (NOC), Sheila Heymans (European Marine Board), Sophie Clayton (NOC) and Victoire Rérolle (Fluidion).
DOI: 10.2760/3939356 (online)
Citation: FARINHA, J., NAGY, O., BAILEY, G. and POLVORA, A., Observing the Future – Horizon scanning for emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations in the field of ocean observation, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2026, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2760/3939356, JRC144401.
What Are the Goals and Purpose of the Joint Research Centre?
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the European Commission’s science and knowledge service. Through independent, evidence-based scientific advice grounded in its research, the JRC provides scientific and technical support for the development of EU policies.
From investment and innovation to public health and coastal resilience, EU Ocean Days 2026 in Brussels (2–6 March) brought together the institutions, initiatives, and industry players shaping Europe’s next chapter in ocean sustainability.
SeaCras was one of key innovative companies to actively contribute to several key events during the week, and contributing to high-level policy dialogue on marine innovation, pollution response, blue economy transparency, and the role of trusted data in protecting both the environment and public wellbeing.
Our participation at EU Ocean Days 2026 unfolded across several distinct but closely connected areas, each pointing to a different aspect of how the company is building its role within Europe’s blue economy.
From investor recognition and policy-level dialogue to practical environmental actions, strategic partnerships, and participation in major research initiatives, the week made one thing clear: meaningful progress in ocean sustainability depends on solutions that can connect innovation with implementation.
The key highlights are outlined below:
1) BlueInvest Day & Investor Report Recognition in the 2026 BlueInvest Investor Report positioned SeaCras among the technologies to watch, underlining the rising relevance of AI-powered, space-enabled ocean intelligence in Europe’s blue economy.
2) Mission Ocean and Waters Forum at the EU Commission At the Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters” Forum, SeaCras reinforced a timely point: Europe now needs stronger backing for solutions that are already capable of delivering measurable environmental impact.
3) Presenting Our Actions with the Mission Ocean and Waters: CAPRI & Planet First Through CAPRI and Planet First, SeaCras showed that effective ocean action depends on translating data, research, and sustainability commitments into practical tools and real-world use cases.
4) Strategic partnerships and Excellence criteria: EIT Water member SeaCras’ official partnership with EIT Water reflects its growing place within a European innovation ecosystem focused on advancing smarter, cleaner, and more resilient marine and water solutions.
5) Strategic partnerships and Excellence criteria: Horizon Europe Participation in the Horizon Europe-backed REMEDIES 5.0 project further confirms SeaCras’ role in large-scale European collaboration designed to deliver tangible impact across diverse coastal and waterfront environments.
1) BlueInvest Day & Investor Report
One of the standout moments came with the release of the 2026 BlueInvest Investor report, The Next Wave of Blue Growth, presented as part of BlueInvest Day 2026 — an event positioned by the organisers as a flagship gathering for innovation, investment, and sustainability in the EU blue economy.
In that context, SeaCras was highlighted among the technologies to watch, with recognition spanning these areas:
Space–ocean integration is becoming a “system-of-systems” layer, as combining satellite Earth Observation (EO), in situ sensors, and AI proves essential for metocean forecasting, pollution tracking, and ESG reporting.
AI-enabled ocean intelligence is moving from pilots to operations, with AI, machine learning, and digital twins becoming essential for forecasting, anomaly detection, emissions optimisation, and biodiversity insights.
This kind of positioning matters: it places the company in a conversation that increasingly values not just innovation, but deployable, mission-aligned solutions.
2) Mission Ocean and Waters Forum at the EU Commission
The broader policy backdrop was equally important. At the EU Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters” forum, attention shifted from vision to execution. The mission’s objective is clear: restore the health of oceans, seas, and inland waters by 2030, while supporting pollution prevention, ecosystem restoration, and a more sustainable blue economy. SeaCras used that stage to underline a practical point: the next phase of impact will require stronger backing for solutions that are already capable of supporting coastal management and pollution reduction in the real world.
3) Presenting Our Actions with the Mission Ocean and Waters: CAPRI & Planet First
That message was reinforced through two concrete actions presented during the week. The first was Planet First, framed as part of SeaCras’ wider commitment to a more sustainable and transparent blue economy. The second was CAPRI – Coastal Anthropogenic Pollution Risk Identification, an initiative focused on turning marine and coastal data into practical support for pollution response, public health protection, and long-term resilience in Croatia.
Rather than staying at the level of concept, both examples pointed to a recurring theme at EU Ocean Days: Europe is looking for solutions that can move from insight to implementation.
4) Strategic partnerships and Excellence criteria: EIT Water member
The week also pointed toward what comes next. SeaCras’ positioning alongside major European innovation frameworks reflects a wider trend in the sector: stronger alignment between research, capital, and market deployment. That includes the emergence of EIT Water, designed to connect innovators across the water, marine, and maritime fields, as well as Horizon Europe, the EU’s key research and innovation funding programme through 2027.
SeaCras is proud to be an official partner of EIT Water, a collaboration that reinforces our role in shaping data-driven solutions for cleaner, more resilient marine and water ecosystems.
5) Strategic partnerships and Excellence criteria: Horizon Europe
SeaCras is part of a consortium that got approved funding for the project REMEDIES 5.0. This is a Horizon Europe initiative under HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-05 that will bring together 52 partners for a colossal project, led by the National Institute for Chemistry in Slovenia. This project will be deploying over 20 integrated solutions across 13 diverse waterfront cities and ports in all four European sea and river basins.
Within this landscape — and building on the key momentum of EU Ocean Days 2026 — SeaCras is continuing to position itself not only as a participant in the blue economy conversation, but as a company actively helping shape how that conversation turns into tangible actions.
Another meaningful chapter for us comes to a close — until next year.
The Croatian national broadcaster, HRT, featured SeaCras in a TV news segment on the show More (Croatian for ‘sea’), which regularly brings current topics related to the life, nature, and economy of the Croatian coast every Sunday. In the segment aired on January 11, 2026, our CEO, Dr. Mario Špadina, spoke about how SeaCras uses satellites and artificial intelligence to monitor the state of the sea and detect pollution, and further explained everything the company does. The interview also provided better insight into how technology can specifically help in protecting the Adriatic.
And that vision is to use technology to make the sea safer, cleaner, and better protected, today and for generations to come.
In the More show, Mario also touched upon our SeaCras App, which uses satellite data and AI to display sea quality in real-time and helps detect changes harmful to the marine environment. The national CAPRI initiative is especially highlighted, which we are implementing with the Croatian Institute of Public Health, educational and county institutes, and other institutions in the Republic of Croatia.
SeaCras App in Zadar Cruise Port
SeaCras App is already being used in various sectors, from maritime traffic to coastal tourism, such as in Zadar Cruise Port and in natural gems like Zavratnica Bay. The latter is a project created in cooperation with Velebit Nature Park and the Rewilding Velebit association. In the bays of Zavratnica and nearby Jablanac, visitors can instantly get information about the sea condition by scanning a QR code.
Coverage Of The Adriatic And Water Resources From Multiple Environmental Impact Aspects
With this TV segment on the show, which is more than important for our Adriatic, Mario presented how the entire Adriatic Sea, along with all coastal areas in Croatia, is constantly monitored and analyzed under the vigilant eye of SeaCras. Transparently for sustainability and inclusivity.
What didn’t ‘fit’ into the TV segment, and what we are also actively working on throughout the Adriatic is:
implementation of the SeaCras App for tourism with the J. J. Strossmayer Institute for Water (initiative leader), where we provided data for the entire Adriatic, together with DHMZ (Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service), the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, and the Croatian Institute of Public Health. This unique story involved the jurisdiction of multiple ministries and 13 providers of environmental data, with data ownership held by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition of the Republic of Croatia.
biochemistry of water systems, which includes rivers, lakes, water reservoirs, and anthropogenic water bodies such as fish farms, accumulation lakes, etc.
public health sector – within the national project CAPRI – Coastal Anthropogenic Pollution Risk Identification, for which SeaCras is responsible, the public health monitoring system on Croatian beaches is being improved. The project brings benefits to various sectors, especially coastal tourism, while also preventatively acting to reduce the risk of illness for bathers, especially children.
Protecting The Adriatic First, Through The Prism Of International Recognition
Croatia is rightly counted among the countries with the cleanest sea in Europe. However, the Adriatic Sea is not immune to the numerous challenges of today.
That is why, at SeaCras, we developed and trained the system on historical data and connected it to satellite sources so that it can recognize what is happening in the environment – primarily in the marine ecosystem – in real-time, explained Špadina.
To be able to deliver on our mission, our company gathers a team of experts with various profiles, from biologists, chemists, and physicists to IT engineers.
And our work has been recognized by the World Economic Forum, which included our technology among the top five in the world in the field of blue economy, while the EU Commission, through the Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space (DG DEFIS) and the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE), included us in the most promising companies in the space sector and marine surveillance technologies, and we also make part of the prestigious Cassini Business Accelerator.
A good part of SeaCras’s activities is dedicated to helping communities that lack the resources for advanced management supported by adequate supervision and monitoring, so we actively maintain our Planet First page where we report on the state of the sea, but in a way that provides real data, not opinion – transparently and for the public good.
Being part of this legendary show, which has been airing stories about our most valuable resource, the sea, for more than 40 years, is a huge honor and an additional boost for SeaCras. And for that, we thank the HRT team for recognizing our work.
We will continue to protect all water resources, and especially our sea. Because protecting the Adriatic means protecting our future.
In late November 2025, a cataclysmic hydrometeorological disaster struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Torrential rainfall, associated with Tropical Cyclone Senyar, occurring during the peak of the monsoon season, triggered catastrophic flash floods and landslides across the provinces of Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra. As water levels rose rapidly, entire communities were hit by sudden flooding and collapsing terrain, marking one of the most destructive weather events Indonesia has experienced in years.
At least 977 people have lost their lives, with hundreds still unaccounted for, according to initial compiled reports from publicly available disaster tracking sources, such as National Disaster Management Authority (BNPB), as of December 10th.
More than 1.2 million residents were evacuated, and millions of people have been directly impacted by widespread flooding and landslides.
Although the immediate threat and rains have passed, thousands are injured, and entire villages face the devastation of infrastructure, homes, crops, and livelihoods. Countless residents have been left without homes or family support, and many are injured, sick, and running out of food and water.
A Message from SeaCras
On behalf of SeaCras, we extend our deepest condolences to all those affected by this tragedy — to the families mourning their loved ones and to entire communities now facing the daunting task of rebuilding.
We recognize the scale of suffering and disruption that these floods and landslides have caused. To support recovery efforts, we are offering our before-and-after satellite imagery geospatial analysis that includes both landcover changes and sediment dispersion in the nearby sea. We are giving this to any organization, authority, or humanitarian partner engaged in response work. Our data is available to help:
Map the most damaged areas
Prioritize relief routes and resource allocation
Assess infrastructure loss and plan reconstruction
Document environmental changes for future resilience planning
If you are coordinating relief, planning reconstruction, or directing aid — please reach out, and we will work with you to put this data to use where it’s needed most.
Now let’s look at what unfolded, and how it is visible through the satellite images:
Figure 1. captures the Aceh region before the flood (left image), an unprocessed RGB satellite view from 28 May 2025, showing a coastline and marine environment in a relatively stable state. As it can be seen, land vegetation is moderately dense, with river fluvial discharges being a moderate influence to the surrounding Andaman sea.
The contrast becomes striking in the post-event imagery. Figure 1, right image, taken on 29 November 2025 — just a few days after the disaster — shows the same region after the flood, where visible changes along the coastline point to the scale of the disturbance. Landslides have completely demolished the landscape, changed the coastal line, and caused enormous sediment dispersion into the marine environment.
But how does this flood-induced landslide impact the Andaman sea?
The answer can be found in SeaCras calculation of water quality parameters of the Andaman sea. SeaCras used its Coastal Intelligence software package to calculate values of dispersed sediments in the sea surrounding the island before and after the flood. The results are presented in Figure 2.
In Figure 2, on the left, we can see the calculated concentration of dispersed sediments in the surrounding sea, reflecting normal conditions driven by routine fluvial discharges typical of the dry season in Southeast Asia.
In the right image, we can see abnormally high concentrations of dispersed sediments throughout the water column of the adjacent sea. These elevated values are a direct consequence of the abrupt flooding, vividly demonstrating how extreme events can rapidly transform both land and marine systems.
In Figure 3, we compared values of dispersed sediments for three (3) distinct locations before and after the floods. The results show striking sediment dispersion over a thousand of square kilometers of the surrounding sea, with values skyrocketing to 50 times higher than normal, even as far as 10 km from the coastline. This points to a large-scale change of biodiversity and habitat not only on land, but in the sea as well.
What Happened… and Why?
Days of extremely heavy rainfall, far stronger than what is typical even during the monsoon, soaked the ground and caused rivers to overflow across Sumatra. At the same time, a rare cyclone formed unusually close to the equator, adding even more rain and overwhelming both natural waterways and man-made drainage systems.
As water rushed downhill, it tore through towns, swept away entire villages, and buried communities under mud. Roads collapsed or disappeared underwater, leaving many areas completely cut off. Survivors in isolated regions went days without clean water, food, or medical help as the risk of disease and hunger quickly increased.
Underlying Factors
Experts note that, while the immediate cause was extreme weather, the severity of the disaster was amplified by ecological vulnerability — including deforestation, soil degradation, and loss of natural water retention in upstream areas that normally moderate flood impacts.
Was This Connected to Climate Change?
Climate scientists warn that climate change is making extreme rainfall events far more intense and frequent, and Tropical Cyclone Senyar is a clear example of this trend. Senyar formed in the Strait of Malacca, a region so close to the equator that cyclones almost never develop there, making the storm highly unusual.
Warmer oceans and a warmer atmosphere — both driven by human-caused climate change — allowed the storm to hold far more moisture, leading to record-breaking rainfall and severe flooding across Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Early attribution studies suggest that these elevated temperatures likely intensified Senyar’s rainfall and destructive power. Even if climate change doesn’t always increase the number of storms, warmer oceans and air hold more moisture meaning storms produce heavier rain and more flooding than they used to — a pattern seen in Senyar and the associated monsoon extremes.
What is to be expected?
Recovery will be a long and complex process. The Indonesian government estimates that over $3 billion USD will be needed for reconstruction and relief across the hardest-hit regions.
Critical needs include:
Clean water, food, and medical support for displaced families
Restoring access to isolated communities
Rebuilding homes, bridges, schools, and critical infrastructure
Ongoing disease prevention and health care services
How Climate Change Hits Vulnerable Communities First
Climate change does not affect all people in the same way. Low-income and marginalized communities are hit the hardest, because they often have fewer resources, weaker infrastructure, and a larger dependence on natural resources like local land and water for daily survival. Many also live in high-risk areas, simply because safer land is unaffordable or unavailable.
So when disasters strike, they lack the means to prepare, recover or adapt. This deepens existing inequalities, pushing people even more into poverty as livelihoods, homes, water supplies, and food systems are destroyed.
International research shows that low-income populations are disproportionately exposed to climate hazards and less able to cope with loss or rebuild, whereas wealthier countries and communities can invest in more resilient infrastructure, early warning systems, and recovery.
But children bear the heaviest toll, as their bodies are still developing, making them more vulnerable to illness, malnutrition, and injury when disasters strike. Floods and storms often cut off clean water, healthcare, and schooling. Since they depend on adults for safety and support, any disruption leaves them exposed to greater risk, and the impacts can follow them throughout their lives.
This catastrophe is not only a story of devastating weather, but a warning of what a warming world can bring. Recovery must be matched with action — to protect people, strengthen ecosystems, and prevent future extremes from becoming even more deadly.
