El Niño is Here: How Global Cities are Preparing for an Inevitable Threat

A strong El Niño event is anticipated in the coming months, creating a unique opportunity to examine implications for climate risk, city preparedness, and community resilience. El Niño can affect weather, precipitation, temperature, storms, drought, air quality, food systems, supply chains, energy use, and health outcomes. It is also likely to cause a marked rise in global average surface temperatures, intensifying existing climate-related stressors.

The webinar focuses on what global cities are doing to prepare, what systems are ready, where gaps remain, and what can be done to overcome them. Practitioners, researchers, community partners, policymakers, and students working across health, emergency management, climate, energy, and infrastructure are invited to learn about:

• The anticipated El Niño event and its potential sector-specific implications.
• Connecting climate forecasts to practical preparedness planning for global cities, including New York City, Rio, Mumbai, Nairobi, and Amman.
• How global cities have been and can prepare.
• The gaps, resource needs, and opportunities for coordination across global cities.

This webinar is brought to you by the NYC Preparedness & Recovery Institute, in collaboration with Columbia Global, and the Columbia Climate School.