Tell Congress: Restore Defenses Against Climate Disasters

Climate disasters are getting worse. Now the Trump administration is helping dismantle some of the very systems designed to warn people before they strike.

Around the world, communities are facing deadlier floods, landslides, extreme heat and other disasters intensified by climate change. Yet instead of strengthening preparedness, the U.S. and other wealthy countries are cutting programs that help scientists track threats, issue warnings and give communities time to get out of harm’s way.

The consequences are already showing.

In the Hindu Kush Himalaya — where melting glaciers, flash floods, landslides and dangerous glacial lakes threaten communities across the region — U.S.-backed programs helped scientists monitor risks from space, improve flood warnings and share critical information across borders.

Then the funding vanished.

The Trump administration's foreign-aid cuts ended the USAID partnership that supported NASA's global SERVIR program. In the Himalayas, funding disruptions have also left researchers unable to continue some support for local institutions doing this work.

These are vital systems that can help determine whether people receive a warning before a flood tears through their community.

And the danger is growing as global temperatures rise.

Climate change is accelerating glacier loss and increasing risks across the Himalayan region. Nearly 2 billion people live in or downstream from this vast mountain system.

The danger caused by the lack of early warning stretches far beyond Asia. Across Africa, extreme weather and climate disasters affected at least 13 million people and caused more than 3,000 reported deaths in 2025. Yet many countries still lack comprehensive early-warning and preparedness systems — exactly the kind of lifesaving capacity international climate funding can help build.

Cutting preparedness won't stop the next disaster. It will simply leave more people exposed when it comes.

Congress controls federal spending and should act. Lawmakers should restore and protect strong U.S. funding for international climate adaptation and disaster-risk reduction, including satellite monitoring, early-warning systems, scientific cooperation and locally led preparedness.

Climate disasters do not respect borders. Neither should the tools that help people survive them. Please sign the petition to tell Congress to restore this critical funding that the Trump administration cut.

The petition to Congress reads: Restore and protect U.S. funding for international climate adaptation, early-warning systems and disaster preparedness. As climate-driven disasters become more dangerous, America should be strengthening the science, monitoring and local preparedness that save lives — not cutting them.
_______

Source:

https://www.khon2.com/international/ap-climate-disasters-are-growing-so-are-cuts-to-programs-that-prepare-for-them/