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Every case study in one list, newest and oldest together, sorted by title. This list is open to everyone, and so are the figures and sources on every card. Reading a card in full is free within a monthly limit, and one you have already opened never counts again. Search by title, country or concept, or narrow the list with the filters.

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35 case studies in the archive

VerifiedUnited KingdomLibrary

Banbury flood management scheme

An £18.5 million storage reservoir beside the M40, opened in 2012, holds back the River Cherwell to keep Banbury dry.

  • Flood management
VerifiedUnited KingdomLibrary

Bristol, UK

A growing UK city with strong aerospace and digital industries, sharp inequality between wards, and major regeneration at Temple Quarter.

  • Major UK city
  • Urban regeneration
  • UK economic change
VerifiedMayotte14 December 2024

Cyclone Chido, Mayotte, 2024

The strongest cyclone to hit Mayotte in 90 years flattened informal settlements across France's poorest territory.

  • Tropical storm
  • Tropical storm, LIC
  • Informal settlement
VerifiedUnited KingdomLibrary

Epping Forest

An ancient pollarded woodland of 2,400 hectares on London's edge, managed by the City of London under heavy recreation pressure.

  • Deciduous woodland
VerifiedUnited States26 September 2024

Hurricane Helene, USA, 2024

A Category 4 Florida landfall became an inland flood disaster in the Appalachians, killing at least 250 people.

  • Tropical storm, HIC
  • Tropical storm
  • River flood event
VerifiedUnited StatesLibrary

Hurricane Sandy, USA, 2012

A late-season hurricane merged with a winter system and flooded New York and New Jersey, causing about 71 billion dollars of damage.

  • Tropical storm, HIC
  • Tropical storm
VerifiedJapanLibrary

Japan's ageing population

Almost a third of Japanese people are over 65, straining pensions and the workforce as births fall to record lows.

  • Ageing population
VerifiedNigeriaLibrary

Lagos, Nigeria

Nigeria's largest city, a fast growing NEE megacity offering jobs and education but struggling with informal housing, traffic and waste.

  • LIC or NEE city
  • Informal settlement
  • Rapid population growth
  • and 1 more
VerifiedUnited KingdomLibrary

Lyme Regis coastal management scheme

Phased sea walls, beach nourishment and cliff stabilisation costing tens of millions protect a small Dorset tourist town built on unstable slipping cliffs.

  • Coastal management
  • Tourism area
VerifiedMexicoLibrary

Migration from Mexico to the United States

Workers and families moving from Mexico to the United States for higher wages, a flow that has slowed since the late 2000s and sent 61,791 million US dollars home in remittances in 2025.

  • International migration
VerifiedNigeriaLibrary

Nigeria: a newly emerging economy

Africa's most populous country is shifting from oil dependence towards services, while TNCs, aid and oil pollution shape its development.

  • LIC or NEE country
  • Rapid population growth
  • Transnational corporation
VerifiedUnited KingdomLibrary

Nissan in Sunderland

A Japanese TNC whose Sunderland plant, the biggest car factory in the UK, shows the benefits and risks of foreign investment.

  • Transnational corporation
  • UK economic change
VerifiedUnited KingdomLibrary

Somerset Levels floods, winter 2013 to 2014

Record winter rain drowned 6,900 hectares of drained farmland for weeks, cutting off villages and prompting a £100 million flood plan.

  • River flood event
  • UK extreme weather
  • Flood management
VerifiedUnited Kingdom24 January 2025

Storm Eowyn, UK and Ireland, 2025

An explosively deepening Atlantic storm broke Ireland's wind record and left more than a million without power across Ireland and Scotland.

  • UK extreme weather
VerifiedSvalbard & Jan MayenLibrary

Svalbard

A high Arctic archipelago where mining has given way to tourism, fishing and research, with most land now protected.

  • Cold environment
  • Sparsely populated area
  • Energy management
VerifiedIcelandLibrary

The 2010 Eyjafjallajokull eruption, Iceland

A small ice-capped Icelandic volcano produced an ash cloud that shut European airspace and cancelled about 100,000 flights.

  • Volcanic eruption
  • Tectonic hazard, HIC
VerifiedHaitiLibrary

The 2010 Haiti earthquake

A shallow magnitude 7.0 earthquake near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, killed at least 160,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless.

  • Named earthquake
  • Tectonic hazard, LIC
VerifiedJapanLibrary

The 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Japan

A magnitude 9.1 megathrust earthquake off Japan set off a tsunami that killed over 18,000 people and caused a nuclear accident.

  • Named earthquake
  • Tectonic hazard, HIC
VerifiedMyanmar28 March 2025

The 2025 Sagaing earthquake, Myanmar

A magnitude 7.7 strike-slip earthquake on the Sagaing Fault devastated central Myanmar during a civil war.

  • Named earthquake
  • Tectonic hazard, LIC
ProvisionalNepal26 August 2026

The 2026 Nepal-Tibet border flash flood

A glacier collapse triggered a flash flood on the Lhende River, killing dozens and leaving hundreds missing on the Nepal-Tibet border.

  • River flood event
VerifiedBrazilLibrary

The Amazon rainforest

The world's largest rainforest, where cattle ranching drives deforestation that Brazil is now cutting through enforcement and protected areas.

  • Tropical rainforest
VerifiedPeruLibrary

The Chambamontera micro-hydro scheme, Peru

A remote Andean village that built its own small hydroelectric scheme with Practical Action, transforming homes, school and businesses.

  • Energy management
VerifiedAustraliaLibrary

The Great Barrier Reef

The largest coral reef system on Earth, where repeated marine heatwaves bleach coral faster than it can rebuild, and Australia manages everything except the heat.

  • Coral reef
VerifiedUnited KingdomLibrary

The Holderness Coast

Europe's fastest eroding coastline loses about 2 metres of soft boulder clay cliffs a year, and defences protect some towns while speeding erosion elsewhere.

  • Coastal landscape
  • Coastal management
VerifiedPakistanLibrary

The Indus Basin Irrigation System, Pakistan

The world's largest contiguous irrigation network, feeding Pakistan from the Indus rivers but plagued by salt, waterlogging and unequal access.

  • Food management
  • Water management
VerifiedUnited KingdomLibrary

The Lake District

England's largest National Park, a glaciated upland of corries, aretes and ribbon lakes under heavy tourist pressure.

  • Glaciated landscape
  • Tourism area
VerifiedLesothoLibrary

The Lesotho Highlands Water Project

A huge water transfer scheme selling highland Lesotho's water to South Africa's cities, bringing royalties, power and displacement.

  • Water management
VerifiedUnited States7 January 2025

The Los Angeles wildfires, January 2025

Wind driven fires destroyed whole neighbourhoods of Los Angeles after months without rain, killing at least 27 people.

  • Named wildfire
  • Named drought
VerifiedUnited KingdomLibrary

The River Tees

The Tees drops 21 metres at High Force in the Pennines, then meanders past Yarm to a wide industrial estuary at Teesmouth.

  • River landscape
VerifiedIndiaLibrary

The Thar Desert

The world's most densely populated desert, where canal irrigation, minerals and solar power drive development despite extreme heat and scarce water.

  • Hot desert
  • Water management
  • Energy management
VerifiedSpain29 October 2024

The Valencia floods, Spain, 2024

A stalled cut-off low dropped a year's rain in hours inland of Valencia, and the floods killed 229 people in the region.

  • River flood event
VerifiedJamaicaLibrary

Tourism in Jamaica

A Caribbean island using tourism as its main path to development, with big earnings but leakage, seasonal work and coastal pressure.

  • Tourism, LIC or NEE
  • Tourism area
VerifiedPhilippinesLibrary

Typhoon Haiyan, Philippines, 2013

One of the strongest recorded typhoons drove a storm surge through Tacloban, Philippines, killing about 6,300 people.

  • Tropical storm, LIC
  • Tropical storm
ProvisionalUnited Kingdom26 August 2026

UK plug-in balcony solar panels

Plug-in balcony solar panels went on sale in the UK for the first time, letting flat dwellers generate their own electricity.

  • Energy management