When public order collapses, so does the weather forecast, and that has big implications for peacebuilding, according to a recent report on the importance of restoring meteorology systems in fragile and conflict-affected countries.

Also among the most popular stories last month were Susan Chan Shifflett’s reporting from the Port of Oakland, where exploding demand for food in China is driving a major building project, and Sandeep Bathala’s reporting from the Global Maternal and Newborn Health Conference in Mexico City.

1. Why Has the Demographic Transition Stalled in Sub-Saharan Africa?, Elizabeth Leahy Madsen

2. Challenging Patriarchy: The Changing Definition of Women’s Empowerment, Donald Borenstein

3. Climate Data Can be Critical in Fragile and Conflict-Affected States – Here’s How to Get It, Schuyler Null

4. What Can Governments Do About Falling Birth Rates?, Paris Achenbach and Moses Jackson

5. Soy What? How China’s Growing Appetite is Transforming the Port of Oakland, Susan Chan Shifflett

6. Climate Change Adaptation and Population Dynamics in Latin America and the Caribbean (Report), Kathleen Mogelgaard

7. The Great Anatolian Project: Is Water Management a Panacea or Crisis Multiplier for Turkey’s Kurds?, Ilektra Tsakalidou

8. Water Wars? Think Again: Conflict Over Freshwater Structural Rather Than Strategic, Cameron Harrington

9. What’s Behind West and Central Africa’s Youthful Demographics? High Desired Family Size, Elizabeth Leahy Madsen

10. Better Training and Support for Midwives Is Saving Women’s Lives, Sandeep Bathala