Water serves as a tool for resilience only when access to it is consistent and the system for making it consistent is in place, said David De Armey, Director of International Partnerships for Water for Good, an international NGO. He spoke at a recent Wilson Center event, “Water as a Tool for Resilience in Times of Crisis,” the second event in a three-part series, Water Security for a Resilient World, sponsored by the Wilson Center, Winrock International, the Sustainable Water Partnership, and USAID. Water for Good monitors 80 percent of wells across seven provinces in Central African Republic (CAR), he said. By keeping the water infrastructure working, the nonprofit creates a stable environment within an unstable country. “Thus,” he said, “we see reliability and services as a tool for resilience.”

In April’s top post, Sarah Glaser and Cullen Hendrix find that a mostly domestic armed conflict involving Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army increased competition over Nile perch among fisherfolk, which created tensions between Kenya and Uganda.

The Paris Agreement in December 2015 set targets to limit global climate change. To prevent average global temperatures from rising 2°C above preindustrial levels, it recommends limiting the temperature increase to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels. “But the Paris Agreement is only a half-deal; it will not alone save the diversity of life on Earth or conserve ecosystem services upon which humanity depends,” say the authors of a new article published in Science Advances. Their article proposes a Global Deal for Nature (GDN), a time-bound, science-driven plan to save the diversity and abundance of life on Earth.  

This month’s top post highlighted a new animated short from the Wilson Center and USAID’s Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation.  “Water, Conflict, and Peacebuilding” illustrates how building peace can bolster water security and—at the same time—how improving water security can increase the peace within and across borders.

In February’s most read post, Isabella Caltabiano reports on how the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment includes a wider scope of perceived environmental threats to America’s national security than earlier reports. This year’s report warns of extreme weather events, high temperatures, diminishing Arctic sea ice, among others, and takes a strong stance against the current administration’s views on climate change.  

India’s impending health crisis can be found in its toxic water supply. In January’s most popular post, Jennifer Möller-Gulland, J. Carl Ganter, and Cody T. Pope of Circle of Blue report on India’s widespread use of contaminated wastewater by farmers to raise their crops. Water contamination caused by the discharge of untreated, highly polluted industrial, municipal and agricultural wastewater has spread deeper into the country’s major rivers and food supply causing burning lakes, decreasing agricultural exports, and increasing rates of diseases. With no alternative, India’s farmers pray that wastewater will continue to flow.