In our top post for June, Steve Gale shares 5 consequences out of the National Intelligence Council’s recently released Global Trends report that development actors should be particularly attuned to. In addition to the “long tail” of the COVID-19 pandemic, the report recognizes the environmental consequences of climate change, including unprecedented numbers of wildfires, increased intensity of tropical storms, and sea-level rise. As a result, migration will be more pronounced and require more targeted aid approaches as demographics shift.

Green innovation and low-carbon transport are increasingly becoming an international priority. In this month’s top post, Ruyi Li writes about how both the United States and Chinese governments are expanding electric vehicle markets, which may inspire collaboration and competition on reaching carbon neutrality goals. 

Water diplomacy has brought increased attention to both water governance and water-related challenges and risks. Women’s leadership in water governance remains a salient issue as the field strives to bridge the gender gap. In this month’s top post, Marisa O. Ensor finds that while the field remains male-dominated, recent events and related publications contribute to bridging this persistent gender gap.

Jordan is facing a deepening, multi-faceted freshwater crisis and it’ll take aggressive action by the country and its international partners to gain a foothold on its water future. In this month’s top post, Steven M. Gorelick, Jim Yoon, Christian Klassert feature their recently published framework that assesses the key factors playing a role in exacerbating Jordan’s limited natural water availability and Jordan’s water security outlook.⁠

Collapsing ice shelves raised concerns in 2020, but the immediate effects of climate change in the polar regions are merely the tip of the iceberg, write Olivia Popp and Michaela Stith in this month’s top post. What happens in the polar regions doesn’t always stay in the polar regions—it has profound effects on climate and communities around the world.

The nature of climate risks complicates efforts to pinpoint and articulate climate’s impact on conflict. In January’s top post, Peter Schwartzstein draws on years of environmental reporting across the MENA region to share examples of how environmental and climate changes are driving conflict in areas where the climate angle isn’t immediately obvious.  

Approximately 200,000 women in the U.S. are incarcerated—a nearly 800 percent increase over the past forty years. An often overlooked aspect of the increasing rates of women’s incarceration is its impact on women’s sexual and reproductive health needs. In our top post this month, the Maternal Health Initiative’s Hannah Chosid writes about the overlooked needs and barriers to incarcerated women’s reproductive autonomy.

A powerful method for communicating and examining uncertainty, scenario planning has come to the fore in discussions on how to address COVID-19. As scenario planners continue to map the potential consequences of COVID-19, they are finding much in common with risk managers, who use past data to identify and forecast external threats. In our top post this month, Steven Gale suggests that it’s time for scenario planners and risk managers to align and join forces to produce a single foresight capability.