When anyone wishes to support – or defeat – a given position, the sturdiest method is to generate data to predict its consequences. Advocates generate reams of numbers to substantiate their preferred outcome.

Developing countries are in a pitched fight against the effects of climate change, and women, playing prominent roles in agriculture and household resource collection, are “at the front lines in the battle,” writes UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres, in a new report.

A study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences projects future sea-level rise with a new model, providing crucial information for coastal planning and further impetus to cut carbon emissions. Sifting through data on thermal expansion and retreating glaciers, the two leading causes of sea-level rise in the past century, the authors confirm that sea level is rising at an unprecedented rate.

A four-part video series produced by the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) and supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism gives an update on the beleaguered communities of Lake Turkana, the world’s largest desert lake that supplies vital ecosystem services and livelihoods to 300,000 people in northwestern Kenya. The lake is fed entirely by the Omo River, flowing south from Ethiopia, but a newly completed upstream dam has raised questions about the future.

In a study published in Science Advances, Mesfin M. Mekonnen and Arjen Y. Hoekstra estimate that over 4 billion people, approximately two-thirds of the world’s population, face severe water scarcity for at least one month out of the year – far greater than previous estimates of between 1.7 billion and 3.1 billion. The authors examined global water scarcity data from 1996 to 2005 on a monthly basis and at a more localized resolution to show how water scarcity affects different places at different times of year.

The year is 2022. Strong El Niño and La Niña events in successive years have drastically reduced wheat yields in India and Australia and increased the range of certain pests and plant pathogens in the Western Hemisphere. Moreover, a drought across North America has reduced corn and soybean yields significantly. Global commodity prices are up 262 percent over long-term averages. These price increases are compounding other social and economic challenges, contributing to social unrest in several food-importing nations.

Despite evidence that natural resources play a major role in many conflicts – 40 percent of all civil wars since the end of the Cold War, according to an estimate by the UN Environment Program – a study conducted by Arthur G. Blundell and Emily E. Harwell for the NGO Forest Trends reveals that most ceasefire and peace agreements do not address natural resources.