The good news is that some of the big land deals reported in Africa after the 2007-08 food crisis may have evaporated once companies realized the precarious land and legal frameworks they were stepping into. The bad news is that small farmers don’t have the same luxury, writes Landesa CEO Chris Jochnick in last month’s most-read story.

Conflict always wins the headlines, but in some ways, 2015 was the year of cooperation. From COP-21, the Millennium Development Goals, and the Sustainable Development Goals to disaster risk reduction, financing for development, and the G-7, the list of far-reaching international agreements is incredible.

As the Paris Conference of Parties drew near, climate change was on the mind in November. Five of the six most-read stories touched on climate change in some way.

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.

Water, energy, and demography – these were the themes of the most popular stories from last month. It seems natural resources and their consumption are on people’s minds.

The war in Darfur, which has in turns captivated the world’s attention and been ignored, is still on. In one of last month’s most-read articles, Brendan Bromwich writes that this is in part because of a flawed, simplified narrative about whether the conflict is primarily about politics or natural resources. It’s both, he writes, and without addressing this complexity, the peace process will not be successful.

The story of ECSP’s own John Thon Majok was the most read last month. The rising number of displaced people around the world is an immense tragedy, he writes, but refugees also depict the “maximum example of the human capacity to survive despite the greatest losses and assaults on human identity and dignity.” The concept of “refugee resilience” can help people see the strengths in those that survive such ordeals and give hope to those struggling through it.

Just a few years ago, progress on global family planning and reproductive health policy seemed to be stuck in a rut. “For 20 years, development money for health had been directed to fight HIV and poverty, and as a result, momentum, interest, and funding for family planning had dwindled,” said Susan Rich, vice president of global partnerships for the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), at the Wilson Center on July 15. “Unmet need for family planning was high all over the world, but especially in Africa.” [Video Below]