What do we (think we) know about the links between climate change and armed conflict? Early attempts to theorize what climate-related conflict might look like were exceptionally successful in sparking policymaker interest in and funding of research on climate-conflict links. But they were more like works of science fiction than science. Since then, research on climate-conflict links has exploded, with hundreds of articles and working papers published on the subject. Moreover, the findings have been all over the map, with some arguing for strong impacts of climate on conflict at multiple temporal and spatial scales, while others argue—in both specific instances, about the supposedly climate-fueled Syrian Civil War, and more generally—that climate-conflict links are overstated.

In the top read post for July, Marisa O. Ensor offers the case for using “Positive Peace” as a framework for analyzing the resilience of countries and communities suffering from climate stress and resource challenges. The 2019 Global Peace Index, produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, factors climate change into its assessments and finds that climate change and resource availability can create or exacerbate tensions, but they can also be a source for cooperation.

Every day 830 women around the globe die from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes. Almost all of these deaths occur in the developing world, but over the past sixty years this global problem has made waves at home. While worldwide maternal mortality rates are decreasing, the rates are rising in three countries: Afghanistan, Sudan, and the United States. Between 2000 and 2014, the number of women who died in the United States from pregnancy-related causes while pregnant or within 42 days postpartum increased by almost 27 percent, from 18.8 per 100,000 deaths in 2000 to 23.8 in 2014.

“We’re attempting to do something that’s never been done before in world history,” said Senator Angus King (I-ME). “The peaceful development of a major new physical asset.” He spoke of the Arctic Ocean at the 8^th Symposium on the Impacts of an Ice-Diminishing Arctic on Naval and Maritime Operations. The symposium was hosted by the Wilson Center’s Polar Institute, in partnership with the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, U.S. National Ice Center, Arctic Domain Awareness Center, Patuxent Partnership, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.

Rising tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia over construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) have led to speculation that there could be a war over water. When completed, the dam will be the largest in Africa. And it will give Ethiopia control over the Blue Nile River, a major source of Egypt’s water.

In the Global South, natural resource conflict has largely been considered a consequence of poor governance and weak political institutions. The international community’s solution? Build “green” governance capacity as a way to mitigate violent conflict and improve environmental outcomes. For the international development community, this has meant introducing laws, policies, and practices based on international standards of best practice, and training local regulators to adhere to those standards.