Factbook news: 5 new data visualisation features
Resolving environmental conflicts is important for creating and sustaining peace. But the connections between environmental problems and social or political conflicts are complex. Environmental changes are rarely, if ever, the sole driver of tensions and violence. The ECC Factbook investigates climate-security links and offers a detailed, interactive map to explore more than 120 case studies. The editorial team is happy to announce 5 new features that make it even easier to access relevant information. Try them out and learn about environment, conflict and cooperation!
1. A new ‘slideshow’ function for the conceptual model allows you to explore climate-conflict dynamics in more detail.
2. Short texts summarise the main conflict mechanisms described in each case study.
3. Icons in the embedded maps of the factsheets show locations of interest.
4. More information is displayed when clicking on the icons.
5. Short texts summarise the climate adaptation and resilience-building measures described in each case study.
International Water Cooperation Opens the Door to Peacemaking
Although water is an essential input for agriculture and industrial production, it is also scarce in many regions. When it crosses international borders via shared rivers, lakes and aquifers, it can become a source of conflict and contention. Yet while water can be a source of instability, especially in the face of climate change, it can also be a source or catalyst for cooperation and even peace.
The Gulf Cooperation Council’s grid operator is studying the feasibility of a cable to Ethiopia, which would run through currently war-torn Yemen.
Islands need support to face shocking impacts of 1.5C global warming
Small Island States will be facing dramatically higher adaptation costs to build resilience against the kind of impacts the IPCC projects in its most recent Special Report. Thoriq Imbrahim, former Environment and Energy Minister of the Maldives, urges the international community to attend to the political demands of countries particularly exposed to the impacts of climate change and also confront loss and damage with renewed urgency.
Three years after the talks that delivered the Paris Agreement, the world is gathering in Poland to take stock of the progress that has been made and to raise its ambitions. But as new nationalist leaders take power, has the world lost its appetite for climate action?