All publications and documents

Although acceptance of climate change’s role as a ‘threat multiplier’ is, by now, widespread, the specific causal mechanisms linking climate change to (violent) conflict onset remain under researched. Formal descriptions of the causal mechanisms remain few and far between. This is not problematic only for scientific reasons. The obscurity surrounding climate change’s links to violent conflict…

As a heatwave heads to the UK, and Indian cities battle with record temperatures, a new report from Christian Aid highlights how the climate crisis is increasing the severity of drought in ten of the world’s major cities and demands an international fund to pay for climate caused loss and damage. Despite covering more than 70% of the earth's surface, only 3% of the world's water is…

One person likely dying from hunger every 48 seconds in drought-ravaged East Africa as world again fails to heed warnings LONDON/GENEVA, 18 May 2022 – One person is likely dying of hunger every 48 seconds in drought-ravaged Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, according to estimates by Oxfam and Save the Children in a report published today highlighting the world’s repeated failure to stave…

The study "Valuing, restoring and managing presumed drylands: Cerrado, Miombo–Mopane woodlands and the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau" confirms the existence of 1 075 million hectares of presumed drylands that are under threat from unsustainable use and climate change. This is in addition to the 6.1 billion hectares of official drylands that already cover 41 percent of the planet’s land surface and are…

This report presents an updated estimate of the effects of pollution on health, made on the basis of the GBD 2019 data, and also makes an assessment of trends since 2000. These data show that the situation has not improved, and that pollution remains a major global threat to health and prosperity, particularly in LMICs. Since 2000, the steady decline in the number of deaths from the ancient…

The policy debate on urbanisation in Africa has long suffered from a paucity of robust evidence. This report provides a new perspective on the economy of African cities, based on the most comprehensive analysis of data on African cities to date. It uses information from more than 4 million individuals and firms in 2 600 cities across 34 African countries to describe the economic…