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Heating up tensions

Nature Climate Change volume 1, pages 327–329 (2011)Cite this article

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Studies are increasingly linking times of bad weather to violence, civil conflict and even war. Should we be worried about future fights spurred by climate change?

What has rainfall got to do with witch killings in Tanzania? Quite a lot, according to Economic Gangsters, a 2008 book co-authored by development economist Edward Miguel of the University of California, Berkeley, which, among other things, explores the link between violence and long-term weather patterns. It's a relationship that is now garnering more research and policy attention as the world heats up.

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Figure 1: Some predicted hotspots for future conflict and their causes.
Figure 2: A map of previous conflicts (1980–2005) attributed to environmental issues, their sizes and causes.
Figure 3: The link between conflicts and temperature in tropical countries.

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  1. Nicola Jones is a freelance writer based near Vancouver, Canada,

    Nicola Jones

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  1. Nicola Jones
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Jones, N. Heating up tensions. Nature Clim Change 1, 327–329 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1236

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