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Soaring temperatures and food prices threaten violent unrest

As the world warms, the link between heat and social disturbance is an increasingly important one and, this summer, an especially concerning one. Each upheaval has its own causes, but certain factors make disturbances more likely everywhere. Surging temperatures, rising food prices and cuts to public spending—three of the strongest predictors of turmoil—have driven estimates of the potential for unrest to unprecedented highs in recent months. These estimates will probably rise higher still this summer. Temperatures are unlikely to have peaked. Russia’s exit from the Black Sea Grain Initiative to export supplies from Ukraine and India’s recent ban on rice exports may raise the price of staples. Social unrest is already bubbling in Kenya, India, Israel and South Africa.

Quantifying the Influence of Climate on Human ConflictPublished PaperEnvironment and ClimatePolitical Economy and ConflictResearch Methodology2013
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Africa’s Turn?
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Conflict, Climate + Development in AfricaZurich, SwitzerlandNovember 16, 2015
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Conflict, Climate, and African Development (Harvard)Cambridge, MA, USAApril 2, 2013
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Conflict, Climate, and African Development (Oxford)Oxford, UKMarch 18, 2013
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TEDxBerkeley talk: Climate, Conflict, and African DevelopmentZellerbach Hall, UC BerkeleyFebruary 8, 2014
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World Bank Development Economics Vice Presidency (DEC) LectureWashington, DC USASeptember 15, 2015
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Climate, Conflict and Economic Development: The Next 50 YearsUniversity of Oslo, NorwayOctober 19, 2017
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Life is a Lab Lecture: Climate and ConflictNorwegian School of Economics, Bergen, NorwayOctober 18, 2017
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Thought Lounge Against PovertyUC BerkeleyJanuary 7, 2016
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Trump pulling the US out of the Paris climate agreement could be disastrous for the economyBusiness Insider Australia
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