Taking Stock: the Field of Climate and Security

Purpose of Review

After nearly 15 years of study, what do we know about the relationship between climate change and security? How can scholars of climate and security inform the world of practice? These questions animate this article, with an eye towards avoiding the twin traps of policy incoherence and academic irrelevance.

Recent Findings

The last 15 years of study has focused on whether climate change is directly correlated with the onset of violent internal conflict. That being inconclusive, the literature has now productively turned to studying the indirect pathways and mediating factors between climate and social conflict, including but not limited to armed violence.

Summary

I focus on five different causal pathways and mediating factors that represent the frontier of research on the study of climate and conflict. These include agricultural production and food prices, economic growth, migration, disasters, and international and domestic institutions.