New Research Reveals Climate-Food-Conflict Connection via Nighttime Temperatures

Jan 11, 2016 | Raul Caruso and Roberto Ricciuti
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The effect of climate change on the emergence of violent conflict has become one of the more lively academic debates and is even bleeding over into the mainstream. Despite a substantial number of studies, results are contradictory and somewhat inconclusive. In a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Peace Research, we present the results of a novel case study: Indonesia from 1993 to 2003, a period of major economic, political, and social transition. We found a close relationship between an increase in the minimum temperature during the rice growing season and an increase in violence.