Climate Data Can Be Critical in Fragile and Conflict-Affected States – Here’s How to Get It

Oct 5, 2015 | Schuyler Null
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When war breaks out, what happens to the weather forecast? Violent conflict disrupts many essential services in developing countries and one of the most overlooked is meteorology, which has surprisingly big consequences for farmers, policymakers, and the aid workers who are there to help.

Without a functioning weather system, it’s significantly harder to prepare for changes of all kinds. Aid and other investments in fragile states can be wasted if decisions are based on faulty assumptions about current or future conditions. But a report from the Canadian think tank International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) offers some guidance to peacebuilding practitioners, pointing out that more climate information is freely available today than ever before.