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News in brief Study establishes link between climate change, conflict, and migration Climate conditions like drought and weather extremes have been blamed as drivers of conflict and migration. The ongoing war in Syria, for example, began after years of drought and water scarcity that led to crop failures and consequently to challenging economic conditions, which may have contributed to civil unrest. Until now, however, evidence for this link was scarce. An IIASA-led study has established a causal link between climate, conflict, and migration. To understand the drivers of migration, the researchers used ten years of UN High Commission on Refugee data on asylum applications from 157 countries, as well as data on climatic conditions and conflicts in those countries. They fed these data into a modeling framework, along with various socioeconomic and geographic datasets including the distance between country of origin and destination, population sizes, migrant networks, political conditions, and ethnic and religious diversity. The study found that climate change played a significant role in migration, with more severe droughts linked to exacerbated conflict, which drives migration. However, the effect of climate on conflicts was particularly relevant to countries in northern Africa and western Asia from 2010 to 2012, such as the so-called Arab Spring and political uprisings, where the conflict led to civil war. “Climate change will not cause conflict and subsequent asylum- seeking flows everywhere, but in a context of poor governance and a medium level of democracy, severe climate conditions can create conflict over scarce resources,” says Jesus Crespo Cuaresma, a study coauthor with appointments at IIASA and the Vienna University of Economics and Business. The study findings could help inform the Sustainable Development Goals, which do not currently recognize the links between these interrelated factors. © Smallcreativeunit5 | Dreamstime Further info: Abel GJ, Brottrager M, Crespo Cuaresma J, Muttarak R (2019). Climate, conflict and forced migration. Global Environmental Change 54: 239-249 [pure.iiasa.ac.at/15684] Jesus Crespo Cuaresma: crespo@iiasa.ac.at HOW FARMS CAN FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE PARADIGM SHIFT NEEDED TO SOLVE ENVIRONMENT CHALLENGES AIR QUALITY REMAINS A PROBLEM IN INDIA, DESPITE POLICIES The agricultural sector is the world’s largest source of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions. Recent IIASA-led research found that changing agricultural practices, combined with a shift in diet away from meat and dairy products, could together reduce the sector’s emissions by up to 50% by 2050 compared to a situation without mitigation efforts. www.iiasa.ac.at/news/agriculture- emissions-19 Achieving a sustainable world will require a paradigm shift in the way we approach life sciences and ecology, according to a new book cowritten by IIASA researcher Brian Fath. The book argues that tackling sustainability issues should treat life as a system, rather than as a singular model. www.iiasa.ac.at/news/foundations- sustainability-19 In 2015, more than half the Indian population - about 670 million citizens - were exposed to air quality that didn’t meet the country’s ambient air quality standards. Yet, even if India were to comply with its existing pollution control policies and regulations, more than 674 million citizens are likely to breathe air with high concentrations of particulate air pollution in 2030, according to the research. www.iiasa.ac.at/news/india-air-19 www.iiasa.ac.at 5OptionsSummer 2019