Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/osf/eartha/9en6q.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Climate has contrasting direct and indirect effects on armed conflicts

Author

Listed:
  • Helman, David

    (The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Hebrew University)

  • Zaitchik, Ben
  • Funk, Chris
Abstract
There is an active debate regarding the influence that climate has on the risk of armed conflict, which stems from challenges in assembling unbiased datasets, competing hypotheses on the mechanisms of climate influence, and the difficulty of disentangling direct and indirect climate effects. We use gridded historical non-state conflict records, satellite data, and land surface models in a structural equation modeling approach to uncover the direct and indirect effects of climate on violent conflicts in Africa and the Middle East (ME). We show that climate–conflict linkages in these regions are more complex than previously suggested, with multiple mechanisms at work. Warm temperatures and low rainfall direct effects on conflict risk were stronger than indirect effects through food and water supplies. Warming increases the risk of violence in Africa but unexpectedly decreases this risk in the ME. Furthermore, at the country level, warming decreases the risk of violence in most West African countries. Overall, we find a non-linear response of conflict to warming across countries that depends on the local temperature conditions. We further show that magnitude and sign of the effects largely depend on the scale of analysis and geographical context. These results imply that extreme caution should be exerted when attempting to explain or project local climate-conflict relationships based on a single, generalized theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Helman, David & Zaitchik, Ben & Funk, Chris, 2020. "Climate has contrasting direct and indirect effects on armed conflicts," Earth Arxiv 9en6q, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:eartha:9en6q
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/9en6q
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://osf.io/download/5efccc0baf115600643b3a8e/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.31219/osf.io/9en6q?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Oeindrila Dube & Juan F. Vargas, 2013. "Commodity Price Shocks and Civil Conflict: Evidence from Colombia," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 80(4), pages 1384-1421.
    2. Hodler, Roland & Raschky, Paul A., 2014. "Economic shocks and civil conflict at the regional level," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 124(3), pages 530-533.
    3. Jeremy Proville & Daniel Zavala-Araiza & Gernot Wagner, 2017. "Night-time lights: A global, long term look at links to socio-economic trends," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(3), pages 1-12, March.
    4. Jonas Nordkvelle & Siri Aas Rustad & Monika Salmivalli, 2017. "Identifying the effect of climate variability on communal conflict through randomization," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 141(4), pages 627-639, April.
    5. H. Buhaug & J. Nordkvelle & T. Bernauer & T. Böhmelt & M. Brzoska & J. Busby & A. Ciccone & H. Fjelde & E. Gartzke & N. Gleditsch & J. Goldstone & H. Hegre & H. Holtermann & V. Koubi & J. Link & P. Li, 2014. "One effect to rule them all? A comment on climate and conflict," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 127(3), pages 391-397, December.
    6. Solomon M. Hsiang & Kyle C. Meng & Mark A. Cane, 2011. "Civil conflicts are associated with the global climate," Nature, Nature, vol. 476(7361), pages 438-441, August.
    7. Tobias Ide, 2017. "Research methods for exploring the links between climate change and conflict," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(3), May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sara Balestri & Raul Caruso, 2024. "Vulnerability to Climate Change and Communal Conflicts: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa and South/South-East Asia," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(10), pages 1530-1556, October.
    2. Khalifa, Sherin & Henning, Christian H. C. A., 2020. "Climate change and civil conflict in SSA and MENA: The same phenomena, but different mechanisms?," Working Papers of Agricultural Policy WP2020-03, University of Kiel, Department of Agricultural Economics, Chair of Agricultural Policy.
    3. Sara Balestri & Raul Caruso, 2021. "Vulnerability to climate change and communal conflicts: uncovering pathways," DISEIS - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia internazionale, delle istituzioni e dello sviluppo dis2103, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimento di Economia internazionale, delle istituzioni e dello sviluppo (DISEIS).
    4. Elizabeth A. Mack & Richard A. Marcantonio & Erin Bunting & Amanda Ross & Andrew Zimmer & Leo C. Zulu & Edna Liliana Gómez Fernández & Jay Herndon & Geoffrey M. Henebry, 2022. "A Systematic Literature Review of Quantitative Studies Assessing the Relationship between Water and Conflict on the African Continent," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-20, November.
    5. Qian Wang & Mengmeng Hao & David Helman & Fangyu Ding & Dong Jiang & Xiaolan Xie & Shuai Chen & Tian Ma, 2023. "Quantifying the influence of climate variability on armed conflict in Africa, 2000–2015," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(9), pages 9289-9306, September.
    6. Mengmeng Hao & Fangyu Ding & Xiaolan Xie & Jingying Fu & Yushu Qian & Tobias Ide & Jean-François Maystadt & Shuai Chen & Quansheng Ge & Dong Jiang, 2022. "Varying climatic-social-geographical patterns shape the conflict risk at regional and global scales," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-8, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Matthias Flückiger & Markus Ludwig, 2018. "Youth Bulges and Civil Conflict," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 62(9), pages 1932-1962, October.
    2. Sara Balestri & Raul Caruso, 2024. "Vulnerability to Climate Change and Communal Conflicts: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa and South/South-East Asia," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(10), pages 1530-1556, October.
    3. Sunde, Uwe & Cervellati, Matteo & Esposito, Elena & Valmori, Simona, 2016. "Malaria Risk and Civil Violence," CEPR Discussion Papers 11496, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Damette, Olivier & Goutte, Stéphane, 2023. "Beyond climate and conflict relationships: New evidence from a Copula-based analysis on an historical perspective," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 295-323.
    5. Austin L. Wright, 2016. "Economic Shocks and Rebel," HiCN Working Papers 232, Households in Conflict Network.
    6. Benjamin Crost & Joseph H Felter, 2020. "Export Crops and Civil Conflict," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(3), pages 1484-1520.
    7. Flückiger, Matthias & Ludwig, Markus, 2015. "Economic shocks in the fisheries sector and maritime piracy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 107-125.
    8. Andrea Bastianin & Alessandro Lanza & Matteo Manera, 2018. "Economic impacts of El Niño southern oscillation: evidence from the Colombian coffee market," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(5), pages 623-633, September.
    9. Nicolas Berman & Mathieu Couttenier & Dominic Rohner & Mathias Thoenig, 2017. "This Mine Is Mine! How Minerals Fuel Conflicts in Africa," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(6), pages 1564-1610, June.
    10. Konstantin Ash & Nick Obradovich, 2020. "Climatic Stress, Internal Migration, and Syrian Civil War Onset," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 64(1), pages 3-31, January.
    11. Unfried, Kerstin & Kis-Katos, Krisztina & Poser, Tilman, 2022. "Water scarcity and social conflict," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    12. David Castells-Quintana & Maria del Pilar Lopez-Uribe & Tom McDermott, 2015. "Climate change and the geographical and institutional drivers of economic development," GRI Working Papers 198, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    13. Nicolas Berman & Mathieu Couttenier & Raphael Soubeyran, 2021. "Fertile Ground for Conflict," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(1), pages 82-127.
    14. Federica Cappelli & Caterina Conigliani & Davide Consoli & Valeria Costantini & Elena Paglialunga, 2023. "Climate change and armed conflicts in Africa: temporal persistence, non-linear climate impact and geographical spillovers," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 40(2), pages 517-560, July.
    15. Millán-Quijano, Jaime & Pulgarín, Sebastián, 2023. "Oiling up the field. Forced internal displacement and the expansion of palm oil in Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    16. Manotas-Hidalgo, Beatriz & Pérez-Sebastián, Fidel & Campo-Bescós, Miguel Angel, 2021. "The role of ethnic characteristics in the effect of income shocks on African conflict," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    17. Lopez-Uribe, Maria del Pilar & Castells-Quintana, David & McDermott, Thomas K. J., 2017. "Geography, institutions and development: a review ofthe long-run impacts of climate change," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 65147, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Arinze Nwokolo, 2018. "Oil Price Shocks and Civil Conflict: Evidence from Nigeria," HiCN Working Papers 274, Households in Conflict Network.
    19. Sofia Castro Vargas, 2021. "Subiendo la temperatura: el calentamiento de los océanos y su efecto en el conflicto armado en Filipinas," Documentos CEDE 19458, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    20. Camille Laville, 2018. "The econometrical causal analysis of internal conflicts: The evolutions of a growing literature [L’analyse économétrique des conflits internes par l’approche causale : les évolutions d’une littérat," Working Papers hal-01940461, HAL.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:osf:eartha:9en6q. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: OSF (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://eartharxiv.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.