Following a surge in global food prices in 2008 and again in 2011, policymakers and scholars have paid increased attention to the intersection of food security and political volatility. [Video Below]

When Cyclone Haruna swept across Madagascar last February, Blue Ventures, a marine conservation and community health organization, found themselves in a surprising new role. “We went from development, to aid, and back to development, in an integrated way we never expected,” said Medical Director Vik Mohan in an interview at the Wilson Center.

“Humanity is altering Earth’s life support system. Carbon dioxide emissions are accelerating; greenhouse gas levels are unprecedented in human history,” says a new video summarizing some of the most striking finds of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest report. The climate system is changing rapidly, and it is “extremely likely,” the video quotes the IPCC, that humans are the central reason why.

The effects of climate change are often conveyed through the lens of changing physical landscapes. Shifting weather patterns, the intensification of drought, flooding, and coastal erosion are all primary areas of climate research. But do researchers know enough about changes in the size, distribution, and composition of human populations as they relate to climate vulnerability? [Video Below]

When it comes to climate change vulnerability, it sometimes seems as if all eyes are on Bangladesh. As part of my research for a recent article exploring the rise of aquaculture in the country, I interviewed Saleemul Huq, senior fellow at the International Institute for Environment and Development in London, former executive director of the Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies, and lead author of two chapters on adaptation and sustainable development in the IPCC’s third and fourth assessment reports. A number of his quotes made it into the final story but I wanted to provide the full transcript here as well, as his thoughts on the country’s climate-related risks, food security, and population dynamics are worth a read.

“We knew that we had a lot of reports, we knew that we had a lot of policy papers, but what we wanted to tell was a good story,” said ECSP’s Sean Peoples speaking recently at Duke University about the short documentary, Healthy People, Healthy Environment: Integrated Development in Tanzania.