A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program

Extreme Heat’s Toll on Pregnancy and Reproductive Health

Preliminary data collected by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) shows that the first week of July 2023 was the hottest week on record. Recent global heatwaves also prompted a public health alert from the WMO concerning rising health risks.

Imagine trying to perform a C-section, or conduct a delivery, in a hospital with no light.

For hundreds of thousands of health workers, this is the reality they face each night. Close to 300,000 women and one million newborns (primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia) die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth each year. Hemorrhage, infection, eclampsia, obstructed labor, and unsafe abortion cause the majority of obstetric deaths— many of which could be prevented with access to timely emergency obstetric care.

The increased demand for minerals driven by the renewable energy transition has put China’s involvement in mining activities in Africa in the spotlight. But understanding the challenges posed by this activity means we need to situate it within broader contexts.

Over the past several months, members of the foreign affairs and development communities have heaped a great deal of attention—and interpretation—on the pace of demographic change in Nigeria.

A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program

Rough Waters: Sri Lanka’s Fishermen Face Climate Challenges and Economic Woes

Close to 2.4 million Sri Lankans are employed in that nation’s fisheries, and the bounty of its seas and freshwater bodies make up close to half of the country’s animal-based protein. But now the livelihood that has sustained these workers for generations faces growing constraints.

In today’s demographically diverse world, population issues abound, creating different and important social, economic, and political implications. World Population Day (observed each year on July 11) offers an opportunity to reflect on why population is so important. Understanding the implications of population growth and decline, as well as population age structure and migration—is essential to strengthen our abilities to plan for a more sustainable future.

Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have predicted an El Niño event between late 2023 and early 2024. El Niño is a complex climate phenomenon characterized by unusually warm sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean near the equator that typically happens every two to seven years. This phenomenon amplifies the likelihood of severe weather events in specific regions due to changes it creates in atmospheric circulation patterns, which escalate and initiate consequences for the environment, economy, and human health.

 

A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program

In Conflict-Affected Somalia, Climate Change Adds to Migration Pressures

In the Somalian coastal town of Hobyo, thousands of residents—some of whom settled there to flee the country’s civil war—are starting to leave. Why? Their homes are being engulfed by sand.