Afghanistan is synonymous with conflict. While most analyses have focused on the human actors—the intractable web of foreign fighters, international terrorist organizations and fleeing refugees—the key to understanding conflict is the environment. Given the severity of violence, it may seem odd to use the environment as a lens to understand an active conflict zone. But in fact, it is through these complex social-environmental relationships that one can begin to unravel the regional drivers of vulnerability.

C+S alum Colin Kelley (’08) garnered some media coverage for his research into the role of drought in the current Syrian conflict when his study on the topic came out earlier this year. A new analysis shows just how much coverage he got. Turns out it was a lot.

The growing body of climate and conflict literature just got a major new study courtesy of C+S alum Colin Kelley (C+S ’08). The research, published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, looks how climate change influenced the ongoing Syrian conflict that’s given rise to the Islamic State.