A unique piece of research: U.S. Researchers are suggesting that conflict in Africa was 50% more likely in warm years, supporting prior research that showed a link between conflict and rainfall. Crop yields are extremely sensitive to shifts in temperature, even if only 1/2 a degree, and food shortages may increase the likelihood of civil strife. Databases of temperature across sub-Saharan Africa were correlated with civil conflict where over 1,000 people died.
“Our findings provide strong impetus to ramp up investments in African adaptation to climate change by such steps as developing crop varieties less sensitive to extreme heat and promoting insurance plans to help protect farmers from adverse effects of the hotter climate,” said Dr. Burke from the University of California at Berkeley.
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