A man from Mali explains why he spent his summer working with Columbia’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network.

Ladakh’s glaciers are retreating, causing floods and threatening livelihoods. But a recent study reveals that disaster risk reduction is often slow or absent due to its status as a conflict and military-tense zone.

If carbon emissions hold steady, a new study in Science predicts that the European Union could face a massive influx by 2100.

Today’s El Niño is unfolding over a world that is in many ways more vulnerable than the world of 1997-1998. Just as today’s climate continues to generate extremes without historical precedent, we are starting to see elements of social vulnerability also without historical precedent. That is an alarming combination.

Many experts at Columbia University’s Earth Institute are attending or closely watching the Paris climate summit. These include world authorities on climate science, politics, law, natural resources, national security, health and other fields, who can offer expert analysis to journalists. Here’s a guide to resources that journalists covering the summit can tap.

As part of the Fall 2014 Haiti Dialogue Series organized by the Earth Institute’s Haiti Research and Policy Program, a group of faculty, researchers, students and policymakers gathered to discuss the latest research linking climate change, natural hazards, development and fragility in Haiti.

The Earth Institute is launching a new interdisciplinary seminar to help business and policy leaders better understand the connections between environmental stresses, natural resources and conflicts.

The Earth Institute at Columbia University hosted a two-day workshop that brought together practitioners, trainers, and academics to explore innovative approaches to teaching and training on natural resources management in fragile states and peacebuilding contexts. The workshop concluded with a clear statement: current academic and training programs do not provide a coherent methodology for students and practitioners to adequately face the challenges posed by the confluence of fragile states, climate risks, natural resources, conflict, and peacebuilding.

When it comes to climate, data, research and problem-solving are taking a back seat to ideology, sentiment and politics. There is a great sense of disdain and suspicion right now for the liberal scientific elite in a significant portion of the U.S. population, and I’m afraid the feeling is often mutual. What can be done?

Contrary to recent news stories, the possibility that climate change might trigger conflict remains very real.