Author: Marc A. Levy

Marc Levy is deputy director of the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN). He is also the co-director of the Environment, Peace and Security Certificate Program at the Earth Institute and School of Professional Studies, Columbia University. His training is in political science, and he has published on environmental sustainability indicators, environment-security connections, the effectiveness of international environmental institutions, on social learning and environmental policy-making. At CIESIN he leads work on water-conflict linkages, anthropogenic drivers of emerging infectious diseases, climate vulnerability, and other projects seeking to understand human-environment interactions in a context of global change. He serves as lead project scientist of the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center, and directs CIESIN’s work on fragile state development. Visit website »

Implications of Leaving Paris More Intricate Than You Think

The implications of withdrawal are more intricate than what people have been fixating on so far.
How Bad Will this El Niño Be? Worse Than You May Think

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.
Seeking the Signal in the Noise of Environmental Performance Metrics

The 2012 Environmental Performance Index is a powerful tool for diagnosing trends not just across countries but over time, too. Consider what we can learn about overfishing, for example.
Population Map Shows How Close Irene Came to Being Even Bigger Disaster

A stark picture of how close Hurricane Irene came to being an even more serious disaster than it was emerges by overlaying a map of the storm track with a population distribution map. What made the storm as bad as it was had a lot to do with the fact that its trajectory took it…
Climate-Security Linkages Lost in Translation

Contrary to recent news stories, the possibility that climate change might trigger conflict remains very real.
The (Welcome) End of Unanimity

The most common reaction to Copenhagen is dismay at the failure to reach binding emission reduction targets. But Copenhagen actually represents a major success. Why? It signals, finally, the abandonment of an experiment in hyper-multilateralism that never had much chance of success. From the early days of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the…
The Military-Climatological Complex

In the movie 2012, the world’s governments must respond to the ultimate global change: overheating of the earth’s core, with attendant giant mega- earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. The effective international cooperation it inspires is proportional to the impacts. As the prospects for anything remotely appears to shrink in Copenhagen , this flight of political fancy…

Implications of Leaving Paris More Intricate Than You Think

The implications of withdrawal are more intricate than what people have been fixating on so far.
How Bad Will this El Niño Be? Worse Than You May Think

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.
Seeking the Signal in the Noise of Environmental Performance Metrics

The 2012 Environmental Performance Index is a powerful tool for diagnosing trends not just across countries but over time, too. Consider what we can learn about overfishing, for example.
Population Map Shows How Close Irene Came to Being Even Bigger Disaster

A stark picture of how close Hurricane Irene came to being an even more serious disaster than it was emerges by overlaying a map of the storm track with a population distribution map. What made the storm as bad as it was had a lot to do with the fact that its trajectory took it…
Climate-Security Linkages Lost in Translation

Contrary to recent news stories, the possibility that climate change might trigger conflict remains very real.
The (Welcome) End of Unanimity

The most common reaction to Copenhagen is dismay at the failure to reach binding emission reduction targets. But Copenhagen actually represents a major success. Why? It signals, finally, the abandonment of an experiment in hyper-multilateralism that never had much chance of success. From the early days of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the…
The Military-Climatological Complex

In the movie 2012, the world’s governments must respond to the ultimate global change: overheating of the earth’s core, with attendant giant mega- earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. The effective international cooperation it inspires is proportional to the impacts. As the prospects for anything remotely appears to shrink in Copenhagen , this flight of political fancy…