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Climate and environment

Climate and environmental changes are unfolding at an unprecedented rate around the world. Our research analyses the impacts of increasing drought and famine, rising temperatures and vulnerability of marginalised communities to natural and human-made hazards.

Central to our work is the fact that climate and environmental change is driven by extraction and consumption. Our work examines how different groups are responding to change, analysing the forces such as unequal power relations and conflicts over resources that influence decisions.

We aim to understand how the transition to a low-carbon economy is affecting communities, environments and people’s livelihoods. We examine dominant narratives and agendas around the linked issues of climate change, conservation, land, carbon, scarcity, security and resilience, and what alternatives are possible.

We work collaboratively with people who are marginalised from decision-making, to incorporate their knowledge and experiences in research findings and policy recommendations.

Latest News
New HeatNexus website showcases global research tackling the health impacts of extreme heat
16 April 2025
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Centre for Future Natures
A networking and research initiative that aims to share and amplify stories and knowledge from the spaces, movements and struggles for the commons and against enclosures.
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ANTICIPATE
Examining how different actors forecast and prepare for co-located hazards under conditions of climatic uncertainty, and whether and how these practices can be integrated for building preparedness.
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Resilient and Equitable Nature-based Pathways in Southern African Rangelands (REPAIR)
A research project that explores whether and how equitable, contextual, community-led approaches to nature-based solutions can support adaptability and resilience in Southern Africa’s rangelands.
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The Great Green Wall and Sahelian Environmental Imaginaries
Exploring high-end conceptualisations of African green futures by studying how ideas of greening the Sahel region have developed, persisted and been contested.
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Towards Brown Gold
Towards Brown Gold seeks to address the challenges of marginality, sanitation and wastewater management in five growing towns in Ethiopia, Ghana, India and Nepal.
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Sussex Sustainability Research Partnership
The Sussex Sustainability Research Programme (SSRP) delivers interdisciplinary research to help achieve the global sustainability goals for humanity and the environment.
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MSc Climate Change, Development and Policy
Study the challenges of moving to a low-carbon economy and adapting to climate change, and how they influence global and regional development.
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Climate & environment Opinion
Making sense of the circular economy in an unequal world
The global transition towards the circular economy is often presented in an idealised and apolitical way, as the recirculation of matter and energy within a closed economic system that encompasses a homogeneous humanity and nature.…
April 2025
Employment Publications
Politicisation and the Role of Business in Trade Negotiations
The changing geo-political landscape has shifted focus from generalised normative preferences in trade policy towards more realist goals that seek to create the best advantage for a country under given circumstances. Consequently, as trade issues…
April 2025
Climate & environment News
Calls to prioritise climate finance as global budgets squeezed
IDS researchers are calling for a renewed focus on climate finance commitments to support adaptation and loss for those worst impacted by climate change, amid widespread cuts to development budgets. One researcher describes recent Official…
April 2025
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