A Cambodian group has developed a pioneering community-based approach to HIV and TB care and research. Amy Maxmen describes how this powerful model is being expanded to other war-torn countries.

Recent studies have linked climatic and social instabilities in ancient China; the underlying causal mechanisms have, however, often not been quantitatively assessed.

In a recent paper, we documented strong historical linkages between temperature and civil conflict in Africa. Sutton et al. raise two concerns with our findings: that the relationship between temperature and war is based on common trends and is therefore spurious, and that our model appears overly sensitive to small specification changes.

The potential relationship between climate change and conflict is intriguing and warrants rigorous study. However, the proposition by Burke et al. that warming may be a directly causative factor in the risk of civil war in Sub-Saharan Africa seems unlikely. The analysis of Burke et al. (1) suggests instead a tenuous historical association between warming and increased conflict. (Letters)

An Associate Laureate of the 2004 Rolex Awards, Jo Thompson was selected for her pioneering efforts to save the bonobo, an endangered ape that dwells only in the Congo Basin region of Africa. During the Congo's war years (1998-2002), Thompson's wildlife project maintainted an active presence within the country.

Armed conflict within nations has had disastrous humanitarian consequences throughout much of the world. Here we undertake the first comprehensive examination of the potential impact of global climate change on armed conflict in sub-Saharan Africa.