On October 23–24, the Yale Center for Geospatial Solutions will host an interdisciplinary workshop exploring how ancient riverine societies responded to extreme climate events and what their experiences can teach us about today’s global water governance challenges. Drawing on a six-year collaboration between historians, climate scientists, economists, and policy experts, the event will examine resilience, collapse, and adaptation in the Nile, Tigris-Euphrates, and Indus river systems, with particular attention to how governance shaped outcomes under ecological stress. The workshop will bring together scholars and practitioners—including experts from East Africa and West Asia—to identify historical insights with direct application to modern crisis management, disaster preparedness, and sustainability planning. The convening will culminate in a White Paper outlining key findings and future research trajectories, launching a new phase of applied, cross-disciplinary work at the intersection of climate, history, and policy.
