evidence: Weather, weapons and wealth have all played roles in the long-running conflict between South Sudan and Sudan over the Abyei area. The conflict in Abyei—a disputed border region of farmland, desert and oil fields—has its origins in a long-running disagreement between two pastoralist groups, the local Ngok Dinka and Misseriyya Arab seasonal migrants (see figure 1). This conflict was instrumentalized and exacerbated by territorial competition between South Sudan and Sudan, who stand to gain from local oil reserves. In June 2011, the United Nations Security Council sent peacekeepers to calm growing violence, as inter-communal attacks intensified, and the Sudanese government launched a full-scale assault that displaced over 100 000 civilians, just weeks before South Sudan officially gained independence. Today, the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) is one of the largest UN peacekeeping forces in the world, deployed in one of the most climate-exposed regions. [...] Abyei also holds symbolic value in the process of South Sudanese independence, and strategic value in ongoing border demarcation negotiations. Sudanese and South Sudanese territorial claims to Abyei are partly tied to the Ngok Dinka and Misseriyya communities there. Participation of the Misseriyya in a local referendum on Abyei’s status remains a sticking point in talks between South Sudan and Sudan; South Sudan sees them as non-residents and consults the Ngok Dinka only, but Sudan wants the Misseriyya to take part. The risk of elite exploitation in Abyei remains high, with knock-on effects on the incidence of violent local conflicts, local resilience to the impacts of climate change and institutions, including traditional dispute resolution mechanisms used in Ngok Dinka–Misseriyya resource conflicts.