The potential security challenges linked with climate change can make for great headlines. While sensationalist claims about water wars, states collapsing in chaos, or the forced migration of hundreds of millions cannot be completely discounted for the long term, intelligent mitigation and adaptation efforts can help avoid the worst of these – and manage the rest.

Imagine an overgrown perennial garden. Impenetrable, shrubby bushes knit themselves together in long rows. Grasses reach chest high. Native hardwood trees hog the perimeter.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has called for “urgent, daring action” to help deliver on his pledge to reduce New York City’s greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050. The Mayor asked us all to think about “the reckless way in which we live.”

At high noon, Devi KC is still deep in the daily chores she started at sunrise: brewing tea and cooking a meal of rice, lentils and spinach for her husband and teenage son; pumping and hauling water from the nearby well; harvesting hay from her field; and sweeping road dirt from her front porch.

Viewed from afar, the two-mile-long Mosul Dam is an impressive sight on the flat, sunbaked northern plains.

Policymakers typically address issues like climate, food security, development, and reproductive health separately. But that is not how those issues are experienced by women in developing countries. “At the ground level, these issues overlap 100 percent,” said Dr. Yetnayet Asfaw of EngenderHealth during a recent dialogue on global health and development held at the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings’ Civil Society Policy Forum.

Mass displacement has become a significant feature of recent conflicts, as the number of people forced to flee their homes has passed 50 million worldwide, a level not seen since World War II. This is one of the reasons why the UN Security Council will focus on women refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) during its annual open debate on women, peace, and security on October 28, according to Elizabeth Cafferty, senior advocacy officer at the Women’s Refugee Commission.

As the dust settles on an exciting United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), I finally have an opportunity to reflect on all that went down, and what it means for the post-2015 development process moving forward.