Blogs & Opinions

Vietnam Wants a South China Sea Dispute Resolution Pact with Teeth, Not More Politics

Apr 9, 2019 | Le Hong Hiep

Asean member states and China are a step closer to forming a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea after years of operating a…

Better Water Security Translates into Better Food Security

Apr 8, 2019 | Kyla Peterson

“Food production is the largest consumer of water and also represents the largest unknown factor of future water use as the world’s population continues to…

Environmental Issues Are Ravaging the Middle East - Why Aren't Newsrooms Taking It Seriously?

Apr 7, 2019 | Bel Trew

Safe water is the most basic need for humans. It is life.  And yet water crises – which are often man made and have solutions – never get…

From Bolivian Cocaine to Colombian Gold, Low-Level Involvement in Illicit Economies Is Often Driven by Poverty and Marginalisation

Apr 5, 2019 | Allan Gillies

Across Latin America, many impoverished communities rely on income from illicit economies for their survival, yet international development agencies and NGOs have long been reluctant…

South Sudan, Where a Water Crisis Is Leading to Child Kidnappings and Rape

Apr 4, 2019 | Bel Trew

For a split second it looked like the young South Sudanese woman and her baby, swaddled in a cloth-carrier on her back, were taking a…

How to Avoid Flawed Minerals-for-Infrastructure Deals Like DR Congo and China's Sicomines Pact

Apr 3, 2019 | Adoni Maiza Larrarte and Gloria Claudio-Quiroga

It was confidently billed at the time as the "deal of the century." The Sino Congolaise des Mines (Sicomines) was the most significant Chinese investment project…

Lancang-Mekong Cooperation: Blessing or Curse?

Apr 3, 2019 | Jason Thomas

The Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) marked its third anniversary last week with the announcement that China’s trade with the five Mekong member countries – Cambodia, Lao,…

Land Is Power: How Land Rights Can Enfranchise Liberia's Women

Apr 3, 2019 | Loretta Alethea Pope Kai

Liberia is in the throes of finalising one of Africa’s most progressive land rights laws but its potential will be thwarted if women are excluded. So…

From Joseph Kony to Nile Perch: Complex Links Hook Armed Conflict to Fisheries

Apr 1, 2019 | Sarah Glaser and Cullen Hendrix

Fisheries are complex systems, so numerous factors like human population growth, climate change, and changing lake chemistry come into play. But as our recent article…

What's Institutional Bricolage and How Can It Improve Infrastructure and Lives?

Mar 28, 2019 | Brendan Bromwich and Eiman Karar

The French word ‘bricolage’ has a range of meanings related to ‘DIY’ and upcycling. Building on this concept, Brendan Bromwich and Eiman Karar explain how ‘institutional…

Coming Soon: Water Wars

Mar 28, 2019 | Rodel Lasco

Water is a hot-button issue in many parts of the world. Scientists are predicting that nations will wage war over water as populations increase while…

Who's Interested in Afghanistan's Lithium?

Mar 27, 2019 | Hindol Sengupta

What connects mobile phones, the Taliban, India and China? A metal called lithium.

Why the Golan and Crimea Aren't So Different

Mar 26, 2019 | Leonid Bershidsky

Both allies of President Vladimir Putin and critics of President Donald Trump are playing up a supposed connection between U.S. recognition of the Golan Heights as…

Can Greening Afghanistan Help End the War?

Mar 25, 2019 | Austin Bodetti

A solution to the war in Afghanistan has eluded American presidents of both political parties as well as generations of Afghan policymakers. Now that Taliban negotiators are discussing a…

Can Greening Afghanistan Help End the War?

Mar 25, 2019 | Austin Bodetti

A solution to the war in Afghanistan has eluded American presidents of both political parties as well as generations of Afghan policymakers. The environmental movement…

Gender Equality, Justice in Law and Practice: Essential for Sustainable Development

Mar 22, 2019 | UN News

Fundamentally linked to human development, gender justice requires ending inequality and redressing existing disparities between women and men, according to a high-level United Nations forum…

Gender Research in Integrated Pest Management: Unlocking Food Security

Mar 22, 2019 | Sara Hendery

Agricultural production is only one of many factors that impacts global food security. A Virginia Tech team has found that some factors, like gender, take…

The Surprising Clue to Reducing Human-Elephant Conflict: Minerals

Mar 20, 2019 | Fiona Sach

The increasing human population and global intensification of agriculture have had a major impact on the world’s natural ecosystems. This, as we’ve seen, has had…

Managing Our Resources: Women, Mining and Conflict in the Asia–Pacific

Mar 20, 2019 | Alison Davidian

The extraction and exploitation of oil and mineral deposits have become increasingly possible across Asia and the Pacific. Rapid industrialisation and technological developments have led…

Water Is a Growing Source of Global Conflict. Here's What We Need to Do

Mar 18, 2019 | Kitty Van Der Heijden

In 2017 alone, water was a major factor in conflict in at least 45 countries. Its importance as a resource means that water-related insecurity can…

Local Institutions Can Mitigate Climate-Related Conflict in the Sahel

Mar 18, 2019 | Ahmadou Aly Mbaye

Climate change acts as a conflict multiplier by amplifying existing environmental stresses, creating new ones, and thus exacerbating resource scarcities and water and food insecurity.…

Russia's Next Land Grab Won't Be in an Ex-Soviet State. It Will Be in Europe.

Mar 15, 2019 | Micheil Saakashvili

First he came for Georgia, then for Ukraine. Vladimir Putin’s next target is likely to be a non-NATO nation in the EU.

UNEA-4 Adopts Language on Conflicts and Environmental Security

Mar 15, 2019 | Doug Weir

A more ambitious and outward looking UNEA could become a vital platform for conflict and the environment.

Environmental Protection in Non-International Armed Conflicts: Finding the Way Forward

Mar 15, 2019 | Jeanique Pretorius

This year, the UN’s International Law Commission may begin to address the imbalance in international legal framework intended to protect the environment in relation to…

Sustainable Land Use Systems: A Way to Help Achieve Colombia's Climate Change Mitigation and Peacebuilding Goals

Mar 12, 2019 | Maria Eliza Villarino

Colombia has set ambitious targets to mitigate climate change and achieve stability. One promising approach to help achieve those simultaneously is designing and promoting sustainable…

The Role of Climate Change in the Continuous Cycle of Resource-Based Conflict in Africa

Mar 12, 2019 | Jake Shaw

Degraded by both climate stress and conflict, the condition of the environment can be the initial and consistent trigger for conflict in an indefinite cycle…

Targeting Infrastructure Undermines Livelihoods in the West Bank

Mar 12, 2019 | Jeannie Sowers and Erika Weinthal

In many Middle Eastern wars, targeting civilian infrastructure has become all too common. As we documented in a previous article,  both state and non-state actors in…

Will UNEA-4 Miss the Opportunity to Link Conflict with Deforestation?

Mar 11, 2019 | Wim Zwijnenburg and Foeke Postma

In spite of recent resolutions on conflict and the environment, the UN Environment Assembly is failing to make obvious connections between environmental issues and their…

Protecting Women's Rights in Iraq Affects the Whole Population

Mar 10, 2019 | Nazli Tarzi

What Iraq needs is a state-driven campaign that raise awareness and legislation that protects and encourages greater participation of women in the workforce.

'Balance For Better' Does Little to Address Issues Facing Women

Mar 8, 2019 | Rosie Urbanovich

International Women’s Day had radical roots: at the turn of the 20th century, thousands of women came together to protest dismal working conditions, long hours, and…