Blogs & Opinions

New Documentary Inspires Collaborative Action for Peace in Congo

Apr 19, 2016 | Annie Callaway

On Thursday, April 14, a crowd gathered in Washington DC for a private screening of the new documentary, Merci Congo, hosted by the Enough Project…

Food Security and Climate Change: New Frontiers in International Security

Apr 13, 2016 | Tom Daschle and Michael Werz

In 2010, President Barack Obama’s National Security Strategy, or NSS—the periodic planning document that assesses the risks facing the country and outlines the United States’…

No Petition for Certiorari in Natl Assoc. of Manufacturers V. SEC, The Conflict Minerals Case

Apr 13, 2016 | Cydney Posne

No reason to keep checking the SCOTUS website for the SEC’s cert petition in Natl Assoc. of Manufacturers v. SEC, the conflict minerals case. According…

Myanmar Can Flourish by Sowing Seeds of Agricultural Prosperity

Apr 11, 2016 | Deirdre May Culley and Martha Baxter

On 30 March, Htin Kyaw, a long-time adviser and ally of Aung San Suu Kyi – whose National League for Democracy party achieved a historic…

Use It or Lose It: China's Grand Strategy

Apr 9, 2016 | Parag Khanna

In 2010, Canada hosted the G7 finance ministers in Nunavut, the country's frigid Arctic province that is home to a mere 30,000 Inuit people. Canada's…

Fishing Disputes Could Spark a South China Sea Crisis

Apr 7, 2016 | Keith Johnson and Dan De Luce

The simmering maritime disputes and land grabs in the South China Sea have long been seen as a battle over its potentially vast undersea deposits…

Land Grabbing Is Killing Honduras' Indigenous Peoples

Apr 5, 2016 | Andrea Reyes Blanco and Tim Shenk

In its February 21 report on the Situation of Human Rights in Honduras, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights or IACHR expressed concern about the high levels of…

How to Stabilize the Central African Republic

Apr 5, 2016 | Kasper Agger

Think the ultimate victor in the U.S. presidential race faces a tough task? The effort to unite a divided America pales in comparison to what…

Water Wars: Fishermen Again Steer China into Hot Water

Apr 1, 2016 | Chris Mirasola

Malaysia joined the ranks of countries taking issue with Chinese fishermen last Thursday, as 100 trawlers were detected within Malaysia’s claimed EEZ. On Friday, National…

What Myanmar Should Do about the Myitsone Dam

Mar 31, 2016 | Jared MacDonald

The issue of the Myitsone dam has been a thorny one. The Chinese project not only bears upon Myanmar’s foreign relations, economic development, and peace…

Susan Martin: Migration a Climate Adaptation Strategy, but Displacement More Dangerous

Mar 25, 2016 | Sean Peoples

“Migration is a risk management strategy,” says Susan Martin, the Donald G. Herzberg professor of international migration at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, in…

Water Wars: In the South China Sea, Beijing Faces Twin Threats of New U.S. Military Presence and Pushback from an Old Friend

Mar 25, 2016 | Zack Bluestone and Chris Mirasola

China suffered two major setbacks in the South China Sea this week. First, sparks flew between the PRC and its longtime ally, Indonesia, when the…

Will Peace Halt Colombia’s Coca Boom?

Mar 25, 2016 | Jim Wyss

Daniel Duarte has thick, rough hands and the burned scalp of someone who has spent more than two decades under the Andean sky tending coca…

Enhancing Women's Role in Land Management Decisions

Mar 24, 2016 | Thierry Berger

How can women's rights be strengthened when decisions are being made about large-scale agricultural investments that affect their livelihoods?

A recent IIED webinar examined how women's…

Pentagon Directive Quietly Makes Climate Change Long-Term Priority

Mar 24, 2016 | Wilson Center Staff

In the middle of January, Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work signed off on one of the potentially most significant, if little-noticed, orders in recent…

Engineered Volatility in Kyrgyzstan

Mar 23, 2016 | Geopolitical Diary - Ghostwriter

Kyrgyzstan is a small yet strategically located country in Central Asia whose geopolitical significance has often outstripped its geographic size. March 23 marked the sixth…

Creating a Water Ready World

Mar 22, 2016 | Sherri Goodman

Sitting at my desk looking at bills to be paid, the first one on the stack is for the water company, emblazoned with the phrase,…

Will the World's Next Wars be Fought Over Water?

Mar 22, 2016 | Peter Engelke

California’s ongoing drought is one sign that we have entered some uncharted and uncomfortable territory. Of the fears that have risen alongside a warming planet,…

How Drip Irrigation Methods Could Help Myanmar

Mar 21, 2016 | Daniel Zohar Zonshine

We hear a lot recently about El Nino and its effect on water availability in Myanmar. Many people are worried, quite rightly, about the potential…

The Flash War of '74: China and Vietnam's South China Sea Showdown

Mar 19, 2016 | Harry J. Kazianis

While Asia watchers the world over debate China’s latest moves to transform the status-quo in the South China Sea one fake island at a time,…

What the Environmental Legacy of the Gulf War Should Teach Us

Mar 18, 2016 | Laurence Menhinick

February marked the 25th anniversary of the 1991 Gulf War’s end. The intensity and magnitude of the allied coalition’s offensive, followed by the systematic destruction…

Long-term Peace in Afghanistan will Remain Elusive Without Land Security

Mar 18, 2016 | Mehrab Masayeed Habib

Decades of war have ravaged Afghanistan’s natural environment. But even after the recent round of fighting comes to an end, the country will continue to…

Calculating the Environmental Benefits of Peace in Colombia

Mar 17, 2016 | Doug Weir

Colombia’s environment has suffered widespread and severe damage as a result of half a century of armed conflict. With a peace agreement with FARC on…

Five Years on: Lessons Learned from the Environmental Legacy of Syria’s War

Mar 16, 2016 | Wim Zwijnenburg

This week the Toxic Remnants of War Network commemorates the beginning of the conflict in Syria. The devastation wrought upon the country has cost the…

Kabul Greenbelt Project aims to Restore some Luster to War-ravaged Capital – and Resilience too

Mar 15, 2016 | Elizabeth B. Hessami

It’s hard to imagine today, but Kabul was once ringed with grassy areas and shrubs, a few trees in areas too. Some of my husband’s…

Water Wars: Flexing Muscles, U.S. Deploys Great Green Fleet to South China Sea

Mar 11, 2016 | Zack Bluestone

In a symbolic show of force, the United States dispatched “a small armada” to patrol the disputed waters of the South China Sea, according to…

Armed Conflict Harms Countries’ Environmental Performance

Mar 9, 2016 | Doug Weir

Improvements in global environmental monitoring are continuing to provide evidence showing that conflicts and insecurity have a persistent and negative impact on environmental governance. With…

Women Pay Heavier Price for Big Dams

Mar 8, 2016 | Jamie Skinner

Large dams are displacing thousands of people in West Africa in societies where women traditionally have few legal or customary rights to the natural resources…

Can Mining Dig Rural Women Out of Poverty in Ghana?

Mar 8, 2016 | Amani Mhinda

Walking within the artisanal and small-scale mining population in Tarkwa, one of Ghana's principal mining regions, it dawns on me that the local population has…

Who Owns the Land?

Mar 8, 2016 | Tom Hundley

In little more than half a century, the world’s population has increased from 2 billion to more than 7 billion. Unfortunately, the size of the…