Blogs & Opinions

Water Wars: Beijing Faces Further Pushback over Moves in the Asian Pacific

Jan 15, 2016 | Lawfare Staff

Diplomatic protests continued this week over China’s landing of multiple civilian aircraft on Fiery Cross Reef—a PRC-held artificial island in the Spratly chain. In addition…

Missing the Peace for the Trees

Jan 15, 2016 | Arthur Blundell and Emily Harwell

Natural resources play a role in nearly half of the world's conflicts, but when it comes to ending wars, they're almost always forgotten.

Tracking National Security in the Paris Outcome

Jan 14, 2016 | Carley Chavara

Security was inseparable from the climate talks in Paris, from the safety of conference participants to how climate change impacts the stability of nations. Though…

From Banned Crayons to Concrete, Gaza Struggles to Rebuild After a Decade of Israeli Blockade

Jan 14, 2016 | Robert Fantina

In addition to essential building supplies like boards and concrete, Israel’s blocked crayons, soccer balls, musical instruments and even potato chips from entering Gaza. Gaza…

Iraq and the Kurds Are Going Broke

Jan 13, 2016 | New York Times

Iraqi and American officials leading the military campaign against the Islamic State now have to wrestle with a challenge that has the potential to change…

Fire and Oil: The Collateral Environmental Damage of Airstrikes on ISIS Oil Facilities

Jan 13, 2016 | Wim Zwijnenburg and Annica Waleij

As the United States, Russia, and others step up attacks on the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), there is concern over their…

New Research Reveals Climate-Food-Conflict Connection via Nighttime Temperatures

Jan 11, 2016 | Raul Caruso and Roberto Ricciuti

The effect of climate change on the emergence of violent conflict has become one of the more lively academic debates and is even bleeding over…

Gold Mining, Conflict Threaten Myanmar’s Indawgyi Lake

Jan 10, 2016 | Htet Khaung Linn

Khaung Tong Creek was a 1.5 meter deep, pristine creek some 10 years ago, but these days this important tributary of Kachin State’s famed Indawgyi…

Watching the World Burn: Islamic State Attacks against Libya's Oil Industry

Jan 8, 2016 | Wim Zwijnenburg

Contrary to other armed groups in Libya, the strategy behind the Islamic State’s attacks on oil facilities this week is not purely military. It is…

Financing for Resilience: 3 Lessons to be Learned in Climate Finance

Jan 5, 2016 | Katharina Nett

When it comes to accessing and making best use of climate finance, states in situations of fragility are faced with particular challenges that are largely…

Missing the Big Picture in Challenging Africa’s “Land Grab” Narrative

Jan 4, 2016 | Chris Jochnick

Who walks away from fertile agricultural land available to lease for as little as $1 per year per hectare? Recent reports indicate international investors are…

Donald Trump’s First Campaign Ad Promises Blood for Oil

Jan 4, 2016 | Jeet Heer

The long-awaited ad contains a curious line: “He’ll quickly cut the head off of ISIS and take their oil.” ISIS, of course, controls oil fields…

The Business of War

Jan 3, 2016 | Asad Zaman

As plans for war against Syria heat up, new myths are being manufactured to support it. In line with Major General Smedley Butler’s thesis, we…

U.S. Policy Shifts from Détente to Deterrence in the South China Sea

Dec 28, 2015 | Andrew Lam

In geopolitics, when détente fails, it's time for deterrence, and nowhere more so than in the South China Sea. China's expansionist designs on the region's…

Liberia’s Economic Diversification Bill: It’s Better, but Seems Too Late

Dec 27, 2015 | Samuel Goteh

In the past centuries, Liberia’s model for economic development has been predominantly natural resource-driven and revenues generation for government’s operations have mainly come from the…

The Rare Metal Age

Dec 23, 2015 | Greg Klein

Read this book and you might want to renounce technology to live in a cave—provided it’s equipped with battery rechargers. Author David S. Abraham brings…

Climate Change, Arab Spring and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

Dec 22, 2015 | Mohammad Bundokji

A contribution from guest writer Mohammad Bundokji, EcoPeace Middle East, on the compound climate-fragility risks arising from water scarcity, energy requirements and population influx in…

How to Conceive Resilience in a Protracted Crisis Situation like Eastern DRC? The Peacebuilding Contribution to Resilience in Conflict Settings

Dec 21, 2015 | Clémence Finaz

Eastern DRC has a long history of pervasive violence and instability.  Aid agencies have been sinking hundreds of millions of dollars into this region for…

Online Identification of Conflict Related Environmental Damage

Dec 18, 2015 | Wim Zwinenburg and Eliot Higgins

In this blog, Wim Zwinenburg (PAX) and Eliot Higgins (Bellingcat) discuss the open source intelligence tools that they used to recover data on environmental damage…

Lifecycle Versus the Law - Defining the Environmental Impact of Weapons

Dec 18, 2015 | Doug Weir

This blog considers the extent to which we can use international humanitarian law (IHL) to define or judge the environmental impact and acceptability of weapons.…

Identifying Causes of Global Freshwater Vulnerability

Dec 17, 2015 | Steven Gorelick and Julie Padowski

Over the past half century, the total volume of water used by people has nearly tripled, outpacing the global population increase. Regional crises related to…

Climate Change is a National Security Issue - But Not for the Reasons You Think

Dec 16, 2015 | Neil Berg and Nick Burger

The connection between climate change, conflict, and U.S. national security is receiving increasing attention from political analysts, government agencies, and even the White House. At…

How we can Link our Responses to Conflict and Climate Change

Dec 15, 2015 | Janani Vivekananda

Last week saw the most significant climate change agreement of our lifetimes. After 21 years of wrangling, world leaders finally managed to reach a deal…

Taking Back the Narrative on Dodd-Frank’s Conflict Minerals Provision

Dec 15, 2015 | Per-Olof Loof

I recently had the privilege to testify before the House Financial Services Committee’s Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee (Nov. 17, 2015). The hearing was held…

Iraq’s Economic Reform for 2016

Dec 13, 2015 | Luay Al-Khatteeb

In August 2015, Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi introduced reforms to shrink the size of the government and tackle corruption. Luay Al Khatteeb Founding Director…

SEC Takes Long-Awaited Step to Combat Rampant Corruption in the Oil, Gas and Mining Industry

Dec 11, 2015 | Zorka Milin and Corinna Gilfillan

Today the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a strong proposed rule to implement a landmark transparency law which requires US-listed oil, gas and mining companies…

The EITI and Commodities Trading Transparency: Where Are We Headed?

Dec 10, 2015 | Nicholas Garrett

For the past 2 years RCS Global has been advising Trafigura on its journey to become the commodities trading industry leader on transparency. With developments…

Deepening Australia’s Regional Relationships through Climate Security

Dec 10, 2015 | Robert Sturrock

Climate change undermines regional human security, with inaction breeding greater insecurity. Conventional wisdom about Australia’s geography is that we are uniquely located to capitalise on…

Moving Beyond The Jurisdiction Victory In West Philippine Sea

Dec 10, 2015 | Lucio Blanco Pitlo III

The October 29 decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration stating that it has jurisdiction over the case initiated by the Philippines against China was…

Oil Fuels War and Terrorists Like ISIS: The Climate Movement Can Bring Peace

Dec 9, 2015 | Rebecca Solnit

Greed for petroleum has produced plenty of war. War can be defined narrowly, as conflict between nations, or broadly, as large-scale violence in pursuit of…