Blogs & Opinions

Armed Groups and Mineral Extraction in the DRC

Mar 8, 2016 | Washikala Malango

As armed groups are the main perpetrators of the ongoing violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, many actors working in the country have…

Transforming Myitsone Into a Win-Win

Mar 4, 2016 | Joern Kristensen

The incoming National League for Democracy government will soon need to make important decisions about the controversial Myitsone Dam. But it will also have to…

The Drought that Preceded Syria's Civil War Was Likely the Worst in 900 Years

Mar 3, 2016 | Elaisha Stokes

Syria's civil war has left 250,000 people dead, according to the latest UN count, and millions more are either displaced within the country's borders or…

A Healthy Environment Must be a Human Right – Especially in Armed Conflict

Mar 3, 2016 | Doug Weir

The question of whether a healthy environment is a human right has been occupying the minds of legal experts and governments since the 1980s. In…

El Niño, Peace and the Green

Mar 2, 2016 | Santiago Villaveces Izquierdo

El abrasante niño en apogeo, los campos secos y los cerros bogotanos ya ardidos son muestras de la necesidad de una estrategia solida de crecimiento…

Is the Illegal Trade in Congolese Minerals Financing Terror?

Mar 2, 2016 | Sebastian Gatimu

Many resource-rich states across the globe have used revenues from mining to finance their development. In Africa, however, a lack of sufficiently robust or effectively…

A Mysterious Pipeline Closure Is Bankrupting Iraqi Kurds

Mar 2, 2016 | Keith Johnson

The export pipeline connecting Kurdish oil fields to Turkey has been offline for two weeks, costing Erbil at least $200 million.

Iraqi Kurds’ dreams of energy-financed…

South China Sea Dispute

Mar 2, 2016 | Florencio Fianza

One of the most important issues that President Aquino is leaving to the next President is the problem in the South China Sea. Contrary to…

Climate and Conflict: El Niño’s Ability to Magnify Tensions Between Companies and Communities

Mar 2, 2016 | Josh Fisher

The Pacific island of Papua New Guinea has a long history of conflict and grievances among local communities and extractive industries like mining and oil…

India's Water Wars

Mar 1, 2016 | Aman Sethi

NEW DELHI — Army trucks rumbled along dusty village roads, soldiers opened fire, crowds panicked and eventually the Indian Army took control of Munak canal,…

Kono Bleeds in Silence (Part I)

Feb 29, 2016 | Felix D. Fofoh

Part I of this article in the previous edition looked at the discovery of diamonds in Kono District, the colonial control of the minerals and…

Trading Away Ancient Amber's Secrets

Feb 26, 2016 | Shuo Wang, Chao Shi, Yun-jiao Zhang, Guo-xiong Hu and Li-zhi Gao

In the swamps of North Myanmar lies some of the oldest stone in the world. Burmese amber (burmite) is more than 100 million years old…

Papua New Guinea: Uncovering Impacts of Gold Mining

Feb 26, 2016 | Joshua Fisher

The pacific island of Papua New Guinea is one of the world’s most resource rich countries, hosting nearly 7 percent of global biodiversity and important…

How Bad Will El Niño Be? Worse Than You May Think

Feb 26, 2016 | Prof. Marc Levy

Much of the discussion about the fear that the current El Niño will turn out to be even worse than the devastating 1997-1998 El Niño…

Conflicting Views Surface on UNEP’s Work on Armed Conflicts Ahead of UNEA-2

Feb 22, 2016 | Doug Weir

Some States would rather UNEP’s only role in relation to armed conflicts is that of a voluntary post-conflict environmental helpline, but this view fails to…

How a Pink Flower Defeated the World’s Sole Superpower

Feb 21, 2016 | Alfred W. McCoy

After fighting the longest war in its history, the United States stands at the brink of defeat in Afghanistan. How can this be possible? How…

The Role of Women in Creating Climate Resilient Communities: Focus on the Philippines

Feb 19, 2016 | Laura Fairman

The Philippines is one of the world’s most vulnerable populations to the effects of climate change. When the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction…

Afghanistan’s Opium Solution

Feb 19, 2016 | Ryan Mernin

For fourteen years, beginning in 2001, the U.S. fought a war on two fronts in Afghanistan: one to destroy the Taliban, the other to destroy…

Fair Share: Toward an Equitable Resource Revenue System

Feb 17, 2016 | Andrew Bauer

Myanmar’s government currently collects much of the trillions of kyat generated by oil, gas, gemstones and other minerals each year, primarily through its state-owned economic…

Water and Security Hotspots to Watch in 2016 [Infographic]

Feb 15, 2016 | Gracie Cook

The ongoing violence in Syria exhibits the potential for water problems – a historic drought, in this case – to exacerbate existing social and political…

We Need to Define “the Environment” to Protect it from Armed Conflict

Feb 11, 2016 | Laurence Menhinick

If we want to strengthen the protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts, we need to define what we mean by “the environment”…

What Happened When Wall Street Reform Came to Congo’s Frontier Mining Towns

Feb 11, 2016 | Holly Dranginis

She never wanted to be a miner. Daphrose grew up in the rainforest, where Congo’s mountain gorillas are protected from hunters by an elite group…

On the Road to Peace in Colombia, It’s Important to Remember the Underlying Causes of Conflict

Feb 9, 2016 | Stephanie Burgos

The longest lasting and only remaining internal armed conflict in this hemisphere may be coming to a close soon. After more than 50 years, Colombians…

Myitsone Dam is as Much Aung San Suu Kyi's Problem as Beijing's

Feb 8, 2016 | David I. Steinberg

In September 2011, Myanmar President Thein Sein dropped a bombshell on his country's previously close relations with China. Citing the public interest, he announced that…

Climate Change, Disasters, and Security: Unconventional Approaches to Building Stability

Feb 8, 2016 | Gracie Cook

It is “not sufficient to look at history for lessons on how we should prepare for and prevent future security risks in a climate change…

Armed Conflict, Environmental Protection and the Sustainable Development Goals

Feb 3, 2016 | Doug Weir

Unless the international community does more to protect and restore the environment from the impact of armed conflict, many countries will fail to meet the…

Corruption in Iraq’s Oil Industry

Jan 31, 2016 | Barham Othman

Iraq is one of the countries in the Middle East that is known to be oil rich. Iraq has also been suffering from a lack…

“The Most Toxic War in History” – 25 Years Later

Jan 29, 2016 | Doug Weir

This month marks the 25th anniversary of the start of Operation Desert Storm, the combat phase of the Gulf War. Precipitated by Iraq’s invasion and…

Can Myanmar Avoid Conflict Pitfalls in its Hydro Blitz?

Jan 27, 2016 | Alec Forss

Myanmar is undergoing multiple transitions, from military rule to democracy, decades of civil war to peace, and from a command economy to a market-based one.…

Striking a Peace Deal with Colombia’s Forests and Fields

Jan 26, 2016 | Maria Alejandra Jaramillo

Last year, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced that, before or on March 23, the government would sign a peace deal with the rebel group…