Blogs & Opinions

The Ukraine Conflict’s Legacy of Environmental Damage and Pollutants

Apr 22, 2015 | Nickolai Denisov, Otto Simonett, Doug Weir and Dmytro Averin

One year after violent conflict began, information is now emerging on the specific environmental impact of war in Ukraine’s highly industrialised Donbas region. Although obtaining…

The Coming Water Wars

Apr 20, 2015 | Jo Ankier and John Fengolio

“Around 60% more food will be needed to feed the world’s growing population by 2050 and with the demand for water set to increase by…

New Photo Shows China's First Airfield in the World's Most Contested Archipelago

Apr 17, 2015 | Ishaan Tharoor

The image, provided by IHS Jane's Defense Weekly, shows that China has begun building a runway on an island in the disputed Spratly Islands in the…

Catalyzing Cooperation: Disaster Diplomacy and its Potential to Short-Circuit the Climate-Conflict Link

Apr 15, 2015 | Tim Kovach

Here is a growing chorus of voices claiming climate change will foster more conflict and violence. Books have been released on the impending age of climate…

President Obama’s Visit to Jamaica: Doubling down on Climate Security Collaboration

Apr 9, 2015 | Oliver-Leighton Barrett

President Obama is making a short but historic trip to Kingston, Jamaica, on the eve of the Summit of the Americas to be held in…

Science and Geopolitics Converging in the Troubled Waters of the South China Sea

Apr 8, 2015 | James Borton

The South China Sea remains at the epicenter of one of the most volatile maritime areas in the world, with little or no agreement on…

Collapse War in the Middle East?

Apr 7, 2015 | Jean-Michel Valantin

The current war raging throughout Syria and Iraq is profoundly singular, because it combines itself with the social and environmental collapse, combined with the severe…

Sand Pebbles: Why are Superpowers Squabbling over Rocks?

Apr 2, 2015 | Keith Johnson

China’s aggressive behavior in the South China Sea is alarming the Navy and prompting calls for a more vigorous U.S. response. Over the past year,…

Baghdad Scores a Goal in its Oil Dispute with Kurdistan

Apr 2, 2015 | David Romano

Last September, the federal government in Baghdad filed a $300 million lawsuit against the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) most important oil tanker shipping partner, Greece’s…

Unplanned Plans!

Apr 1, 2015 | Kashmir Images

In 1961, diamond-rich Botswana and Sierra Leone had approximately the same per capita income of about US$1,070, however, both these countries in Africa adopted and…

Free Speech Inc.

Mar 30, 2015 | Cass R. Sunstein

The most illuminating free-speech case of 2015 has nothing to do with political speech, or civil-rights protests, or hate speech, or any other issues we used…

Linking Water Security With National Security

Mar 30, 2015 | Muhammad Zamir

Everyone needs to be worried about water security, pollution and the environment. We need to accord these factors the priority that they deserve.

As we observed…

The Civilian Health Risks from TNT in Syria’s Barrel Bombs

Mar 27, 2015 | Doug Weir

The TRWP was recently asked to help identify a substance associated with partially detonated barrel bombs in Syria. Syria’s White Helmets, the volunteers who daily…

From Food Security to Regional Security: How Community Resilience Can Prevent Conflict in Africa

Mar 26, 2015 | Darius Mans

If we're going to prevent people from being susceptible to the false promises of extremism, then the international community has to offer something better... We…

Don't Torpedo The Dam, Full Speed Ahead For Ethiopia's Nile Project

Mar 26, 2015 | Gregory Warner

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is under construction near Assosa, Ethiopia. When it's completed, the dam will have be able to produce 6,000 megawatts of…

Women On the Frontlines of Water Insecurity

Mar 25, 2015 | Mayesha Alam

Water is essential to life on earth, but we are facing a global crisis. According to a new report released by UNESCO on March 22…

Responsible gold also means supporting livelihoods of artisanal miners

Mar 24, 2015 | Tyler Gillard

Last year, a blind Congolese civil society leader named Eric Kajemba helped broker a deal between the Congolese army, local authorities, three powerful Congolese families…

Commentary: Oil’s Perfect Storm

Mar 23, 2015 | Jim Brooks

No commodity affects global economic landscape like oil, but there are some very important non-economic implications to the oil price swoon. With global oil prices down…

WHO Finds That Glyphosate is Probably Carcinogenic – Implications for Plan Colombia

Mar 23, 2015 | Doug Weir

On the 20th March 2015, the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified the world’s most widely used herbicide Roundup as probably…

Putin's Pipeline Predicament

Mar 20, 2015 | Michael Haltzel, Antto Vihma, and Michael Mehling

As Russia and Ukraine approach yet another confrontation over natural gas, the recent demise of Putin's flagship South Stream pipeline casts doubt on his strategic…

Environmental Peacebuilding: Conservation Agreements Reduce People-Park Conflict in Liberia

Mar 20, 2015 | Eduard Niesten

This is the first blog in Human Nature’s “Environmental Peacebuilding” series, which will chronicle CI’s growing role in this emerging field of research.This post focuses…

Remote Data Team Helped Put Haiti back on the Map

Mar 18, 2015 | Alex Fischer

A piece from the Earth Institute Haiti Dialogue Series: Now in its third year, having hosted more than 20 sessions, the Haiti Dialogue Series hosts forums that…

Military Health Surveillance – Lessons for Post-Conflict Civilian Health Monitoring

Mar 17, 2015 | Andrew Garrity

Military personnel may come across a number of natural and anthropogenic environmental health risks during training, domestic operations and overseas deployment. Veterans groups and politicians…

Iraq’s Continuing Struggle with Conflict Pollution

Mar 12, 2015 | Wim Zwijnenburg

While Iraq is still recovering from the environmental impact of both Gulf wars, it now faces new environmental problems caused by the current conflict against…

Protecting & Empowering Women & Girls in Situations of Crisis & Conflict

Mar 9, 2015 | Annabelle Timsit

Since the mid-1990s, there have been significant increases in the recorded number of all disasters and in deaths resulting from those disasters, especially in low-income…

How A Fight Over Natural Resources Is Quietly Driving The World’s Response To Ukraine

Mar 6, 2015 | Igor Volsky and Kiley Kroh

On Thursday, the fast-moving crisis in Ukraine took another surprising turn as the de facto authorities of Crimea, the semi-autonomous Ukrainian republic that is currently…

Blog: Will Congress Revisit the Conflict Minerals Rule?

Mar 6, 2015 | Cydney Posner

According to a Bloomberg BNA report, a representative of the Chamber of Commerce, one of the plaintiffs in National Association of Manufacturers, Inc. v. SEC, the conflict minerals case currently…

Drilling down into the Connection Researchers are Making between Climate Change and Conflict

Mar 5, 2015 | Keith Kloor

The Carbon Brief, a UK website created in 2011, is a destination for many seeking non-partisan information and analysis on climate change related news and research. I like…

India's Water Aggression against Pakistan

Mar 2, 2015 | Sajjad Shaukat

In the modern world, there are various forms of bloodless wars like economic wars which amount to aggression. In these terms, besides supporting subversive acts…

Wars for Resources?

Feb 27, 2015 | John Foster

Recent conflicts in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Ukraine have ostensibly been about “bad guys” who threatened peace with weapons of one kind or another, or…