Blogs & Opinions

Tiffany Achieves New Milestone in Conflict-free Diamond Sourcing

Aug 18, 2014 | Just Means

Ethically sourced diamonds are an important means of socio-economic development in the local communities of the diamond-producing countries in Africa. Revenue generated from diamond export…

Ian Kraucunas on Bridging the Science-Politics Divide for Climate Change

Aug 18, 2014 | New Security Beat

“Climate change is not just a far-away thing that affects far-away people,” says Ian Kraucunas, deputy director of atmospheric sciences and global change at the…

Peace is the Only Way to Give Gaza Safe Water

Aug 18, 2014 | DW

Thousands of people in Gaza are without water in the wake of repeated Israeli airstrikes. Environmental scientist and water expert Amir Dakkak tells DW why…

Environmental Peacebuilding: Constructing a More Durable Peace

Aug 15, 2014 | Alliance for Peacebuilding

Natural resources are one of a country’s most critical assets for peacebuilding and post-conflict recovery. Land, forests, minerals, oil, water, and other resources are the…

Kurdish Oil Ban: What it Means

Aug 14, 2014 | Wealth Daily

Divide and conquer – the most effective tactic of any insurrection – seems to be giving the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) all…

Three Ways that Oil Matters for the Crisis in Iraq

Aug 13, 2014 | PeakOil

For months now, Sunni militants from the Islamic State (better known as ISIS) have been seizing control of large swathes of Iraq.

But it wasn’t until they…

The Reason for New U.S. and French Military Involvement In Iraq: Protecting Oil or Minorities?

Aug 13, 2014 | GlobalResearch

Why is Obama now re-committing the U.S. military to Iraq? Why is France strongly backing military action?

Obama says it’s to protect minorities. That’s nothing new.  Obama is…

The ‘It’s About Oil’ Theory in Iraq Is Still Inaccurate

Aug 13, 2014 | Defense One

Whenever the US takes military action in the Middle East, oil surfaces as the supposed primary rationale. So it is with president Barack Obama’s air…

Outsiders Cannot Stop South Sudan's Oil War, Say Observers

Aug 12, 2014 | Anadolu Agency

High-level proposals to use international monitors to oversee South Sudan's precious oilfields are doomed to failure until fighting between factions loyal to the country's president…

Vietnam, China Maritime Disputes: Time For A Paradigm Shift

Aug 7, 2014 | Eurasia Review

Mr Rajaram Panda’s claim that “China’s illegal deployment of Haiyang Shiyou 981 oil rig is located 60-80 nautical miles deep within the exclusive economic zone…

Artisanal Gold Mining in the Amazon: Small-Scale Actions and Massive Challenges

Aug 6, 2014 | Columbia University

Perhaps the most immediate threat to Peru’s forests comes from illegal small-scale gold mining, which accounts for nearly 20% of all of the country’s gold…

Natural Resources: The Curse of Developing Countries?

Aug 6, 2014 | Rappler

People are dying while sitting on the riches of their lands. This is the horrid reality in most developing countries, particularly in Indonesia. Covering 1,904,570 square…

Climate Change Will Test Water-Sharing Agreements

Aug 4, 2014 | New Security Beat

Many existing water-sharing treaties should be re-assessed in the context of climate change, write Shlomi Dinar, David Katz, Lucia De Stefano, and Brian Blakespoor in…

Industrialization and Global Value Chains in Liberia

Aug 4, 2014 | Afribiz

Liberia has participated in global value chains for decades through its export of primary commodities, and the revitalization of this sector after the war has…

Voices from Nepal: Promoting Women's Climate Leadership

Aug 3, 2014

The magnitude of the problem of climate change and environmental degradation in a mountainous and developing country like Nepal is very alarming.

Rapid population growth and…

An Integrated Approach to Conflict and the Environment

Aug 2, 2014 | Talia Hagerty - World Politics Review

For the better part of their existence, the global anti-war and the environmentalist movements have typically existed side by side, each pursuing noble but separate…

The Impact of War: Health, the Environment, and Cultural Heritage in Conflict

Aug 2, 2014 | World Politics Review

The destructiveness of armed conflict has been a painful constant throughout human history. And despite efforts to limit its range and impact, the damage resulting…

Environmental Dimensions of Sustainable Recovery: Learning from Post-Conflict and Disaster Response

Aug 2, 2014 | Thomas Curran - New Security Beat

Events like Typhoon Haiyan, Hurricane Sandy, and the civil wars in Darfur and Syria have shown that the environment plays an increasingly critical role in…

Toxic Footprint of Syria's War

Aug 2, 2014 | Insight on Conflict

Pieter Both and Wim Zwijnenburg, from PAX, discuss the long term health and environmental impacts of Syria's civil war.

Syria’s ongoing civil war has already resulted…

Drought, food insecurity and radicalism in Northern Bangladesh

Aug 2, 2014 | Insight on Conflict

In recent year’s climate change and other environmental factors has increased food insecurity in Northern Bangladesh. Ishak Mia asks if there is a link between…

Containing the resource curse: Competition for scarce resources is sorely testing our assumptions about global governance and cooperation

Aug 2, 2014 | Alejandro Litovsky - The Independent

Competition for scarce resources is sorely testing our assumptions about global governance and cooperation, at a time when collective leadership is becoming ever more necessary.…

Africa's oldest nature park counts on sustainability

Aug 2, 2014 | Marc Jourdier

PEOPLE living in and around Africa’s oldest wildlife reserve – Virunga National Park – threatened by armed groups and oil prospectors, are pinning their hopes…

Decline in Wildlife Aggravates Human Conflict - study

Jul 28, 2014 | rt.com

Researchers at UC Berkeley have found an alarming correlation between a decline in wildlife and human conflict. As human activity directly threatens animals, their declining…

South Sudan: Behind the Scene in the Intensifying Conflicts

Jul 25, 2014 | Sudan Vision

For many Nigerians -- a majority of whom subsist on less than $2 per day -- the corruption in Abuja, when combined with the wanton…

Iraq: Iraq Uses Influence to Thwart Kurdish Oil Sales

Jul 25, 2014 | The American Interest

Iraq’s central government is throwing its weight around in the international oil markets to impede Kurdish ambitions for independence. The Kurds, who have announced their intent to hold…

Iraq: Daniel W. Bromley: Iraq's Curse of Oil and Stifled Economy

Jul 23, 2014 | Wiconsin State Journal

The focus in Iraq is on “sectarianism” and political disarray.

But to move forward in Iraq and much of the Middle East and North Africa, policymakers…

Afghanistan: Undoing Afghanistan's Resource Curse

Jul 21, 2014 | LA Times

Afghanistan is teetering on the edge. A little-known bill just passed the upper house of its parliament that could help counter threats to the country's…

What Will it Take to End the “Resource Curses?”

Jul 21, 2014 | World Resources Institute

The discovery of oil in Chad in the 1990s brought new hope to the impoverished, land-locked nation. After the World Bank financed a $4.2 billion…

How Do We Avert a Thirsty Future?

Jul 16, 2014 | The Globe and Mail

There is a tongue-in-cheek saying in America – attributed to Mark Twain, who lived through the early phase of the California Water Wars – that…

Climate Change Will Test Water-Sharing Agreements

Jul 16, 2014 | NewSecurityBeat

Many existing water-sharing treaties should be re-assessed in the context of climate change. While “water wars” have historically been incredibly rare, the changes to water…