Blogs & Opinions
Report Release - Planet on the Move: Reimagining Conservation at the Intersection of Migration, Environmental Change and Conflict
Sep 25, 2024
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Philip Maxson and Kendall Trelegan
In June 2024, the IUCN's CEESP Task Force on Migration, Environmental Change, and Conflict released the report "Planet on the move: Reimagining conservation at the…
Myanmar’s Junta: Failed Governance in the Face of Nature’s Wrath
Sep 23, 2024
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James Shwe
As the floodwaters of Typhoon Yagi recede in Myanmar, they reveal more than just physical devastation. They underscore an ancient belief ingrained in Chinese and…
Why Criminalize Ecocide? Experts Weigh in
Sep 23, 2024
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Rebecca Hamilton
What do engaged stakeholders imagine that the international criminalization of ecocide can achieve? International criminal law has various goals including deterrence, retribution, expressivism, and the…
More Effective Aid by Design: Integrating Food, Climate and Peace
Sep 19, 2024
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Simone Bunse and Liliana Almeida
The number of people suffering acute food insecurity keeps rising. In 2023, nearly 282 million people in 59 countries experienced high levels of acute food…
Water, War, and Women in Gaza
Sep 18, 2024
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H. Patricia Hynes, Common Dreams
In late 2020, a report titled Saving Gaza Begins With Its Water stated:
The water crisis in Gaza is a problem of daunting proportions, with grave implications for…
Safeguarding Vulnerable Communities: Implementing Early Warning Systems in Conflict Zones
Sep 17, 2024
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CoE-EDP, VisionRI
The World Bank's latest report, "Early Warning Systems in Fragility, Conflict, and Violence-affected Settings: Shielding Communities from Natural Hazards Amid Compounded Crises," highlights the challenges…
War and Climate Change Intensify Global Water-Related Conflicts
Sep 16, 2024
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Neeraja Kulkarni
The Pacific Institute recently updated its Water Conflict Chronology—a database of water-conflict events that began to take form in the 1980s. The recent updates include…
Egypt and Ethiopia Tussle at UN Security Council as Nile Dam Tensions Escalate
Sep 13, 2024
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Foundation for Defense of Democracies
As tensions escalate between Egypt and Ethiopia over the latest filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Ethiopian Foreign Minister Taye Atske-Selassie urged UN…
Special Envoy Warns Security Council of Escalation, Humanitarian Crisis and Threat of ‘Unprecedented’ Environmental Disaster in Yemen
Sep 12, 2024
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United Nations
Amid rising regional tensions, a national humanitarian crisis and a looming environmental disaster, all stakeholders must put Yemen first, the United Nations official charged with…
Sudan: Conflict, Access Constraints and Floods Undermine FAO Efforts to Support Agriculture and Food Security
Sep 12, 2024
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Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN
The spread of conflict, access challenges and widespread flooding are severely hampering the emergency response efforts of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United…
Conflict, Hunger, and Famine in Sudan
Sep 11, 2024
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Zane Swanson, Anita Kirschenbaum, and Caitlin Welsh
In April 2023, fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces spread into a deadly civil war across Sudan. Now, 16…
Elsewhere in Focus: DR Congo—An Absent Peace, Conflict Minerals and Governance
Sep 11, 2024
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Daily Kos
There have been multiple attempts at peace agreement in DR Congo but peace seems to be long time coming. The US, for example, has been…
If UN PKO Are to Successfully Fulfill Their Mandates, Climate Change Needs to Be Taken into Account
Sep 9, 2024
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Mission Permanente de la France auprès des Nations Unies à New York
Today, the Security Council convenes for an Open Debate on UN Peacekeeping Operations. France, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Switzerland,…
Regenerative Production as a Vehicle for Environmental Peacebuilding? An Exploratory Case from Uganda
Sep 5, 2024
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Richard Marcantonio
The number of active armed conflicts is growing around the globe. One key influencer, though importantly not determinant, in these events is environmental change—mostly caused…
DRC Is the World’s Largest Producer of Cobalt – How Control by Local Elites Can Shape the Global Battery Industry
Sep 4, 2024
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Raphael Deberdt and Jessica DiCarlo
The mineral-rich Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is often portrayed as a victim of exploitation by China, the US and Europe in their competition…
The US Military Leads Climate Change, the Rest of Society Should Follow
Sep 4, 2024
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Sherri Goodman
Accelerating climate risks are also accelerating our global security risks. From new sea lanes in the Arctic, to prolonged drought across parts of Africa and…
Women Hold the Solutions to Tackling Climate Change and Hunger. Just Ask Them
Sep 4, 2024
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Michelle Nunn
In Diffa, one of the poorest regions of Niger, climate change has led to more frequent droughts and floods that have created severe food insecurity and malnutrition.…
Afghanistan’s Mineral Resources: Opportunities and Challenges
Sep 2, 2024
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Naseeb Ullah Achakzai
Afghanistan being a landlocked country has huge strategic importance followed by immense mineral deposits. It is estimated that it has untapped resources worth of 1 to…
Kazakhstan and Tajikistan to Cooperate over Rare-Earth Metals
Aug 29, 2024
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Sergey Kwan
Kazakhstan’s national atomic company, Kazatomprom, the world’s largest producer of uranium, has announced a new strategic partnership with Tajikistan’s TajRedMet (Tajik Rare Metals) in the…
Building Climate Resilience: How a Flood Protection Wall Revived an Afghan Community
Aug 28, 2024
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Mohammad Osman Azizi
What was once a vibrant community has turned into a ghost town, with hundreds of families forced to leave behind their homes, land, crops, livestock…
The Price of Victory in the Gaza War: Women, Climate, and Peace
Aug 28, 2024
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Amira Saber
Amira Saber, member of the Egyptian Parliament, looks at the environmental damage caused by the war in Gaza. She underscores the compounding ill effects of…
Climate Change, Conflict Fuel Food Insecurity in Eastern Africa
Aug 27, 2024
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Leon Lidigu
The IGAD Regional Focus of the 2024 Global Report on Food Crises has found that approximately 62.9 million people in Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan,…
A Rise in Water-Related Conflicts around the World
Aug 27, 2024
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Joshua Coe
Fresh water is one of the most basic human needs. But access to water has also long been a source of conflict. Last year saw…
Houthi Attack on Oil Tanker Sparks Red Sea Environmental Fears
Aug 27, 2024
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Steven Ganot
An Iranian-backed Houthi militia attack on the Greek oil tanker Sounion off the coast of Al Hudaydah in Yemen has sparked fears of an environmental…
Environmental NGOs as Tools of State Security Policy: A Growing Trend
Aug 26, 2024
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Peter Schwartzstein
For a group of self-described environmentalists, the roughly two dozen Azerbaijanis who suddenly assembled along the highway near the Armenian border in late 2022 looked…
Water Conflict: The Need for Water Diplomacy Has Never Been Greater
Aug 23, 2024
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Lennart Silvis
While the prospect of fully blown water wars between countries is unlikely any time soon, thousands of people are dying due to water-triggered conflicts. Yet…
War, Drought Cause Spike in Violent Water Conflicts
Aug 22, 2024
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Brett Walton
Wars against Ukraine and Gaza, and ongoing drought in farming-dependent regions contributed to a surge of violent water conflicts last year. Violent incidents associated with…
Signs of Progress on Peace-Positive Climate Adaptation
Aug 20, 2024
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Ann-Sophie Böhle
The consequences of climate change are disproportionately impacting fragile and conflict-affected settings (FCS). Climate shocks can exacerbate security risks in FCS, conflict and instability compromise…
NATO Wants to Be a Leader on Climate Security. Here Are the Next Steps to Get There.
Aug 19, 2024
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Heidi Hardt and Jacqueline Burns
At the NATO Summit in Washington summit last month, the United States and its allies reiterated the Alliance’s ambitious commitment: to become “the leading international…
Lifting DRC Mining Sanctions Would Be a Critical National Security Error
Aug 19, 2024
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Virginia Canter
At the beginning of his term, President Joe Biden named fighting corruption as a core U.S. national security interest, and his administration was quick to…