Blogs & Opinions
Climate, Peace and Security and the Need for a Coordinated Approach
Aug 29, 2022
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Frederic Gateretse-Ngoga
In the African continent, where both slow and fast onset climate events undermine economic and political stability, the linkage between climate change and conflict is…
Conflict, Climate Change and COVID Combine to Create a Breeding Ground for Sexual and Gender-Based Violence
Aug 26, 2022
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Helen Clark, Michelle Bachelet, and José M. Albares
Rape is being used in conflict as a deliberate military strategy, and is feared most by women and girls as soon as the shooting starts.
They…
Leveraging Hydropower for Peace
Aug 24, 2022
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Emilie Broek and Kyungmee Kim
Hydropower is the largest source of low-carbon electricity in the world today. And its benefits are needed more than ever. Yet the heavy social and…
South Sudanese Women Are Going Beyond Gender Norms to Cope With Multiple Crises
Aug 23, 2022
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Marisa O. Ensor
The links between gender, mass violence, climate change, and human mobility are complex and interrelated. In South Sudan, where four in five people endure extreme…
How the Russian Invasion of Ukraine May Impact the Arctic
Aug 22, 2022
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Benjamin J. Sacks and Kristin Van Abel
Seven countries that ring the North Pole recently declared that they would suspend cooperation with Russia at the Arctic Council, which Russia currently chairs, in…
S.Res.669 – Starvation as a Weapon of War
Aug 22, 2022
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Borgen Magazine
Every day, Ukrainians fear another onslaught of bombs from Russia, but they also worry that their food supply could run out since the war brought…
Russia Is Guilty of Ecocide
Aug 16, 2022
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Michael Long and Michael Lynch
When Russia invaded Ukraine, it created not only a refugee crisis and social devastation, but also extensive environmental destruction. As scholars who have written about ecological…
‘Afghan Women’ Aren’t Who You Think They Are
Aug 16, 2022
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Lima Halima Ahmad
On May 7, the Taliban issued a statement making their version of the hijab mandatory for all women of Afghanistan, even though this full-body covering, sometimes called…
Can the Iron Curtain Be Green? Europe’s Nature Is Being Divided by Fences and Fortifications
Aug 12, 2022
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Oleksii Vasyliuk and Vadim Kiriliuk
This article discusses the current discourse on border barriers and related environmental issues. It explores the high-profile case of a wall built by Poland across…
We Must Recognise Women’s Work on Climate Action: Bushfire Survivor Jo Dodds
Aug 11, 2022
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Brianna Boecker
Jo Dodds watched a bushfire burn through her south coast NSW township and impact her own home on March 18, 2018. It was an event…
Indigenous Women at the Forefront of Transformational Change
Aug 9, 2022
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Jamison Ervin
The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, commemorated annually on August 9, is a day to celebrate the many contributions of the 476 million…
Should Nigerian Forces Carpet-Bomb Forest Areas in Tackling Terrorism?
Aug 6, 2022
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Aliyu Dahiru
Several Nigerians, including political leaders in the country, have floated the notion of defeating terrorists in Nigeria with carpet bombing. Terrorists often seek refuge in Nigeria’s…
Russia’s Invasion Is Putting the Future of Ukraine’s Forests at Risk
Aug 5, 2022
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Yehor Hrynyk
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has sparked Europe’s largest armed conflict since WWII and inflicted catastrophic damage on the continent’s largest nation. In addition to…
The ILC Draft Principles on the Protection of the Environment in Armed Conflict
Aug 4, 2022
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Stavros Pantazopoulos
After almost a decade working on the topic “Protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts” (PERAC), the UN International Law Commission (ILC) adopted…
Closing the Gender Gap to Build Forward Better
Aug 3, 2022
Drinkable, usable water is very rare in cyclone-affected areas. One has to walk long distances to reach just a little bit of potted water. Otherwise…
Green Peace: How Israel and Its Neighbors Are Fighting to Save the Environment Together
Aug 1, 2022
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Chaim Lax
In Israel, the government has taken the danger of global warming seriously, with the Defense Ministry developing contingency plans for dealing with future heat waves and former…
Land Reform and Peacebuilding in Côte d’Ivoire: Strange Bedfellows?
Jul 31, 2022
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Matthew Mitchell
Though often seen as critical for promoting economic development, land reform is a deeply political process. Considering the symbolic and material significance of land to…
Women Entrepreneurs in Africa Face More Climate Risks Than Their Male Peers
Jul 28, 2022
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Kate Gannon
The world’s climate is changing. All of us will ultimately be affected by climatic shifts – but some will be hit harder than others.
On the African…
Climate Security: A New Kind of Enemy
Jul 28, 2022
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Wes Martin
Climate change poses a drastic rebalancing of geopolitics, ushering in an era of “climate security”. The world’s militaries will face new challenges as these conditions precipitate. The…
Sustainable Recovery? First Sustain Interest in Ukraine’s Environment
Jul 28, 2022
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Doug Weir
The environmental dimensions of all armed conflicts are becoming ever more visible. There are a number of reasons for this: improved access to earth observation…
The Congo, Its Minerals and Its Tribalism
Jul 27, 2022
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Jonathan Power
When the United Nations pulled its troops out of the Congo, a country the size of Western Europe, in June 1964, Secretary General U Thant…
We Can’t Fight Climate Change Without Fighting for Gender Equity
Jul 26, 2022
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Jamie L. Gloor, Eugenia Bajet Mestre, Corinne Post, and Winfried Ruigrok
As the climate crisis becomes increasingly urgent, organizations around the world have begun investing in a wide array of environmental sustainability initiatives. Some of these…
Beyond a “Threat Multiplier”: Exploring Links between Climate Change and Security
Jul 26, 2022
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Farah Hegazi, Elise Remling, Kyungmee Kim, and Simone Bunse
The idea implicit in the term “threat multiplier” is straightforward: climate change can exacerbate security threats. Yet this formulation puts the emphasis squarely on climate…
Why Climate Change Disproportionally Impacts Women
Jul 25, 2022
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Demetria Dickinson
A number of recent studies show that the negative effects of climate change fall disproportionately on women, caused by and compounding long-standing effects of sexism…
Ukraine’s Critical Minerals and Europe’s Energy Transition: A motivation for Russian Aggression?
Jul 21, 2022
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Andrei Covatariu
Europe’s long-term strategy to phase out fossil fuel use has endangered Russia’s main source of state revenue, forcing the Kremlin to focus on acquiring, one way or…
Water Diplomacy Can Learn from Realist Ideas
Jul 19, 2022
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Sumit Vij, Jeroen Warner, Mark Zeitoun, Christian Bréthaut
As Russia’s war in Ukraine continues and nations are returning to behaviors best explained by realism, we are wrestling with these trends’ longer-term implications on water…
Food May Be the Ultimate Weapon in the 21st Century
Jul 18, 2022
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Hal Brands
President Joe Biden’s administration is reportedly rewriting its National Security Strategy, which the White House is required to send to Congress annually, to account for the lessons…
New Legal Protections for the Environment in relation to Armed Conflict
Jul 16, 2022
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Karen Hulme and Elizabeth B. Hessami
Nature and conservation are inevitably harmed during armed conflict. The recent adoption by the International Law Commission (a legal body within the United Nations) of…
What’s in a Name? Making the Case for the Sahel Conflict as “Eco-Violence”
Jul 15, 2022
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Olumba Ezenwa
The Sahel region of Africa is a semi-arid, arc-shaped landmass that stretches 3,860 kilometres from Senegal across portions of Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and even…
How Climate Change Could Drive an Increase in Gender-Based Violence
Jul 14, 2022
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Meghie Rodrigues
As extreme weather events occur more frequently — something that climate scientists say is inevitable — so, too, will violence towards women and people from…