Blogs & Opinions
Ecological Decline Feeds Conflict in a Deadly Cycle as Climate Crisis Looms
Oct 7, 2021
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Onke Ngcuka
As temperatures rise — with Africa experiencing that increment at twice the global average — the erosion of ecological systems is likely to provide a…
Measuring Success in Transboundary Water Cooperation: Lessons from World Bank Engagements
Oct 7, 2021
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Jennifer J. Sara, Edoardo Borgomeo, and Anders Jagerskog
How do we know when international cooperation is successful? A senior U.N. official once suggested that cooperation is like elephants mating: it all takes place…
Environmental Security of Afghanistan Is Pathway to Regional Peacebuilding
Oct 6, 2021
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Saleem H. Ali
The rapidly changing political landscape in Afghanistan does not change the permanent physical geography of the region. As world leaders gather to discuss climate change…
Analysis: The Lack of Diversity in Climate-Science Research
Oct 6, 2021
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Ayesha Tandon
Publishing research in respected journals, such as Nature or Science, is a key way for academics to share their findings with the scientific community and beyond.
A researcher’s publication…
Women, Peace, and What is Security?
Oct 4, 2021
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Phoebe Donnelly, Gretchen Baldwin, Masooma Rahmaty, and Phesheya Nxumalo
The past year has raised many questions for those focused on the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, as well as highlighting issues that feminist…
The Imperative of Climate Adaption for Africa: Building Resilience Across Societies in an Inclusive Manner
Sep 30, 2021
Empowered women and girls have the capacity to build resilient communities using local solutions to climate change to safeguard lives and ensure a sustainable future…
Addressing Masculinities and Gender Stereotypes to Prevent Violent Extremism and Terrorism
Sep 30, 2021
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Pablo Arrocha Olabuenaga
Fifteen years ago, the General Assembly unanimously adopted the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (GCTS), which has served as the backbone for the efforts of States to…
Food as a Pathway to Peace: COVID, Climate, and the Hunger-Conflict Nexus
Sep 28, 2021
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Shruti Samala
Food insecurity, as outlined in the 2021 ISD report, Peace Through Food: Ending the Hunger-Instability Nexus, cuts across multiple crises the world is facing today,…
Women and Climate Justice: It’s Time to Act
Sep 24, 2021
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Leocadia I. Zak and Susan Kidd
The headlines are clear. Human suffering from a changing climate is escalating and projections show clearly how it will worsen. Equally clear is the need…
Abyei Offers Lessons for the Region on Climate-Related Security Risks
Sep 23, 2021
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Kheira Tarif, Emilie Broek, and Katongo Seyuba
The conflict in Abyei—a disputed border region of farmland, desert and oil fields—has its origins in a long-running disagreement between two pastoralist groups, the local Ngok…
Climate Action Must Advance the Rights of Women and Girls
Sep 22, 2021
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Baroness Sugg
As an advocate for gender equality, I believe the most urgent change needed for women and girls is strong action on the climate crisis.
Today is…
It Makes Economic Sense for Women to Lead the Fight Against the Climate Crisis
Sep 22, 2021
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Oladosu Adenike
For the first time ever, the United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world, passed a resolution recognising access…
Climate Crisis Exacerbates Military Legacy Contamination
Sep 21, 2021
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Wim Zwijnenburg
The hazardous remnants of war are re-emerging. They include unexploded ordnance (UXO) and other vestiges of war. These military hazards that climate change can “wake…
Environmental Justice: Why Civil Rights and Protecting the Planet Go Hand-in-hand
Sep 15, 2021
As the global ecological crisis impacts ever-more lives, it is becoming clearer that we cannot talk about cimate change, pollution or biodiversity loss without talking…
Climate Security: It’s about Time
Sep 15, 2021
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Sharon Burke
Like most of us who were alive at that time, Sharon Burke knows exactly where she was on 9/11 when she heard the news. She…
Butterfly Effect: Why Spies Need to Focus on Climate Change
Sep 15, 2021
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Charu Sudan Kasturi
When President Joe Biden and 40 other world leaders gathered for a virtual summit on climate change organized by the U.S. in April, the list…
How Inaction on Climate Change Can Worsen the Crisis in Afghanistan
Sep 15, 2021
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Jariel Arvin
After decades of foreign intervention and violent conflict, the American mission in Afghanistan has ended and the Taliban have announced a new government. But for…
Sudan and Ethiopia Are Nearing a Fight over Land and Water
Sep 15, 2021
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Christopher Rhodes
Humanitarian agencies and the international community have rightly decried the growing conflict within Ethiopia as a humanitarian disaster. Last November, conflict broke out between the…
Tree Planting as Resistance in Palestine
Sep 8, 2021
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Elle Ambler
In Palestine, the struggle for land cannot be separated from the fight for agricultural and environmental rights. Restrictions and attacks on agriculture are used by…
Federal Election 2021: Gender-Based Violence is an Issue We Should All Prioritize
Sep 8, 2021
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Nancy Marie Ross and Stephanie Zubriski
National strategies to end gender-based violence, public activism movements like #MeToo and One Billion Rising and the continued use of tough-on-crime policies have failed to reduce rates of…
Conflict in the Sahel Likely to Worsen as Climate Change Impacts Increase
Sep 7, 2021
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Steve Killelea
Currently there isn’t a lot of good news coming out of the Sahel, the area in Africa that borders the Saharan desert to the north,…
Heat Is on When It Comes to Cross-Border Environmental Threats
Sep 6, 2021
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Kerry Boyd Anderson
Last week, an oil spill from a refinery in the northwest Syrian town of Baniyas drifted toward Cyprus, forcing authorities on the island to take…
Avoiding Transboundary Waters Conflicts: A Tale of Two Treaties
Sep 5, 2021
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Robert Sandford
The outdated treaties, compacts, bilateral agreements, acts, laws, policies and hardened institutions globally that stand in the way of effective, just and resilient 21st century…
To Address Climate Change, Address Gender Inequity
Sep 3, 2021
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Elizabeth Chun Hye Lee
Hurricane Ida has devastated communities in Louisiana, leaving many without electricity during one of the hottest months of the year. Because of a lack of…
Kazakhstan Moves to Ease Water Conflict in Central Asia
Sep 3, 2021
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Wilder Alejandro Sanchez
An early August meeting of Central Asian heads of state in Turkmenistan addressed issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic and regional consequences of renewed Taliban…
The Uncertain Future of Afghanistan’s Nascent Environmental Laws
Sep 2, 2021
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Elizabeth Hessami
Afghanistan is in turmoil. The abrupt withdrawal of U.S. forces set in motion by a deal between former President Trump and the Taliban, and executed…
Integrating Conflict Prevention and Climate Change in US Foreign Policy and Development Assistance
Sep 1, 2021
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Cynthia Brady, Liz Hume, and Nick Zuroski
Climate change is no longer an abstract issue we may face in the future. Devastating forest fires, the hottest June on record in the United States, lethal flooding…
It's Time to Let Young People Help Shape Climate Policy
Sep 1, 2021
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Jessica Cooke
The climate crisis is one of the defining injustices of our time, and young people will live with the consequences for the longest. It’s no…
Deforestation in Colombia's Amazon: Outlining the Problem
Sep 1, 2021
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Katie Jones and María Fernanda Ramírez
Deforestation is the most visible face of environmental crime in Colombia’s Amazon. From around 2016, the region’s forests registered accelerating encroachment and destruction. According to…
Integrating Conflict Prevention and Climate Change in US Foreign Policy and Development Assistance
Sep 1, 2021
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Cynthia Brady, Liz Hume, and Nick Zuroski
Climate change is no longer an abstract issue we may face in the future. Devastating forest fires, the hottest June on record in the United…