International


Afghanistan: Industrialists Say Struggling with Power, Land Shortages

Oct 10, 2018 | Pajhwok Afghan News

The Afghanistan Industrialist Association (AIA) on Monday said 420 new factories were set up in capital Kabul during the last eight years, but the plants…


Iran: Iran Is New Transit Point for Somali Charcoal in Illicit Trade Taxed by Militants: UN Report

Oct 9, 2018 | Michelle Nichols, Reuters

Criminal networks are using Iran as a transit point for illicit Somali charcoal exports that earn Islamist militants al Shabaab millions of dollars annually in…


DRC: AVZ Minerals’ Scoping Study Reveals US$1.6 Billion Net Present Value for Lithium Project in DRC

Oct 9, 2018 | Proactive Investors

AVZ managing director Nigel Ferguson said the Manono Lithium Project is now the largest undeveloped hard rock lithium project globally in terms of grade, mine…


Colombia: Land, Oil, Mining, Drug Crops: Colombian Amazon Tough for Small Farmers

Oct 9, 2018 | Barbara J. Fraser, Catholic News Service

Companies that once avoided Colombia’s Amazonian region because of the hazards of war are now jockeying to profit from timber, oil, minerals and palm oil…


Syria: Erratic Weather and Prolonged Conflict Take Toll on Syria’s Agricultural Output

Oct 9, 2018 | Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN

Extreme weather conditions during Syria's seventh year of conflict has caused domestic cereal production to decline sharply, two UN agencies announced today. The conflict in…


Myanmar: Vice President Says Country Needs National Land Law

Oct 8, 2018 | Pyae Thet Phyo, Myanmar Times

Second Vice President U Henry Van Thio said parliament needs to enact a National Land Law that can deal with the challenges facing the country…


Afghanistan: Afghanistan Water Shortage Displaces Thousands in Badghis [Video]

Oct 8, 2018 | Al Jazeera

More than three million people are suffering from a devastating drought in Afghanistan. There’s been no rain for months and crops have all failed, forcing…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Update: Kurdistan and the Battle Over Oil

Oct 8, 2018 | New York Times

In an election that did not capture the attention of most of the world, residents of the semiautonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq voted in a…


Conflict Minerals: UN Truck Overturns Carrying Sacks of Illegal Minerals

Oct 8, 2018 | Taarifa

The United Nations truck which overturned this morning has been found to be carrying illegal minerals – this has attracted a lot of criticism. Some…


Afghanistan: Afghanistan’s Minerals: A Looted Economic Hope for Stability

Oct 5, 2018 | Gul Maqsood Sabit, Diplomat

The insurgency in Afghanistan has gained strength and the government’s influence has shrunk despite significant international efforts since 2001 when the world intervened in Afghanistan.…


Afghanistan: CENTAR Announces Signing of Historic Afghan Gold and Copper Mining Agreements

Oct 5, 2018 | Business Wire

CENTAR Limited, the mining and exploration investment company, and its operating company Afghan Gold and Minerals Company (AGMC), today announced they will sign contracts with…


Nigeria: Environmental Cooperation as a Pathway to Resolve Nigeria’s Deadly Farmer-Herder Conflicts

Oct 4, 2018 | UN Environment

Nigeria’s central Middle Belt region is home to a diverse cultural population of semi-nomadic cattle herders and farming communities. For decades, the region has experienced…


Iraq: Iraq to Cut Winter Crop Area by 55 Percent on Water Shortages

Oct 4, 2018 | Reuters

Iraq’s agriculture ministry said on Thursday it would reduce its 2018-2019 winter crop planting area by 55 percent due to a water shortage. Iraq will…


Afghanistan: “If the Water Finishes, We Will Leave”: Drought Is Forcing Hundreds of Thousands of Afghans from Their Homes [Photos]

Oct 4, 2018 | Stefanie Glinski

The severe drought has dried up riverbeds and water sources, withered crops, and forced 250,000 people from their homes. Journalist Stefanie Glinski spent a week…


Nigeria/South Sudan: South Sudan Minister Focuses on New Oil & Gas Regulations in Nigeria Visit

Oct 4, 2018 | Africa Oil & Gas

South Sudan has reaffirmed its commitment to the implementation of new local content regulations in oil & gas, during a meeting between Minister of Petroleum…


Myanmar: Myanmar to Inspect All 235 Dams after Spillway Collapse in August

Oct 4, 2018 | Leong Wai Kit, Channel News Asia

Myanmar has set up a special task force to inspect all 235 dams in the country, after a spillway collapse in August flooded as many…


Myanmar: Myanmar Torches Illegal Wildlife Stockpile Worth $1.3M to Deter Smugglers

Oct 4, 2018 | Reuters

Myanmar authorities destroyed hundreds of seized elephant tusks, pangolin scales and other animal parts, worth a total of $1.3 million on the black market, on…


Afghanistan/Pakistan: Transboundary Water Cooperation: An Instrument for Peace

Oct 3, 2018 | Zia Hashmi and Amjad Masood, Daily Times

After the Pakistan General Elections 2018, the upcoming government has revealed the broad layout of its policies through the victory speech and the inaugural address…


Myanmar: Farmers, Activists Demand Overhaul of Land Laws

Oct 3, 2018 | Hein Ko Soe, Frontier Myanmar

More than 600 farmers, activists and lawyers called for comprehensive land law reform at a conference held in the hills near Pyin Oo Lwin in…


Colombia: Indigenous Communities Reject Land Reform

Oct 3, 2018 | teleSUR

The National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) demanded the Tribunal of Bogota to halt a proposed reform bill on the Law of Land and to…


Myanmar: Dolphin-Enabled Livelihood on the Ayeyarwady

Oct 2, 2018 | Maizura Ismail, Asean Post

On a stretch of the Ayeyarwady river, also known as the Irrawaddy river, near Myanmar’s Mandalay, fishermen from six villages work hand-in-fin with 26 Irrawaddy…


Food Security: UNGA Side Event Elicits Ways to Break Conflict-Hunger Cycle

Oct 2, 2018 | Ana Maria Lebada, International Institute for Sustainable Development

Officials from governments and international organizations discussed ways to address the link between conflict and hunger, in order to reduce both. They called for increased…


Jordan: Water Scarcity Discourse at Heart of Internal and Regional Politics — Scholar

Oct 1, 2018 | Saeb Rawashdeh, Jordan Times

While water scarcity in Jordan has been widely researched, mainly from an engineering perspective, less is known from the water politics angle, a Jordanian scholar…


Myanmar: Acacia Becomes Myanmar's Plantation Tree of Choice

Oct 1, 2018 | Kyaw Ye Lynn, Frontier

A fast-growing species of acacia from Australasia has become the tree of choice for commercial plantations in Myanmar, including those planned as part of a…


Timor-Leste: East Timor Eyes Billion-Dollar Oil Bonanza, as Wildcat Drilling Starts in 2019

Oct 1, 2018 | Damon Evans, Forbes

Timor Resources will drill its first exploration well onshore East Timor in April 2019 as it attempts to uncover an oil bonanza for the Southeast…


Iraq: Boiling Basra: Residents Afraid of Their Taps as Iraq's Water Crisis Threatens to Destabilise the Region

Oct 1, 2018 | Bel Trew, Independent

Basra’s water crisis is the final tipping point of a long list of woes in a town that has been rocked by protests and riots…


Afghanistan: MAIL Promoting Aloe Vera as Alternative to Poppy

Oct 1, 2018 | Zabihullah Jahanmal, TOLOnews

The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) on Monday said that under the alternate poppy cultivation project, it will establish 75 greenhouses in three provinces to promote cultivation of aloe vera.…


Climate Change: The US Defense Department Is Losing the Battle against Climate Change

Oct 1, 2018 | Daniel Ross, EcoWatch

Given the immediate threat of rising sea levels, the U.S. Navy is leading the charge to better understand these impacts at the ground level. Last…


Climate Change: Workshop on Climate Change and Security

Oct 1, 2018 | Peace Research Institute Oslo

On 27-28 September 2018, the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University and PRIO co-hosted a joint Workshop on Climate Change and Security…


Philippines: 8 Ex-Rebels Linked to Land-Grabbing Arrested in Benguet; Firearms Seized

Oct 1, 2018 | Zaldy Comanda, Manilla Bulletin

Eight men tagged by police as members of a gun-running and land-grabbing syndicate were arrested by police in a recent raid that also resulted in…