Blogs & Opinions

Without the Right Partnerships, EU Legislation Is Dead on Arrival

Feb 7, 2021 | Boukje Theeuwes

Over the course of the next year, we expect the Von Der Leyen Commission, with the backing of the major groupings of the European Parliament,…

The Biden Administration & Climate Security: Week Two

Feb 7, 2021 | Francesco Femia and Caitlin Werrell

“This executive order I’m signing today…makes it official that climate change will be the center of our national security and foreign policy.” — President Joe Biden, January…

A Climate Security Plan for America Part 2: Assess Climate Risks

Feb 7, 2021 | Erin Sikorsky

If the first pillar of the Climate Security Plan for America is all about leadership, the second pillar is about ensuring those leaders have the information they…

Leverage COVID-19 Data Collection Networks for Environmental Peacebuilding

Feb 7, 2021 | Carsten Pran

Environmental peacebuilding could benefit from COVID-era data innovation. A well-documented obstacle environmental peacebuilders face is a lack of shared, empirical datasets among parties engaged in, recovering from,…

Water Wars Special: How IUU Fishing Increases the Risk of Conflict

Feb 7, 2021 | Sam Cohen and Steve Floyd

This month, the Biden administration made some early pronouncements on Chinese activity in the Taiwan Strait and reassured Japan that the U.S. is committed to…

In Humanitarian Settings, Addressing Gender-Based Violence is Paramount

Feb 3, 2021 | Sara Matthews

“One hundred thirty-seven women are killed by a family member every day,” said Beth Schlachter, Executive Director of Family Planning 2020. “That’s a staggering statistic.” She…

Educating Young Women is the Climate Fix No One is Talking About

Jan 27, 2021 | Vanessa Nakate

What springs to mind when someone says ‘climate change solution’? Probably wind or solar farms, maybe meatless burgers or ‘moonshot’ technologies. These are all important…

It's Time to Shift to Locally-Led Climate Change Adaptation

Jan 27, 2021 | Birgitte Qvist-Sørensen

The past year brought unprecedented suffering from Covid-19. On top of the pandemic, climate change continued to batter already vulnerable communities, disproportionately hurting those with…

The Third Wave of Environmental Peacebuilding

Jan 26, 2021 | Richard Matthew and Tobias Ide

For most of 2020, news, politics, policy, and research in the United States and abroad were dominated by the challenges posed by COVID-19, a rapidly…

Analyzing the Climate Security Threat: Key Actions for the US Intelligence Community

Jan 26, 2021 | Erin Sikorsky

President Joe Biden’s national security adviser has called climate change an urgent national security priority. Yet, as the person who recently led climate analysis across the…

Gender, Climate Change, and Security: Making the Connections

Jan 25, 2021 | Chantal de Jonge Oudraat & Michael E. Brown

Gender issues, climate change, and security problems are interconnected in complex and powerful ways. Unfortunately, some of these connections have not received enough attention from…

How We Misunderstand the Magnitude of Climate Risks – and Why That Contributes to Controversy

Jan 24, 2021 | Peter Schwartzstein

The Syrian civil war has raged for almost a decade now, and in the climate security community it can feel as if we’ve spent at…

Good Reads: Rare Earths and Conflict Across Scale

Jan 24, 2021 | Stacy D. VanDeveer

Rare earths metals made a lot of news over the last decade, after most of us spent years forgetting what we once learned their names on…

Report Finds that Russia Securitises the Environment – but on Its Terms

Jan 24, 2021 | Nina Lesikhina and Doug Weir

International attention on environmental security has increased markedly during the last decade, especially within the UN’s Security Council, General Assembly and its Environment Assembly. Yet…

Negotiating Peace in Iraq’s Disputed Territories: Modifying the Sinjar Agreement

Jan 24, 2021 | Shamiran Mako

On Oct. 9, the federal government in Baghdad signed the Agreement on the Restoration of Stability and Normalization of the Situation in the District of…

Report Finds That Russia Securitises the Environment – But on Its Terms

Jan 20, 2021 | Nina Lesikhina

Our new report seeks to understand why Russia opposes measures to more effectively integrate the environment into international policymaking on peace and security. To do…

New Day for the US Conflict Minerals Rule

Jan 20, 2021 | Dynda A. Thomas

It’s Inauguration Day in the US, and it’s likely to be a new day for the US conflict minerals rule.  Where have we been and…

Ensuring Women’s Participation in Land Governance: “Bringing the Law Home” in Tanzania

Jan 20, 2021 | Isabella Nchimbi

Despite Tanzania’s progressive legal framework on land rights and governance, many women are often left out of community decision-making due to social and cultural norms…

Indigenous Women Are Championing Climate Justice

Jan 19, 2021 | Kavita Ramdas and Laura Garcia

For Indigenous Mollo people on Indonesia’s Timor Island, the forests, mountains, and water are not just their surroundings; they are as essential to their lives as food…

Climatizing Security: Protecting Americans in the Age of Climate Change

Jan 18, 2021 | Sherri Goodman and Kate Guy

Beyond the recent attack on the U.S. Capitol and the coronavirus looms the climate crisis.  The Trump-fueled mob attack and climate change have one thing in common in America today:  they…

Canada Must Clarify Its Policies on Conflict and the Environment

Jan 18, 2021 | Conflict and Environment Observatory

Our study into Canada’s practice used the draft legal principles developed by the UN’s International Law Commission (ILC) on the Protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts (PERAC) as…

From Rhetoric to Reality: Advancing Women’s Participation in Peace Processes

Jan 15, 2021 | Marlene Spoerri

As President-elect Biden prepares to tackle global challenges, there is a concrete way to increase the odds of success: involve more women in high-level decision-making.…

Canada Must Clarify Its Policies on Conflict and the Environment

Jan 14, 2021 | Stavros Pantazopoulos

Our newly published study of Canada’s practice on the protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts finds some progressive policies but these are…

Conflict Cycles and the Management of Protected Areas in South Sudan

Jan 7, 2021 | Adrian Garside

The International Law Commission’s draft principles on the Protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts use a temporal framing of ‘before, during and…

Conflict Cycles and the Management of Protected Areas in South Sudan

Jan 7, 2021 | Adrian Garside

South Sudan, and southern Sudan prior to its independence, has been in a cycle of conflicts for more than 65 years, spanning three civil wars…

Weapon Proliferation Challenges Biodiversity Protection in South Sudan

Jan 7, 2021 | Adrian Garside

The availability of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) is a factor in the decline of wildlife numbers due to their use in poaching and…

Gender Equality and Food Security in Rural South Asia

Jan 6, 2021 | Cindy Zhou

Globally, nearly 690 million people were hungry in 2019. Though the number of people who experience hunger in Asia has declined since 2015, the continent still…

Congress Continues to Affirm that Climate Security Is National Security

Jan 5, 2021 | Shana Udvardy

Last week Congress voted to override the president’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), enacting H.R. 6395, the “William M. (Mac) Thornberry” NDAA…

Gender Equality and Food Security in Rural South Asia: A Holistic Approach to the SDGs

Jan 4, 2021 | Cindy Zhou

Globally, nearly 690 million people were hungry in 2019. Though the number of people who experience hunger in Asia has declined since 2015, the continent still…

Women and Peacebuilding Can Help Reduce Poverty

Jan 3, 2021 | Kylar Cade

Violent conflict had been on the rise even before the onset of the pandemic. Fragility, conflict and violence (FCV) have already caused much suffering and…