Blogs & Opinions

A Danish Approach to the Arctic

Nov 12, 2020 | Zach Simon

Today, climate change has brought Greenland and the Arctic back into the spotlight. Changing conditions, such as diminishing ice sheets, provide new opportunities for Russia…

Digging in the Past: A New Look at the Customary Land Conflict in Liberia

Nov 12, 2020 | D. Otheil Forte

In 2018, the Land Rights Law of Liberia was passed into law. This was a good hundred years after the government formally declared “perfect, complete and absolute”…

A Digital Revolution to Save Nature and Build Peace

Nov 12, 2020 | Wim Zwijnenburg

The revolution in space-based technologies is creating a wealth of opportunities to track environmental degradation and its impact on lives and livelihoods. From rapid urbanisation…

The Psychological Barriers Preventing Environmental Protection in War

Nov 12, 2020 | Gabriela Kolpak and Klaudija Visockyte

It’s a widely held view that environmental damage is inevitable in war. But is it possible for us to better protect it, or are we,…

The Weaponisation of Environmental Information in the Era of Fake News

Nov 12, 2020 | Doug Weir

Environmental disaster? War crime? Ecological terrorism? A polarised and omnipresent social media is turbocharging the manipulation of environmental information during conflicts. While the use of…

South Sudanese Women on the Move: Their Roles in Conflict and Peacebuilding

Nov 2, 2020 | Marisa O. Esnor

Enduring violence, climate change and other environmental crises force people in South Sudan to flee their home towns. Women and girls face gender-specific challenges and…

Protecting Women with More than Words

Nov 2, 2020 | Margot Wallström and Dan Smith

While the global conversation about protecting women and girls has improved in the 20 years since the adoption of the United Nations Security Council Resolution…

Recent Oil Spills in Central Yemen

Nov 2, 2020 | Eoghan Darbyshire

Report on recent oil spills, including two on land, one at sea with potential impacts on biodiversity, and one near-miss on an oil pipeline pumping…

DRC: A History of Pillage, Destination Unknown

Oct 30, 2020 | Africa Report

Congo's history is a long litany of theft and conflict. From the slave trade, to the brutal Belgian colonisation, to the Cold War manipulation and…

Climate Change Is a Security Issue: An Interview with Geoff Dabelko

Oct 29, 2020 | Cindy Zhou

“Climate change fundamentally impacts the political economic stability of a country,” said Dabelko. In the case of the Syrian Civil War, many experts point out…

How to Build a More Equal World

Oct 26, 2020 | Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

Just as the World Health Organization identified COVID-19 as a pandemic, UN Women launched our analysis of the global status of women’s rights, showing limited…

Key Player in War on Climate Change? The Pentagon

Oct 26, 2020 | Michèle A. Flournoy

To its credit, the DoD has already been investing over $1.5 billion of its annual research and development budget in new energy technologies. In the past,…

Climate Change as an Unconvential Security Risk

Oct 23, 2020 | Cullen Hendrix

As security threats go, climate change is not the wolf at the door, threatening to blow the house down. Rather, it is thousands of termites…

The Environmental Collateral Damage of the South China Sea Conflict

Oct 13, 2020 | Ryan McNamara

Tensions in the South China Sea increased last April when a Chinese coast guard ship sank a Vietnamese fishing boat near the Paracel Islands—a fiercely…

COVID-19 Recovery - A Missed Opportunity to Fight Climate Change and Gender Inequality?

Oct 13, 2020 | Sven Harmerling

There is a real risk that women will not be able to take advantage of new green jobs as countries overlook gender in pandemic stimulus.COVID-19…

Why Are North & South India so Different on Gender?

Oct 13, 2020 | Alice Evans

Everyone knows that Southern and Northern India are very different in culture, language and socio-economic development. But the most dramatic regional disparity may be in…

Exploring Gender Inequality in Yemen

Oct 13, 2020 | Lily Jones

Due to structural inequalities, women and girls cannot easily access essential services in Yemen, such as education. The effect of this limited access is poor…

World Leaders Should Champion Gender Equality

Oct 13, 2020 | Nisha Varia

Women’s rights, including the right to live free from violence or to make decisions about their own bodies, are in the crosshairs of reactionary forces…

Introducing “Navigating the Poles”

Oct 8, 2020 | Michaela Stith and Mike Sfraga

The polar regions of Antarctica and the Arctic have long captured the world’s imagination as seas and continents covered in unending ice. But the reality…

Man Pleads Guilty to Violating Kimberley Process Law

Oct 6, 2020 | Rob Bates

The Clean Diamond Trade Act, passed in 2003, says that diamonds cannot be imported into or exported from the United States unless they are accompanied by documents…

COVID-19 and Climate Change are a Perfect Storm for Violent Conflict

Oct 6, 2020 | Beatrice Mosello and Adam Day

The global impact of COVID-19 is already combining with climate change to affect millions of the most vulnerable people in the world, including complicating evacuation…

Gender, Climate and Security in Latin America and the Caribbean: From Diagnostics to Solutions

Oct 6, 2020 | Adriana Erthal Abdenur

Women in the region suffer disproportionately from climate impacts, but they also play an essential role in addressing climate change. With the right policy responses,…

The Importance of Land Rights to Rohingya Repatriation

Oct 2, 2020 | Farhaan Uddin Ahmed

Given widespread confiscation of Rohingya land, it is essential that Myanmar instate changes in property rights to encourage the voluntary return of its displaced Rohingya…

Women, Peace and Security as Evolving and Contested Terrain: A Review of New Directions

Sep 28, 2020 | Aiko Holvikivi and Sarah Smith

In the WPS agenda’s twentieth anniversary year, New Directions brings academics, practitioners and activists into conversation in a book that demonstrates the evolutionary breadth and depth of…

Gender Equality is Important to Building Resilience and Peace during Disasters and Conflict

Sep 28, 2020 | Cindy Zhou

Conflict and natural disasters are often correlated: approximately 58 percent of deaths related to natural hazards take place in the world’s 30 most fragile states. 

COVID-19 Wipes Out East Timor's Dreams of Oil and Gas Riches

Sep 25, 2020 | Ian Lloyd Neubauer

COVID-19 and the global collapse in oil and gas prices appear to have put the final nail into the coffin of East Timor's long-held dream…

Many Companies Struggle to Comply with Conflict Mineral Reporting Rules

Sep 25, 2020 | Cindy Zhou

Over the past decades, conflict minerals have become lucrative sources of funding for armed groups, fueling some of the deadliest global conflicts since World War II.…

The Space Force's Relevance to the Green Agenda

Sep 19, 2020 | Peter Garretson

When most Americans think about Space Force, they probably imagine epic space battles or sprawling science fiction sagas. Policymakers who are more “in the know”…

Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Ukraine: An Opportunity for Gender-Sensitive Policymaking?

Sep 18, 2020 | Kateryna Busol

The stigma of CRSV, the patchy domestic legislation, and the unpreparedness of the criminal justice system to deal with such cases prevent the authorities from…

Wildfires in the US and Their Effects on Security

Sep 18, 2020 | Dr. Marc Kodack

Wildfires are burning across multiple states in the U.S. For Washington, Oregon, and California, these fires are having devastating consequences for tens of millions of people and their communities.…