Blogs & Opinions


Exploring Environmental Harm from Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas

May 28, 2020 | Roos Boer and Wim Zwijnenburg

In conflicts around the world, the use of explosive weapons in populated areas (EWIPA) is one of the greatest risks to civilians. Research by the…


Overview: Fear and Loathing in the Eastern Mediterranean

May 28, 2020 | Asli Aydıntaşbaş, Julien Barnes-Dacey, Cinzia Bianco, Hugh Lovatt, and Tarek Megerisi

In a world of pandemics, forever wars, and great power showdowns, it might come as a surprise that Europe’s next crisis is emerging from disputes…


Mother Nature Gets Tired Too - How Women Carry the Burden of Addressing Climate Change

May 27, 2020 | Eyitayo Kunle-Oladosu

In dealing with the effects of climate change in the Global South, it seems the world has tasked women with building resilient and adaptable communities.…


Building Sustainable Peace: Transforming Environmental Peacebuilding in Times of Climate Change

May 27, 2020 | Christie Nicoson and Barbara Magalhaes Teixeira

The Sustainable Development Goals outline a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future”. However, this is not only…


COVID-19's Disproportionate Impact on Women and Girls

May 26, 2020 | Jenn Williamson

Because women and girls are already socioeconomically marginalized in many societies, they are especially vulnerable in emergencies. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, women…


Afghan Gold Mining: Is Blockchain a Solution for Violence and Volatility?

May 25, 2020 | Manasee Joshi

Centar Ltd, a company that engaged in Afghan gold exploration and mining activities, was the brainchild of the former investment banker and mining trader from…


Climate Change Adaptation and Gender Dynamics

May 24, 2020 | Saudia Anwer and Meer Ahsan Habib

Lack of access to safe drinking water and salinity often causes water-borne diseases like diarrhoea and malaria, not only among the children but also the…


Land and Resource Investment Consultations in the Time of COVID-19: The Hazards of Pressing on

May 24, 2020 | Sam Szoke-Burke

Communities in countries as diverse as the Philippines, Liberia, and Colombia are experiencing increased pressures on their lands and resources. Pressure is coming from governments…


Epidemics, Conflict, and Gold: What We Can Learn from DC’s Ebola Outbreak as We Respond to COVID-19

May 22, 2020 | Kady Seguin and Alan Martin

The COVID-19 pandemic is spotlighting the vulnerability of the world’s poorest during a time of crisis. This is especially evident in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) communities,…


10 Lessons From the COVID-19 Frontline For a More Gender-Equal World

May 22, 2020 | Katja Iversen

Evidence shows that disease outbreak affects women and men differently, that pandemics exacerbate inequalities for girls and women, who are also often the hardest hit,…


Lack of Flood Maps at Many U.S. Military Bases Creates Risks

May 22, 2020 | Marc Kodack

In the 2020 NDAA, Congress further required that DoD include in its’ installation master plans a discussion of risks and threats that included those from extreme…


Exploring Environmental Governance in Eastern Ukraine

May 21, 2020 | Olga Shashkina

What happens to environmental governance in areas where governments lose control during conflicts? Non-state actors can fill the vacuum but little is known about how…


Women's Empowerment in Agriculture is Essential to COVID-19 Survival and Recovery

May 20, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic presents a devastating threat to lives and livelihoods around the world. Many development organizations and research institutions are raising their voices and…


The Energy Sector Needs a Stronger Female Presence

May 19, 2020 | Nevelyn Black

Globally, women made up 15% of senior management roles in the power and utilities industry last year.  Some industry leaders believe a stronger female presence and voice in…


Climate Change Didn’t Pause for COVID-19: Implications for Military Readiness

May 18, 2020 | Joan VanDervort

As COVID-19 continues to hammer the nation, approximately 61,900 Department of Defense (DoD) personnel (45,600 of which are made up of National Guard) have been…


The Pandemic's Gender Imperative

May 15, 2020 | Ann Linde and Arancha Gonzalez

Regardless of where one looks, it is women who bear most of the responsibility for holding societies together, be it at home, in health care,…


Empowering Women and Youth for Transformative Climate and Environment Justice

May 14, 2020 | Tracy Kajumba

At the beginning of March, Tracy Kajumba was a panellist at the OECD Global Forum on Environment. Here she reflects further on how women and…


Our Recovery from the Coronavirus Crisis Must Have Gender Empowerment at its Heart

May 14, 2020 | Cecilia Ugaz Estrada, Müge Dolun, Carmen Schuber, and Nicolas Schmidt

What most crises have in common is that they hit the most vulnerable and marginalized populations—among which women are disproportionally represented—the hardest. The impact of…


Libya's Forgotten Half: Between Conflict and Pandemic, Women Pay the Higher Price

May 14, 2020 | Asma Khalifa

Immediately after the state of emergency was declared in Libya, the government in Tripoli began dispensing funds intended to combat the pandemic. Half of it…


AU Leadership Absent From Egypt and Ethiopia Dam Dispute

May 14, 2020 | Alvin Young

After years of negotiations, Egypt has written to the UN Security Council about what it considers to be Ethiopia's failure to reach an agreement over the filling…


Women: The Climate Solution We Need to Talk About

May 12, 2020 | Joky François

Women make up nearly half of the agricultural labor force in developing nations—yet in many countries they can’t even own the land on which they toil;…


Securing Pathways to Environmental Justice for Indigenous Women

May 11, 2020 | Laura Cahier

Across the Americas, Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) or the World Bank (WB), finance public and private projects to…


Water Fetching Responsibilities Reveal Unequal Gender Dynamics: Elevates Need for Expansion of On-Site WASH Facilities

May 10, 2020

Women in low-income households have limited access to financial services and educational opportunities, which in turn restricts their ability to tap into the labor market…


What the COVID-19 Pandemic Tells Us About Gender Equality

May 9, 2020 | Ann Linde and Arancha González Laya

Regardless of where one looks, it is women who bear most of the responsibility for holding societies together, be it at home, in health care,…


Equality in a Post-Pandemic Era: Gender, COVID-19, Agriculture, and Climate Change

May 8, 2020

Globally, one in three women works in agriculture, which tends to be informal, low paid, and especially vulnerable to shocks. For example, when droughts and…


The COVID-19 Response: What Has Women, Peace and Security Got to Do With it?

May 7, 2020 | Naomi Clugston, Michelle Spearing

The United Kingdom is one of the 25 countries deemed least vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the face of rising death tolls, a stretched National Health…


Guyana at a Turning Point: Oil and Security

May 6, 2020 | Andrew Holland

Five years ago, Guyana moved to the center of the oil world when a consortium led by ExxonMobil announced the first of a series of…


Why Gender Should Be at the Heart of COVID Recovery

May 6, 2020 | Angela Kalisch

The tourism industry has been catapulted into a global emergency by COVID-19. After decades of stable growth, only temporarily interrupted by incidents of terrorism, pandemics…


Plans to Prevent Future Pandemics Must Consider Gender Issues, Too (Commentary)

May 6, 2020 | Tyler Nuckols

As COVID-19 continues to wrack our lives, the topic of the illegal wildlife trade and its connection to the coronavirus has garnered recent headlines. Many organizations,…


Geodiversity Also Needs Protection during Armed Conflicts

May 6, 2020 | Kevin Kiernan

The IUCN motion on the Protection of the environment in relation to armed conflict acknowledges that in addition to the harm that armed conflict causes to biota it “also…