Blogs & Opinions
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…
COVID-19 Shows Why Protecting Water in Conflict Is Vital
May 6, 2020
|
Mara Tignino and Tadesse Kebebew
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted normal livelihoods around the world and hammered home the centrality of water and water infrastructure for human existence. In conflict-affected…
In Memoriam: Arthur H. Westing (1928–2020)
May 6, 2020
|
Nils Petter Gleditsch
An in memoriam of Arthur H. Westing, forest ecologist and pioneer in the field of environmental peacebuilding.
As Nils Petter Gleditsch writes:
"On factual academic matters, I was…
Supporting Women Environmental Defenders in the Time of COVID-19
May 5, 2020
|
Sara Vigil and Bernadette P. Resurrección
Both the feminist and environmental movements are amongst the most prominent challengers of this commodification. However, environmental defenders face discrimination, violence and high risks, especially women…
No, Cobalt Is Not a Conflict Mineral
May 5, 2020
|
Patricia Ndagano
Wakanda’s vibranium extolled in Black Panther may be fictional but is not very far from reality. A remarkable metal used in emerging technologies – from cell phones…
Low-Income Households in Latin America More Likely to Burden Women with Responsibilities of Fetching Water
May 4, 2020
|
Christian Borja-Vega and Jonathan Grabinsky
A recent publication in the health journal The Lancet makes a strong argument for how inequality could be an enabling factor in the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. It argues that people living in poverty…
How COVID-19 Puts Women's Housing, Land, and Property Rights at Risk
May 4, 2020
|
Victoria Stanley and Paul Prettitore
Around the world, land serves as a foundation for security, shelter, income and livelihoods. But rights to land are not equitably distributed to all. This…
Bottom-Up Ideas about Gender Justice from Violent Contexts Need Greater Recognition in the International Women’s Rights Agenda
May 3, 2020
|
Nicholas Pope and Julia Zulver
With the world reaching the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action to end gender inequality and the 20th anniversary of the Women, Peace,…
How Individual Citizens Can Protect South Sudan’s Environment from Mining and Oil Disasters
May 2, 2020
|
Philip Ayuen Dot
Our planet has been undergoing several challenges in the last Century, when it comes to its environment. As the various reports from the United Nations…
Opinion: In the Battle Against COVID-19, Women Make Somalia Stronger
May 1, 2020
|
Deqa Yasin Hagi Yusuf
Brave health workers. Brilliant researchers. Responsible leaders. Solidarity. Around the world, the COVID-19 crisis reveals what makes us strong. But it also highlights what makes us fragile.
In…
Reducing Post-Harvest Losses through Better Gender Integration
Apr 29, 2020
|
Maria Jones, Ismat Ara Begum, Monjurul Alam, C.K. Saha, and Abdul Awal
Post-harvest management is an important, although less visible, step in ensuring a community’s food security. Poor post-harvest management reduces both the quantity and quality of…
Women in Ukraine's Military: An Opportunity for Change
Apr 28, 2020
|
Hannah Hrytsenko
While UN Resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security urges countries to increase the participation of women in the military through a top-down approach, in…
India’s COVID–19 Gender Blind Spot
Apr 27, 2020
|
Bansari Kamdar
The second most populous country in the world, India, has been under a nationwide lockdown since March 24, 2020 – one it intends to continue…
Can We Make Peace with the Coronavirus?
Apr 27, 2020
|
Erica Sheeran and Jeremy Moore
The field of environmental peacebuilding understands the degradation of our planet’s environment as a common human foe against which groups divided by conflict can be mobilized. “Nature…
There Have Been Repeated Warnings About the Environmental Risks Posed by Flooded Coal Mines in Eastern Ukraine, Are We Now Seeing Evidence That It Is Happening?
Apr 27, 2020
|
Eoghan Darbyshire
On the 12th March reports emerged on social media of contamination and discoloration at a reservoir in the town of Yenakiyevo, northwest of Donetsk. A follow up article by Free…