Blogs & Opinions

Gender and Climate – Scaling Impact with a Cross-Cutting Agenda

Jun 29, 2020 | Ting Nan Wang

Today, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the destructive nature of global crises without immediate resolutions. Likewise, the effects of climate change are slated to be…

In Guatemala, Investing in Indigenous Women's Economic Empowerment is Key to Building Back Better After COVID-19

Jun 29, 2020

Since March 2020, Guatemala has recorded more than 600 COVID-19 deaths and over 11,000 infections. Amidst this crisis, indigenous women have continued to use their…

Prioritizing Gender Equality in Post COVID-19 Tourism

Jun 27, 2020 | Jennifer Musson

Covid-19 has had an unprecedented impact on tourism with the UNWTO anticipating a 60-80% decline in international tourism. The crisis has laid bare structural inequalities…

COVID-19 Impact on Agriculture and Food Security: Regional Perspective

Jun 27, 2020 | Centre of Excellence on Emerging Development Perspectives

Even before COVID-19 hit the world, more than 820 million people were already struggling with hunger and 2 billion people were malnourished. At the end of 2019,…

Op-ed: Build Back Better: Women at the Centre of Decision-Making

Jun 26, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our world and our world view, deepening pre-existing inequalities, and exposing vulnerabilities in social, political, and economic systems. Across every…

Water Sharing Tensions Between Iran and Afghanistan Still High as Droughts Ease

Jun 24, 2020 | Phoebe Sleet

Both Iran and Afghanistan have suffered from prolonged droughts over the last several years. In Afghanistan, the worst drought in decades directly affected two-thirds of the country in 2018-19. Around ten…

The Gender Dimension of Sustainable Development

Jun 24, 2020 | Michael Fitzpatrick

Despite the recent ravages of plague, war, and pestilence, we humans still excel in one unceasing task — breeding. So much so, humanity is on…

Water Sharing Tensions Between Iran and Afghanistan Still High as Droughts Ease

Jun 24, 2020 | Phoebe Sleet

Both Iran and Afghanistan have suffered from prolonged droughts over the last several years. In Afghanistan, the worst drought in decades directly affected two-thirds of the country in 2018-19. Around ten…

Water Wars: The Pandemic’s Great Power Competition at Sea

Jun 24, 2020 | Sean Quirk

As the world continues its fight against the coronavirus, the U.S. and Chinese militaries are testing each other’s limits in the Indo-Pacific region. Beijing is…

How Can Extractive Sector Laws and Policies Contribute to Gender Equality?

Jun 23, 2020

What do governments and international organizations mean when they say that they aim to advance gender equity in the context of natural resource governance? Many governments…

Conflict, Conservation, and Cooperation Across the India-Bhutan Border

Jun 22, 2020 | Umika Chanana

In the article, Dr. Anwesha Dutta construes the evolution of separatist movements that stimulates the unbridled extraction of forest resources, impacting the lives and livelihood of…

Reports Highlight the Need for Further Consideration of Gender, Climate, and Security Linkages

Jun 22, 2020 | Magdalena Baranowska

In a recent Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) paper, Elizabeth Seymour Smith, a Research Assistant with SIPRI’s Climate Change and Risk Programme, explores the intersection of…

Environmental Peacebuilding in the Middle East: The Bridge between Climate and Conflict

Jun 19, 2020 | Madelyn Evans

In recent years, environmental challenges such as climate change, water scarcity, food security, and land degradation have increased competition over resources in the Levant. Environmentalist peacebuilders in…

Climate Change as a Security Risk: How Germany Should Address Climate Change at the UNSC

Jun 19, 2020 | Ariana Barrenechea, Sophia Christina Tomany, and Teslin Maria Augustine, with contributions from Abhishek Raj, John Chrysostom Kamoga, Nadja Macherey, Sonia Ran, and Varad Vatsal

How can Germany address climate change as a global security risk and make it a top priority of the UNSC? This is the question that…

Scope for Improvement: Linking the Women, Peace and Security Agenda to Climate Change

Jun 18, 2020 | Elizabeth S. Smith

Climate change can increase the risks of violent conflict, create risks to human security, and challenge conflict recovery and peacebuilding in different contexts. In many…

Will India Shift Its Stance on Climate Security in the UNSC?

Jun 18, 2020 | Dhanasree Jayaram

India will join the UNSC as a non-permanent member for a two-year term, starting in January 2021. The elections for five non-permanent members were held…

Sustainability for All: Gender Diversity in the Renewable Energy Industry

Jun 17, 2020 | Joanne Fixter

The global renewable energy industry is growing at a faster rate than ever, creating more and more jobs throughout its supply chain requiring a diverse…

Local People Hold the Key to Solving Burkina Faso’s Water Challenges

Jun 17, 2020 | Liza Debevec

Thanks to its usually abundant rice production, the Kou River Valley has for decades been known as Burkina Faso’s granary. But then the water stopped flowing.The…

Why Gender Responsiveness is Crucial for Equitable, Effective and Efficient Climate Finance

Jun 16, 2020 | Christine Lottje

Women all over the world suffer from the impacts of climate change. They are often more severely affected by climate change impacts as they aggravate…

Why Gender Responsiveness is Crucial for Equitable, Effective and Efficient Climate Finance

Jun 16, 2020 | Christine Lottje

Women all over the world suffer from the impacts of climate change. They are often more severely affected by climate change impacts as they aggravate…

Gender Awareness: Towards a Sustainable and Just Energy Transition. Part I

Jun 16, 2020 | Kathrin Meyer

According to the United Nations, the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 5 – Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls is the is the “foundation…

An Unexpected Opportunity for Corporate Peacebuilding

Jun 15, 2020 | Jonathan Kolieb and Phoebe Wynn-Pope

A range of Australian companies, from sectors as diverse as apparel, extractives, telecommunications and financial services, have business operations or supply chains in conflict-affected areas.…

How Environmental Geopolitics Expands Our Understanding of Risk and Security

Jun 15, 2020 | Shannon O'Lear

The coronavirus has everyone weighing risk and security within a sliding scale of geographic connections and boundaries. Dots and circles of infection pack our virus…

Explained: Israel's Top Court Annulled West Bank Land-Grab Law, but Will Annexation Replace It?

Jun 13, 2020 | Hagar Shezaf

Three years after it was passed, Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday that a law that would legalize the status of West Bank settlements built…

Women's Empowerment - The Missing Piece of Environmental Policies

Jun 12, 2020 | Vaishnavi Singh

Ecofeminism, a concept that was coined in 1974 by feminist Francoise d’Eaubonne ideologically links the environmental crisis with gender and highlights the importance of women…

The Gendered Impact of COVID-19 in the Middle East

Jun 11, 2020 | Hafsa Halawa

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the normative structures and behaviors of almost every country around the world. The fallout has put pressure on even the…

Covid-19 in Colombia: Migration, Armed Conflict and Gendered Violence

Jun 10, 2020 | Priscyll Anctil Avoine

In Colombia, 2019 ended with massive demonstrations throughout the country, gathering together several groups, such as students, unions, retirees, feminist organizations, indigenous peoples, Afro-Colombians and environmental defenders.…

How Women Can Lead The Resistance Against Climate Change

Jun 10, 2020 | Nancy Wang

In the past decade, women have made great strides attaining key leadership roles in technology, education, and politics. Another area that has shot to international…

How Women Can Lead The Resistance Against Climate Change

Jun 10, 2020 | Nancy Wang

In the past decade, women have made great strides attaining key leadership roles in technology, education, and politics. Another area that has shot to international…

How Sierra Leone Preventative Measures are Affecting Artisanal Mining in Eastern Sierra Leone

Jun 9, 2020 | Emma Black

Since its first recorded COVID-19 cases on 31 March 2020, the government of Sierra Leone has instituted measures to prevent the transmission of the virus.…