Blogs & Opinions

Conflict Minerals Policy Shows the EU Can and Does Learn from the Mistakes of Others

Oct 28, 2019 | Dirk-Jan Koch and Olga Burlyuk

It is easier to learn from your own mistakes than from the mistakes of others. But can a cumbersome political structure like the European Union…

Climate Change Is Benefiting Terrorists in Somalia

Oct 27, 2019 | Christine Ro

Almost half of all people in Somalia don’t have enough food, according to Save the Children. The factors are complex, but a core one is…

Climate Change Reinforces the World's Inequalities

Oct 25, 2019 | Irene Banos Ruiz

As drought, flooding and fires lay claim to headlines and landscapes across the world, and as countries and cities grapple with the cost of it…

Want to Empower Women in Agricultural Systems? Engaging Men Is Part of the Equation

Oct 25, 2019 | Kate Doyle

Women’s experiences of gender-based violence, as well as imbalances of power between men and women, have a profound impact on women’s ability to participate in…

Remarkable US Army Climate Change Report Studies Conflict Risk, What Caused Syria War, Bangladesh Risk, Geo-engineering!

Oct 25, 2019 | OOSKAnews

A combination of global starvation, war, drought and disease could have devastating effects on world security according to a report from several United States agencies…

Privatization of War: A New Challenge for the Women, Peace and Security Agenda

Oct 24, 2019 | Marta Bautista Forcada

Since the end of the Cold War, the outsourcing of military and security by armed forces activities has shifted from the exception to the rule.…

Is Lake Chad Shrinking? It's a Story That Masks Serious Failures of Governance

Oct 22, 2019 | Oil Brown and Janani Vivekananda

Lake Chad is a hydrological miracle – a life-giving, freshwater lake in the Sahara desert. But the region around the lake has been engulfed in…

Abyei: Sudan and South Sudan's New Chance to Solve Old Disputes

Oct 21, 2019 | John Pendergast and Brian Adeba

In the excitement around Sudan's evolving political order and the concerns around South Sudan's challenges, less attention has been paid to some long-standing contentious issues that…

U.S. Plan to Guard Syrian Oil Fields Sows Confusion

Oct 21, 2019 | Lara Seligman and Keith Johnson

Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Monday confirmed that President Donald Trump’s administration is considering maintaining a small force of U.S. troops in northeastern Syria near…

Rural Women Building Resilience to Face the Climate Crisis

Oct 19, 2019

Women living in rural and poor communities are resilient, resourceful and hard-working. They play an invaluable role in supporting their families, building resilience to face…

Working With the "River Guardians" of Columbia to Protect Vital Natural Resources

Oct 18, 2019 | Mark Camburn

This week, Pope Francis has convened a synod in the Vatican to highlight major climate, social, and religious issues faced by those in the Amazon…

Good Incentives, Bad Timing: Crop Substitution, Coca Cultivation, and Aerial Spraying in Colombia

Oct 17, 2019 | Daniel Mejia, Mounu Prem and Juan Vargas

According to figures from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in 2017 the extent of coca cultivation in Colombia reached a record high…

The Paradox of Plenty and Its Impact on Gendered Policy

Oct 17, 2019 | Eliana Cusato

Access to and distribution of natural resources are often at the root of violent conflict. Yet it is only over the last few decades that…

Letter from Buganda: Let Us Rise Together and Stand for Her Land

Oct 16, 2019 | Cizzy N. Kiyaga

Buganda is a major subnational kingdom in central Uganda. While over 10 million people live and work on land owned by the kingdom, the land…

Coming Out! Gender Diversity in the Food System

Oct 16, 2019 | Paula Gioia

In the current global context, discrimination is used as a tool to preserve and support authoritarian and far-right political movements. Immigrants and refugees are denied…

Drugs, Gold and Guns Bring Terror and Death to 400-Mile Waterway in Colombia

Oct 16, 2019 | Billy Briggs

For traditional communities on the River Atrato in the Chocó region, the snaking waterway is life itself, playing a central role in their cultural, economic…

From Poor Harvests to a Lack of Property Rights: The Struggles of Sindhi Rural Women

Oct 15, 2019 | Shiza Malik

Celebrated on the 15th of October every year, International Rural Women’s Day often goes unnoticed in Pakistan, just as the voices of the millions of…

Women Help Feed the World. Why Can't They Own Land?

Oct 15, 2019 | Karol Boudreaux

In rural areas around the world, the face of a farmer is increasingly a woman’s. 

From the paddy terraces of Asia to the maize fields of…

How Fires Threaten Syria's Security

Oct 15, 2019 | Justin Schon, Robert D. Field, and Michael J. Puma

Fires are proliferating. By the end of September, over 4,500 active fires had been detected in Syria during 2019. From May through June, 2,106 of…

Review Finds That UK Policy and Practice on Conflict and the Environment Needs Improving

Oct 14, 2019

An analysis of the UK’s environmental conduct before, during and after armed conflicts has found considerable room for improvement in both practice and reporting. With a…

Why Women Farmers Deserve the Right to Identity

Oct 14, 2019 | Shipra Deo

In a workshop with a group of agronomists who work in agriculture extension in India, I ask the participants to draw the picture of a…

Around the World, Young People Are Driving Climate Innovation

Oct 14, 2019 | Climate Justice Resilience Fund

2019 will be remembered as the year young people took to the streets around the world to fight for their future.

Inspired by Greta Thunberg and…

From Rajasthan to Mexico: Why Gender Matters at the Heart of The Energy Transition

Oct 13, 2019 | Costanza Burstin, Mouna Chambon, Morgane Ollier, and Cécile Spanu

In 2013, the climate negotiations (COP19) culminated with a promising consensus for women across the world: gender was voted as an independent agenda item in…

Climate-Justice and Gender-Justice Have to Go Hand-in-Hand

Oct 11, 2019

“We demand that the new European Commission secures equal rights for everyone – and that they work hard to smash the gender-gap, both inside and…

The Next Big Opportunity for Gender Equality?

Oct 11, 2019 | Ewa Lewandowska

The movement for a circular economy has focused on the environmental and business impacts of circularity, with far less interest (from researchers and policymakers) dedicated…

Fishing for Equality and Sustainability

Oct 9, 2019 | Jamie Wen-Besson and Catherine Wahlen

In a wooden boat on the estuary of the Densu River in Ghana, Cecila dips a salinator into the water and declares that the salinity…

Bomb Cyclones and Breadbaskets: How Climate, Food, and Political Unrest Intersect

Oct 8, 2019 | David Harary and Sunny Petzinger

The torrential downpour, ice, and eventual flooding of the US plains on March 15 and 16 left ranchers stunned. The aptly named "Bomb Cyclone”—the official…

Liberia: Denied for Decades, Women Lead Land Rights Campaign in Bong

Oct 8, 2019 | Mae Azango

Gormah Mulbah and her five children were thrown out of their home last year after her husband died. Her late husband’s family was angry she…

Land Reform Has Failed the Women of South Africa

Oct 7, 2019 | Sobantu Mzwakali

The government’s plan to combat the plight of women’s landlessness has been shown to have borne little fruit thus far, when the report of the…

Empowering Africa's Women Farmers

Oct 7, 2019 | Ruth Meinzen-Dick

More than 60% of all employed women in Africa south of the Sahara work in agriculture. Yet the region’s women farmers often reap a meager…