Blogs & Opinions
Handover of the Tabqa Dam a Sign of Hope for Syrian Food and Water Security
Aug 1, 2018
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Phoebe Sleet
During July, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) ceded control of Tabqa Dam to the Syrian Government in Damascus. The SDF have acted, while forces loyal to…
Mapping Climate Security: New Dashboard Tool Visualizes Complex Vulnerability in Asia
Jul 25, 2018
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Olivia Smith
In many parts of South and Southeast Asia, high population density and vulnerability to climate change combine with low levels of household resilience and poor…
Access to Water Continues to be Jeopardized for Millions of Children in War-Torn Yemen
Jul 24, 2018
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UNICEF
UNICEF deplores in the strongest terms yet another attack on vital and lifesaving water systems in Yemen. A large water facility in Sa’ada, northwest of the…
Protecting the Amazon Means Protecting Local Communities
Jul 23, 2018
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Aditi Sen
A recent report released by the government of Colombia highlights a 23% surge in deforestation in the country from 2016 to 2017, most notably in the Amazon…
Momentum Builds in the Fight for Land Rights in Guatemala: Making Us All a Bit Braver
Jul 20, 2018
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Shona Hawkes
In 2011, 769 families in the Polochic Valley in Guatemala were evicted to make way for the Chabil Utzaj sugar mill. Without land to farm and…
Is Pakistan Heading Towards a Civil War?
Jul 20, 2018
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Zeeshan Munir
Political fervor in Pakistan is on the rise. Elections 2018 are around corner and country is abuzz with political sloganeering, promises, hopes, blame-games and public…
Colombia's Price for Peace: Cocaine and the Environment
Jul 19, 2018
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Simeon Tegel
Sometimes winning the peace can be more complicated than winning the war. At least that seems to be the hard lesson that Colombia is learning as deforestation…
How Cocoa Farming Can Preserve Forests and Peace in Colombia
Jul 17, 2018
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Edward Davey
Victor Combita is a cocoa farmer and community leader from San José del Guaviare in the heart of the Colombian Amazon. For many years, his…
War, Drought, and Upstream Dams Hinder Water Access in Iraq
Jul 16, 2018
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Kayla Ritter
In Iraq, water availability has been both a casualty and a catalyst of conflict. Dams, canals, and other infrastructure were destroyed during years of war against Islamic…
Disaster-Focused Headlines from the Congo Often Hide Signs of Progress
Jul 13, 2018
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Molly Bergen
In the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) northwestern city of Mbandaka, health workers spent recent months racing to contain the latest Ebola outbreak — including…
As Afghanistan’s Water Crisis Escalates, More Effective Water Governance Could Bolster Regional Stability
Jul 11, 2018
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Elizabeth B. Hessami
“Kabul be zar basha be barf ne!” This ancient proverb—“May Kabul be without gold rather than snow”—refers to snowmelt from the Hindu Kush Mountains, a…
Fanning the Flames – The Environmental Impact of Gaza’s Incendiary Kites
Jul 11, 2018
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Doug Weir
The 8th July marked 100 days since the first homemade incendiary kites were launched over Israel from Gaza. It also saw Israel promising punitive measures against…
A Pak-Afghan Water Treaty?
Jul 9, 2018
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Mashhood Hassan Azam Awan
The Indus River Basin is shared by four countries: Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and China. The water sector in this region faces certain challenges including the…
Open Mineral and ConsenSys Seek to Put the Blockchain in the Mineral Supply Chain
Jul 9, 2018
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Kyt Dotson
Open Mineral, an online metal and mineral exchange based in Switzerland, announced today the company’s upcoming launch of a distributed ledger blockchain platform to serve…
Trump Administration Threatens US Environmental Security
Jul 2, 2018
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Matthew King
Numerous articles have been written about how the Trump administration has been undermining federal regulatory agencies and their ability to ensure that Americans have access…
Confronting Afghanistan's Environmental Challenges
Jun 24, 2018
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Zia Nezam
Water scarcity, air and water pollution, deforestation, soil degradation, overgrazing, and desertification present daunting challenges, yet all can be ameliorated, as domestic and international development…
How Cheap Oil Hurts Sub-Saharan Africa
Jun 21, 2018
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Emily Meierding
Over the past four years, oil-producing countries have experienced a wild ride. After oil prices exceeded $110 per barrel for Brent crude in 2014, they…
Why Plenty of Food Means Plenty of Conflict
Jun 18, 2018
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Ore Koren
The notion that food scarcity increases the likelihood of conflict is not a recent one, although it has received increased attention over the past four…
Fuel to the Fire: Satellite Imagery Captures Burning Oil Tanks Libya
Jun 18, 2018
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Wim Zwijnenburg
Recent eruptions of violence in Libya’s so-called ‘oil crescent’ between armed forces loyal to Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) and rival armed groups resulted in…
Land Rights: Liberia Is at a Crucial Moment in Its History
Jun 13, 2018
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Lennart Dodoo
A historic election gives President George Weah the momentum and mandate to enact a robust agenda, and Mr. Weah has rightly identified secure land rights…
Common Pool: Equitable Water Governance Brings Prosperity to Sabkhali
Jun 12, 2018
The Sundarbans, a vast forest in the coastal region of the Bay of Bengal, are considered one of the natural wonders of the world. Lying…
Not So Quiet on the Western Front: The Snowball Effect in Afghanistan
Jun 8, 2018
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Morwari Zafar
The deteriorating security in western Afghanistan may soon be worsened by a water crisis. A snowballing militancy, desiccating wetlands, and environmental migration create a trifecta…
Rubber Product Manufacturing in Liberia in Sight at Last
Jun 7, 2018
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Observer
Liberia, Africa’s first independent and sovereign Republic, has also been, since the early 1930s, the continent’s first rubber producing country, and yet in nearly 90…
Conflict in Abyei Could Reignite South Sudan’s Civil War
Jun 6, 2018
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Sam Mednick
Abyei, Sudan/South Sudan — Landlocked and lawless, the region of Abyei straddles Sudan and war-torn South Sudan’s borders, yet the arid expanse belongs to neither…
Environmental Peacebuilding: What Is it Good or?
Jun 5, 2018
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Nina Engwicht
Policy interventions seeking to break the link between natural resource abundance and violent conflict aim to tackle the quality of environmental governance both in producer…
Don't Turn to the Military to Solve the Climate-Change Crisis
Jun 5, 2018
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Nick Buxton
The Australian Senate’s declaration last month that climate change is a “current and existential national security risk” was clearly intended to inject much-needed urgency into the country’s…
Environmental Peacebuilding: An Introduction
Jun 3, 2018
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Vositha's Blog
Throughout history, natural resources have been the cause of many conflicts. While scarcity of resources such as water has been the cause of conflict among…
The Water Wars within: Preventing Subnational Water Conflicts
May 30, 2018
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Scott Moore
In 1995, World Bank official Ismail Serageldin warned that “the wars of the next century will be fought over water—unless we change our approach to…
The Imperative for Peace and Security Council’s Action against Conflict-Induced Food Insecurity
May 30, 2018
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Solomon Dersso
In the preamble to the Protocol of the Constitutive Act Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union…
Liberia: A Land of Wealth without Manager
May 30, 2018
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B.J. Goodlin
Liberia is a land filled with natural resources of wealth that hasn’t been managed shrewdly or should I put it to you that the lack…