Blogs & Opinions

GAO Report on Gold Supply Chain Reveals Little Progress in Responsible Sourcing

Aug 30, 2017 | Cooley LPP, Cydney Posner

The GAO has issued a new report on conflict minerals focused in this instance on the supply chain for artisanal and small-scale mined (ASM) gold in the…

Indian Company Wins Tender to Construct CASA-1000 Power Project

Aug 25, 2017 | Energy World

Kabul: An Indian company has won the tender for construction of 1000 Electricity Transmission and Trade Project for Central Asia and South Asia (CASA). As per Tolo News,…

Serenity Amid Conflict at Myanmar’s Indawgyi Lake

Aug 25, 2017 | Hugh Scobie

Hugh Scobie takes a journey to a serenely remote lake in northern Myanmar that is largely inaccessible due to surrounding military conflicts. Indawgyi Lake, located in…

Tackling Ozone Depleting Substances as Casualties Mount in Afghanistan

Aug 25, 2017 | UN Environment

Kabul – On a recent Monday morning on 24 July, the Director General of National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA), H.E.Mostafa Zaher and his environment team along with…

Afghanistan- Improved Irrigation Canal to Benefit over 7,500 People in Taloqan

Aug 25, 2017 | MENAFN - Wadsam

Afghan authorities and the Afghan-German Cooperation signed a contract for the reparation and rehabilitation of the Gurg irrigation canal in Taloqan, Takhar's provincial capital on…

Tatmadaw to Continue Clearing out Illegal Mines in Tanai and Hpakant

Aug 25, 2017 | Htoo Thant

Lieutenant Colonel Soe Myint Aung pointed out that without peace, stabillity and rule of law at those mines, they cannot become legal businesses. “There are questions…

Khartoum Negotiating Teams Say Abyei is Sudanese Territory

Aug 25, 2017 | Sudan Tribune

Sudanese delegation for the talks on the Abyei area Monday said they will focus on the need for a peaceful coexistence between the communities there,…

How Not to Create a State: Lessons from South Sudan to Kurdistan

Aug 25, 2017 | Diliman Abdulkader

As the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) prepares to hold a long awaited independence referendum on September 25 of this year, it's wise to look…

Kurds’ Risky Dream of Independence

Aug 24, 2017 | New York Times

After yearning for independence for generations, Kurds in Iraq are scheduled to take a major step in that direction with a nonbinding referendum set for…

Water Wars: a “Suspicious” Flotilla that May “Not Mean Anything”

Aug 19, 2017 | Jared Dummitt, Eliot Kim

The week began with signs that the détente between the Philippines and China was coming along smoothly. Philippine Defense Minister Delfin Lorenzana told a congressional hearing on…

What Happens the Day after the Kurdish Referendum?

Aug 16, 2017 | Michael Rubin

On September 25, Iraqi Kurds will head to the polls not only in Iraqi Kurdistan, but also in territories disputed between Erbil and Baghdad to…

Addressing Women's Burdens from Water Risks Could Help Reduce World Hunger

Aug 10, 2017 | Ayushi Trivedi, Natalie Elwell, and Sara Walker

For hundreds of millions of women, providing food to feed their families is a daily imperative. Many of them depend solely on the meager yields…

Where Will Myanmar's Energy Come From?

Aug 4, 2017 | Amara Thiha

Myanmar’s high growth in electricity demand — rising by around 13 percent annually — is a challenge for the government. Demand is estimated to reach 4,500 MW by 2020 and 13,410…

How the Conflict Minerals Rule Failed

Aug 4, 2017 | Rick Paulas

Between 1998 and 2007, more than 5.4 million people died in the Democratic Republic of Congo due to mass displacement, food shortages, lack of medical infrastructure, and other causes…

From Reports to Results: How the Liberia Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative Makes Transparency Count

Aug 3, 2017 | Christoph Buchberger

How do you make sure that increased transparency in the natural resource sector yields the desired results? The Liberia Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (LEITI) asked…

Solar Energy — Putting Power back into the Hands of Ordinary Gazans

Aug 3, 2017 | Sara Badiei

"We have electricity for two hours every 24 hours," says a high-ranking energy official in Gaza. Up to just 10 years ago, Gaza enjoyed full,…

China-Vietnam Relations Fall to a One-Year Low over a New Maritime Dispute

Aug 2, 2017 | Ralph Jennings

After a world court tribunal ruled last year in July that Beijing lacked legal rights to claim most of the South China Sea, it stepped…

Will Afghanistan's Minerals Shape Trump's Policy Toward the Region?

Aug 2, 2017 | Ahmad Shah Katawazai

In addition to Afghanistan’s geopolitical and geostrategic importance, its lucrative mineral resources — estimated to be worth between $1 and $3 trillion  — could be one of the…

Trump’s New Afghanistan Strategy: Keep the Minerals!

Aug 1, 2017 | Eric Levitz

Donald Trump spent most of his campaign sounding like the adult son of George Wallace and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. But every once in…

Afghanistan: All That Glitters Is Not Gold

Aug 1, 2017 | Catherine Putz

The Trump administration would benefit from recalling the cautionary adage “All that glitters is not gold” when contemplating the theoretical wealth of resources hidden in…

How the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty Helped Expose Disarmament’s Weakness on the Environment

Jul 31, 2017 | Matthew Bolton

In this new report from Pace University’s International Disarmament Institute and the Toxic Remnants of War Project, Doug Weir, explores the implications of the new Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty for the…

London Conference Highlights Opportunities to Improve Environmental Response to Conflict Pollution in Iraq

Jul 31, 2017 | Doug Weir

As the dust settles from the battle to recapture Mosul, and the urgent humanitarian crisis reaches its peak with millions of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)…

Joining the Global Transparency Revolution - How Can Environmental Transparency Help Make Mining More Sustainable?

Jul 31, 2017 | Inga Petersen

At first sight, ‘sustainable mining’ is the very definition of a contradiction in terms. How can an industry that digs holes in the ground, extracts…

Water Wars: Jockeying for Black Gold in the South China Sea - China Leverages Its Growing Military Presence, Threatening Vietnam and Building Ties with the Philippines

Jul 31, 2017 | Jimmy Chalk and Sarah Grant

This week China made waves in the South China Sea’s hydrocarbon space, hinting at joint venture opportunities with the Philippines and coercing Vietnam into shutting…

Pushing for Progress on Abyei

Jul 31, 2017 | Enough Project

The six years following the signing of the June 2011 Agreement on Temporary Arrangements for the Administration and Security of the Abyei Area have proved…

Trump Wants to Dismantle Wall Street Reform. Here’s What That Could Mean for…Congo

Jul 27, 2017 | Carol Jean Gallo

The Trump administration’s hostility toward the 2010 Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (aka the Dodd-Frank Act) should come as no surprise, given Trump’s campaign…

Security Links: An Emerging Congressional Common Ground on Climate Change?

Jul 26, 2017 | Lauren Herzer Risi

Earlier this month 46 House Republicans voted with Democrats to protect an amendment in the current National Defense Authorization Act that acknowledges that “climate change is…

To Fight Global Water Stress, U.S. Foreign Policy Will Need New Strategic Tools

Jul 25, 2017 | Anuj Krishnamurthy

Capable of upending rural livelihoods, compromising institutions of governance, and inducing new patterns of migration and crime, global water stress has emerged as one of…

Inside Conflict: What Does Research Reveal About Women's Rights and Changing Gender Roles in Yemen?

Jul 24, 2017 | Suzy Madigan

Until the acceleration of violence in 2015, women in Yemen were making some headway in challenging a system that largely excludes them from public life.…

Reconceptualizing Women's Participation in Water Governance

Jul 24, 2017 | Priyam Das

There is growing emphasis on community-managed water supply and sanitation that embodies a new paradigm in water governance based on demand management. However, projects have…