Blogs & Opinions

The Mosul Operation: An Interim Open-Source Assessment of Conflict-Related Environmental Damage

Feb 21, 2017 | Wim Zwijnenburg

As the Mosul Operations slowly progress, a myriad of open-source information is emerging from both Ninawa province and other areas where intense fighting took place…

A Long and Winding Road Ends for Resource Extraction Disclosure

Feb 20, 2017 | Kimberley Anderson

On February 14, 2017, President Trump approved a joint resolution of Congress that disapproves the SEC’s rule requiring specific disclosures by resource extraction issuers, effectively…

Water Wars: Rediscovering the Status Quo in the South China Sea

Feb 17, 2017 | Jared Dummitt and Eliot Kim

China continued to react critically to the Trump administration’s emerging position on the South China Sea.  Responding to a joint statement by President Trump and…

The De Facto Embargo is Over: Record-High Conflict-Free Minerals Exports from Eastern Congo

Feb 16, 2017 | Annie Callaway and Sasha Lezhnev

The conflict-free minerals trade has been slowly but steadily increasing in recent years, and 2016 resulted in record-high exports from the eastern Democratic Republic of…

Land at the Heart of Myanmar’s Transition: Part 2

Feb 15, 2017 | Anna Wellenstein

In part 1, we discussed some of the major land-related challenges facing Myanmar’s transition and development. In fact, resolving outstanding land issues will help the…

Tackling Deforestation in Liberia: A Quest For Greener Future

Feb 14, 2017 | Stephen B. Lavalah and Ambulai Johnson

Liberia’s forest is under serious threat.  There are massive legal and illegal logging activities everywhere in the forest. Chainsawing is at its highest level.  Protected…

2017 Conflict Minerals Company Rankings

Feb 14, 2017 | Enough Project

Companies, governments, and activists have contributed to important progress to end the conflict minerals trade, but there is an urgent need to continue working on…

Turning Afghan Opium Ills to Good

Feb 13, 2017 | Hamish McDonald

Is it time to revisit plans to license some of the deadly crop?

More than 15 years after the Western coalition ousted Afghanistan's Taliban regime, the…

Sierra Leone News: Land Acquisition, Mining and Foreign Investment Threatens Food Security

Feb 10, 2017 | Awoko

Since the beginning of the 21st century, Africa has found itself in the midst of a new wave of colonization. As if the fact that…

Reaching Accord on Land Grabs, and Household Perceptions of Climate-Conflict Vulnerability

Feb 9, 2017 | Zizhan (Azua) Luo

Large-scale land acquisitions, otherwise known as “land grabbing,” are often believed to lead to resistance from affected local communities. According to an article by Ruth…

Four Takeaways from 'Recurring Storms: Food Insecurity, Political Instability and Conflict'

Feb 9, 2017 | Jennifer Ehidiamen

From threats of famine in Somalia caused by drought, to hunger in Syria caused by war, the development community is increasingly faced with the enormous challenge of addressing global…

Yes, Suspend — Then Repeal — Dodd-Frank’s Conflict Minerals Rules

Feb 9, 2017 | Walter Olson

Here’s good news: President Trump may sign an executive order suspending the failed conflict minerals provisions of the Dodd-Frank law. Days before, Securities and Exchange Commission…

Torn Social Fabric: Water, Violence, and Migration in Central America

Feb 8, 2017 | Sara Merken

In the first half of last year, 26,000 unaccompanied children were apprehended by U.S. law enforcement trying to cross the southern border. Most came from Central American…

An Executive Order Suspending the US Conflict Minerals Law Would Be a "Gift to Warlords and Corrupt Businesses", Says Global Witness

Feb 8, 2017 | Andy Stepanian

In response to reports that the President Trump is planning to issue an executive order targeting the US conflict minerals provision (also known as Section…

Conflict Minerals Are about to Get a Reprieve

Feb 8, 2017 | Kevin Drum

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the most war-torn places on earth. Much of the money to keep the war going comes…

Land at the Heart of Myanmar’s Transition

Feb 7, 2017 | Anna Wellenstein

Struggles over land in Myanmar have been a defining characteristic of the country’s six decades of armed conflict.In the past, government acquired lands for extracting…

SEC Issues a Call for Comments on All Aspects of the Conflict Minerals Rule

Feb 6, 2017 | Sarah A. Altschuller

On January 31, the Acting Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), Michael Piwowar, issued an call for comments with regard to the conflict…

Global Water and National Security: Why the Time Is Now

Feb 6, 2017 | Sherri Goodman, Ruth Greenspan Bell, Nausheen Iqbal

During the 2016 campaign President Trump stated that clean water would be a top priority of his administration, telling ScienceDebate.org “it may be the most important issue…

SEC Acting Chairman Directs Reconsideration of Conflict Minerals Rule

Feb 6, 2017 | Andrew Brady, Brian V. Breheny, Hagen Ganem, Caroline Kim, Justin Kisner, Josh LaGrange, and Emily Prezioso

The acting chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Michael S. Piwowar, yesterday released two public statements concerning the conflict minerals rule applicable…

Will Central Asia Fight over Water Resources?

Feb 6, 2017 | Fuad Shahbazov

Water has always been a major cause of wars and border conflicts in the Central Asian region. For being one of the greatest geographical regions,…

Is It Time to Roll Back the Conflict Minerals Rule?

Feb 5, 2017 | Gary Emmanuel

It’s well documented that conflict over lucrative mining operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a major driver of brutal violence, forced labor, rape and other…

Confronting Global Security in an Era of Water Instabilities

Feb 3, 2017 | Kris Hartley, Cecilia Tortajada, and Asit K. Biswas

Political instability complicated by water security threats compromises America’s ability to navigate global security challenges. The state of global security and stability appears more precarious…

What’s the Future for the Conflict Minerals Rule?

Feb 3, 2017 | Rob Bates

The controversial Dodd-Frank Section 1502 will likely be weakened by the new administration. Just as there is much uncertainty over how the new administration will handle conflict…

Final Text of the EU Conflict Minerals Regulation

Feb 3, 2017 | Graham J. Stuart, Rachel Barlow, and Aurella Smith-Anthony

On 24 January 2017, the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade (INTA) approved the final compromise text of the EU's long awaited Conflict Minerals Regulation.…

Chairman Piwowar’s Statement on SECs Conflict Minerals Rule – We Could Have Seen It Coming

Feb 2, 2017 | Dynda A. Thomas

In a move that has already been widely reported, on January 31, 2017, the SEC’s Acting Chairman Michael Piwowar issued a statement on the SECs conflict minerals rule,…

Trump, ISIS and Iraqi Oil

Jan 27, 2017 | Eugene Kiely

President Donald Trump claimed that the Islamic State, or ISIS, would not exist if the U.S. “kept the oil when we got out” of Iraq.…

Trump, Iraqi Oil and International Law

Jan 27, 2017 | Sarah Saadoun

In an interview with ABC News anchor David Muir on January 25, 2017, President Donald Trump repeated his position that the United States “should have taken the oil” from Iraq during…

Food Security: How Drought and Rising Prices Led to Conflict in Syria

Jan 26, 2017 | Aled Jones

But what [Charlotte Church] said was correct – and there will be an increasing convergence of climate, food, economic and political crises in the coming…

Why Iraq Needs the Oil

Jan 25, 2017 | Jack Watling

Baghdad’s control of Iraq’s provinces is, in part, based on its custodianship of the country’s petrodollars, with the oil sector contributing up to 99 percent…

Famine Isn't Just a Result of Conflict—It's a Cause

Jan 25, 2017 | Justa Hopma

The relationship between food insecurity and conflict is almost so logical that it appears to state the obvious: Conditions of food insecurity contribute to the…