Blogs & Opinions

In Search of Higher Returns: Can Extractive Industries Help Build Peace?

Aug 3, 2015 | Carley Chavara

If you’re a government pondering the development of newly discovered natural resources, how do you avoid the so-called “resource curse” – the tendency of high…

Why Has Sea Level Rise Not Been Securitized by the PLA?

Jul 31, 2015 | Wilson VornDick

Ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which is set to take place in Paris later this year, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang recently announced…

This Is What Could Start a War between India and China

Jul 29, 2015 | Palmo Tenzin

While everyone’s anxiously watching and analyzing the events unraveling in the South China Sea, there’s another resource conflict involving China that also deserves attention. In…

Turning the Climate-Security Problem on Its Head: Geoff Dabelko Talks G7 ‘Climate for Peace’ Report

Jul 29, 2015 | Linnea Bennett

Conversations around climate change often take place at the “30,000-foot level,” said Ohio University Professor and ECSP Senior Advisor Geoff Dabelko in a recent radio interview…

Whatever Happened to the 5th Geneva Convention?

Jul 29, 2015 | Doug Weir

The acceptance that legal protection for the environment from the ravages of armed conflict needs improvement has a long history. During the last three decades,…

Arctic Diplomacy Requires Convergence of Military and Scientific Interests

Jul 28, 2015 | Saleem Ali

Scientists and the military have a long history of engagement but largely in a client-donor relationship. Yet, global environmental change is providing another opportunity for more “natural”…

With China’s Oil Rig Back in the South China Sea, What’s Vietnam’s Play?

Jul 24, 2015 | Chau Bao Nguyen

The redeployment of a Chinese oil rig in the South China Sea (SCS) shows an inconsistency in the rhetoric and practice of China’s policy in…

The Helmand River and the Afghan-Iranian Treaty of 1973

Jul 23, 2015 | Dr. Glen Hearns

The Helmand River and its major tributary, the Arghandab, drain 43% of Afghanistan including most of the southern part of the country. It has an…

Dodd-Frank at 5: How Financial Reform Led to Bloodshed in the Congo

Jul 21, 2015 | Stephanie Slade

The Dodd-Frank financial reform act turns 5 today. It was signed into law by President Obama on July 21, 2010. In the two years immediately…

The Dodd-Frank Act at 5: Examining Progress and Pushback

Jul 21, 2015 | Naki B. Mendoza

Birthdays are often cause for celebration, yet cheers for Tuesday’s fifth anniversary of the historic Dodd-Frank Act have been somewhat tempered and reserved.

Since officially being…

Governance, Gender and no Guarantees in Africa’s Oil-Rich States

Jul 19, 2015 | Celeste Hicks and Laura Seay

The discovery of oil in Chad in 1969 did not yield many immediate benefits for a population that would soon be wracked by civil war,…

Do-Gooders, Do No Harm: What Are the Best–and Worst–Ways to Help Those Mired in International Conflicts?

Jul 17, 2015 | Laura Seay and Alex de Waal, Washington Post

In today’s hyper-connected world, it’s easier than ever for those who live thousands of miles away from a conflict area to learn about a crisis. When…

Ukraine Conflict – 24 Months of Urgent Environmental Recovery Will Cost $30m

Jul 16, 2015 | Doug Weir

The environmental costs of the ongoing Ukraine conflict are still to be quantified but an EU-UN-World Bank needs assessment has called for US$30m to fund…

Glaring Sea Erosion Danger in Liberia Needs Urgent Attention

Jul 14, 2015 | Front Page Africa

Monrovia is located near the Atlantic Ocean and also contains other smaller bodies of water including the Du River which is found in almost every…

Reconnecting with Nature in the Shadow of War

Jul 11, 2015 | Rui Pinto

This is the second blog in Human Nature’s series on environmental peacebuilding, which chronicles CI’s growing role in this emerging field of research. Today’s post focuses on…

Landmark Report Promotes Human Rights in Transboundary Investments

Jul 10, 2015 | Maureen Harris

Almost 10 years ago, hundreds of villagers in Sre Ambel District in Koh Kong Province in south-western Cambodia were violently evicted from their homes to make…

Kingston-Upon-Hull Becomes First UK City to Pass Conflict-Free Resolution

Jul 10, 2015 | Mike Riley

On Thursday 18th June 2015, I was sitting in the council chamber at the Guildhall in Kingston-Upon-Hull, fingers crossed, quite nervous and excited at the…

Who Owns What in the South China Sea?

Jul 9, 2015 | David A. Welch

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently made the remarkable statement that flexibility on sovereignty over the Spratly Islands would shame China’s ancestors, and that if “the…

While Saudi Arabia Goes to War Abroad, It’s Simmering at Home

Jul 4, 2015 | Giorgio Cafiero and Daniel Wagner

To hear Saudi leaders tell it, the primary threat to the kingdom’s stability is the Islamic Republic of Iran. Worried over Washington and Tehran’s slowly…

Collateral Damage Estimates and the Acceptability of Attacks on Industrial Sites

Jul 3, 2015 | Doug Weir

The deliberate or inadvertent damage or destruction of industrial facilities during conflict has the potential to cause severe environmental damage and create acute and long-term…

Does Gender Balance Improve Forestry and Fishery Management?

Jul 2, 2015 | Francesca Booker

Differences in women's and men's access to, control over, and use of local natural resources shapes the way that these resources are managed. Yet women…

Welcome to Basrastan

Jul 1, 2015 | Peter Schwartzstein

This port city in southern Iraq is not an easy place to love. Once the handsome backstop of the Persian Gulf, its famous canals are…

Proposed EU Law to Help in Fight against Conflict Minerals

Jun 26, 2015 | Kristen Moran

Mining Weekly reported that campaigner Emily Norton from the nongovernmental organisation Global Witness conflict minerals believed that the proposed European Union (EU) conflict minerals law will help make responsible…

Thailand and Sri Lanka Show How Disasters Can be Catalysts of Fragility or Opportunities for Peace

Jun 26, 2015 | Lukas Ruttinger

In 2011 Thailand was hit by unprecedented monsoon rains far above the average rainfall of the previous 30 years. Two million people across 26 provinces…

Behind Latin America’s Anti-Mining Protests: Water Concerns

Jun 25, 2015 | Lyuba Zarsky

Mining conflicts are intensifying across Latin America, with 218 mining projects embroiled in conflicts with 312 communities—including six conflicts spanning national borders—from Mexico to Argentina. One of…

New Paper on Darfur Conflict and Natural Resources

Jun 25, 2015 | Brendan Bromwich

King’s Water Member Brendan Bromwich considers the ongoing situation in Darfur and reflects on what we know about the environment, politics, and conflict

Over the course…

Keep Fighting Joseph Kony’s LRA

Jun 22, 2015 | Kathryn Bigelow

In February, a man and his teenage daughter floated in a fishing boat on the Were River, deep in the heart of Garamba National Park,…

This Year’s Conflict Minerals Filings Show Some Improvement, According to Early Review

Jun 22, 2015 | Cydney Posner

An early review of conflict minerals filings for the 2014 reporting period shows improvement in “detail, clarity and quality,” according to this article in BNA. As…

Assessing the U.S. Navy's Arctic Roadmap

Jun 21, 2015 | Andreas Kuersten

Shielded by a significant expanse of sea ice, the Arctic Ocean has historically had limited naval strategic relevance outside of submarine and early warning operations. …

The Green Climate Fund: Finding a Role for Peacebuilding Priorities

Jun 19, 2015 | Neil Bhatiya

In the wake of the September 2014 United Nations climate summit, which brought together representatives from more than one hundred countries to build global ambition…