Blogs & Opinions

Laos: New Data on Agent Orange Use during the US’s Secret War in Laos

Oct 7, 2024 | Philipp Barthelme

During the Vietnam War, the US military sprayed more than 74 million litres of Agent Orange and other herbicides, causing detrimental and ongoing environmental and…

In the Middle East, Water Will Increasingly Become a Weapon and Driver of Conflict

Oct 4, 2024 | RANE

In the Middle East and North Africa, worsening water stress due to years of bad governance, security vacuums and population growth will increasingly make water…

The Environmental Costs of the Escalating Middle East Crisis

Oct 3, 2024 | Jonathan Walsh, Rob Watson, Eoghan Darbyshire and Doug Weir

A year of escalating conflict across the Middle East has had a range of direct and reverberating consequences for the region’s environment. In this post…

Detecting Yemen’s Informal Dumpsites from Space

Oct 1, 2024 | Hanna Schulten

The war in Yemen has profoundly affected solid waste management, increasing open dumping and with it risks to the environment and public health. In this…

Colombia Adds Nature to the Mix with Its $40-Billion Energy Transition Plan

Oct 1, 2024 | Sebastian Rodriguez

Colombia has launched a new $40-million investment plan for its energy transition, aiming to move away from oil and gas production, partly through pursuing green…

Climate, Conflict and Aid: Three-Pronged Solution Needed for Mozambique

Oct 1, 2024 | Isel Ras and Dave Husy

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs delivers lifesaving assistance, including protection services, shelter, food aid, treatment for acute malnutrition and emergency obstetric…

Extreme Weather Is Disrupting Lives in Southern Africa: New Policies Are Needed to Keep the Peace

Oct 1, 2024 | Gracsious Maviza and Siyaxola Gadu

Over the past decades, heavy and more frequent rainfall and dry spells in southern Africa have caused loss and damage to agriculture, livestock, the energy…

Long Term Climate Resilience: A Pathway to Stabilize Somalia

Sep 30, 2024 | Ananya Balakrishnan and Cesare M. Scartozzi

Somalia is trapped in a cycle where climate impacts—droughts, floods, and erratic weather patterns—fuel displacement, poverty, and conflict. With agriculture and pastoralism at the core…

Securing the Arctic: The Dilemma of Resources, Climate, and Stability

Sep 26, 2024 | Juni Moltubak

The Arctic region is transforming, both physically and politically, with far-reaching global consequences. While military security has been the main concern recently, the high north…

Report Release - Planet on the Move: Reimagining Conservation at the Intersection of Migration, Environmental Change and Conflict

Sep 25, 2024 | Philip Maxson and Kendall Trelegan

In June 2024, the IUCN's CEESP Task Force on Migration, Environmental Change, and Conflict released the report "Planet on the move: Reimagining conservation at the…

Myanmar’s Junta: Failed Governance in the Face of Nature’s Wrath

Sep 23, 2024 | James Shwe

As the floodwaters of Typhoon Yagi recede in Myanmar, they reveal more than just physical devastation. They underscore an ancient belief ingrained in Chinese and…

Why Criminalize Ecocide? Experts Weigh in

Sep 23, 2024 | Rebecca Hamilton

What do engaged stakeholders imagine that the international criminalization of ecocide can achieve? International criminal law has various goals including deterrence, retribution, expressivism, and the…

More Effective Aid by Design: Integrating Food, Climate and Peace

Sep 19, 2024 | Simone Bunse and Liliana Almeida

The number of people suffering acute food insecurity keeps rising. In 2023, nearly 282 million people in 59 countries experienced high levels of acute food…

Water, War, and Women in Gaza

Sep 18, 2024 | H. Patricia Hynes, Common Dreams

In late 2020, a report titled Saving Gaza Begins With Its Water stated:

The water crisis in Gaza is a problem of daunting proportions, with grave implications for…

Safeguarding Vulnerable Communities: Implementing Early Warning Systems in Conflict Zones

Sep 17, 2024 | CoE-EDP, VisionRI

The World Bank's latest report, "Early Warning Systems in Fragility, Conflict, and Violence-affected Settings: Shielding Communities from Natural Hazards Amid Compounded Crises," highlights the challenges…

War and Climate Change Intensify Global Water-Related Conflicts

Sep 16, 2024 | Neeraja Kulkarni

The Pacific Institute recently updated its Water Conflict Chronology—a database of water-conflict events that began to take form in the 1980s. The recent updates include…

Egypt and Ethiopia Tussle at UN Security Council as Nile Dam Tensions Escalate

Sep 13, 2024 | Foundation for Defense of Democracies

As tensions escalate between Egypt and Ethiopia over the latest filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Ethiopian Foreign Minister Taye Atske-Selassie urged UN…

Special Envoy Warns Security Council of Escalation, Humanitarian Crisis and Threat of ‘Unprecedented’ Environmental Disaster in Yemen

Sep 12, 2024 | United Nations

Amid rising regional tensions, a national humanitarian crisis and a looming environmental disaster, all stakeholders must put Yemen first, the United Nations official charged with…

Sudan: Conflict, Access Constraints and Floods Undermine FAO Efforts to Support Agriculture and Food Security

Sep 12, 2024 | Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN

The spread of conflict, access challenges and widespread flooding are severely hampering the emergency response efforts of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United…

Conflict, Hunger, and Famine in Sudan

Sep 11, 2024 | Zane Swanson, Anita Kirschenbaum, and Caitlin Welsh

In April 2023, fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces spread into a deadly civil war across Sudan. Now, 16…

Elsewhere in Focus: DR Congo—An Absent Peace, Conflict Minerals and Governance

Sep 11, 2024 | Daily Kos

There have been multiple attempts at peace agreement in DR Congo but peace seems to be long time coming. The US, for example, has been…

If UN PKO Are to Successfully Fulfill Their Mandates, Climate Change Needs to Be Taken into Account

Sep 9, 2024 | Mission Permanente de la France auprès des Nations Unies à New York

Today, the Security Council convenes for an Open Debate on UN Peacekeeping Operations. France, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Switzerland,…

Regenerative Production as a Vehicle for Environmental Peacebuilding? An Exploratory Case from Uganda

Sep 5, 2024 | Richard Marcantonio

The number of active armed conflicts is growing around the globe. One key influencer, though importantly not determinant, in these events is environmental change—mostly caused…

DRC Is the World’s Largest Producer of Cobalt – How Control by Local Elites Can Shape the Global Battery Industry

Sep 4, 2024 | Raphael Deberdt and Jessica DiCarlo

The mineral-rich Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is often portrayed as a victim of exploitation by China, the US and Europe in their competition…

The US Military Leads Climate Change, the Rest of Society Should Follow

Sep 4, 2024 | Sherri Goodman

Accelerating climate risks are also accelerating our global security risks. From new sea lanes in the Arctic, to prolonged drought across parts of Africa and…

Women Hold the Solutions to Tackling Climate Change and Hunger. Just Ask Them

Sep 4, 2024 | Michelle Nunn

In Diffa, one of the poorest regions of Niger, climate change has led to more frequent droughts and floods that have created severe food insecurity and malnutrition.…

Afghanistan’s Mineral Resources: Opportunities and Challenges

Sep 2, 2024 | Naseeb Ullah Achakzai

Afghanistan being a landlocked country has huge strategic importance followed by immense mineral deposits. It is estimated that it has untapped resources worth of 1 to…

Kazakhstan and Tajikistan to Cooperate over Rare-Earth Metals

Aug 29, 2024 | Sergey Kwan

Kazakhstan’s national atomic company, Kazatomprom, the world’s largest producer of uranium, has announced a new strategic partnership with Tajikistan’s TajRedMet (Tajik Rare Metals) in the…

Building Climate Resilience: How a Flood Protection Wall Revived an Afghan Community

Aug 28, 2024 | Mohammad Osman Azizi

What was once a vibrant community has turned into a ghost town, with hundreds of families forced to leave behind their homes, land, crops, livestock…

The Price of Victory in the Gaza War: Women, Climate, and Peace

Aug 28, 2024 | Amira Saber

Amira Saber, member of the Egyptian Parliament, looks at the environmental damage caused by the war in Gaza. She underscores the compounding ill effects of…