Blogs & Opinions

Increasing Situational Awareness of Conflict Linked Oil Pollution with VHR Satellite Imagery

Nov 11, 2021 | Skye Boag and Wim Zwijnenburg

In regards to maritime and the environmental impacts this industry can impose, VHR satellite imagery can be a useful tool for monitoring and tracing oil…

Lundin Energy's Indictment for War Crimes Is Good News for South Sudan

Nov 11, 2021 | Pax for Peace

The decision today, 11 November, by Sweden to take Lundin Energy to court is a major step towards justice for the hundreds of thousands of…

“Harrowing” Intelligence Report Still Downplays Threat of Climate Change to National Security

Nov 11, 2021 | Jessica McKenzie

The recent report was compiled at the request of President Joe Biden, who issued an Executive Order on “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and…

Sovereignty over Natural Resources in the Afghan Crisis: Effectiveness and Human Rights Considerations

Nov 10, 2021 | Andrea Mensi

While the international community is still debating about whether to recognize a government led by the Taliban, there are further critical issues to consider, such…

Climate Change, Conflict and the COP

Nov 9, 2021 | International Alert

Climate change is having a major impact on conflict and security around the world, but these issues failed to make it onto the agenda at…

Niger’s Kandadji Dam Project: Conflict Concerns

Nov 9, 2021 | Peace Research Institute Oslo

The Kandadji Dam project in Niger is projected to  displace about 38,000 people living near the Niger River due to the ongoing activities. The economic development…

Why We Need to Get Loud About Gender Inequality in Climate Politics

Nov 9, 2021 | Philippa Nuttall

Last month a female friend and I were quietly having dinner in Brussels when the subject of periods came into the conversation. Immediately the gentleman…

Fair COP? The African Women Showing Why Gender Justice Equals Climate Justice

Nov 9, 2021 | David Vetter

While women and girls are bearing the brunt of increasingly brutal climate impacts in the developing world, they also hold the key to taking decisive…

Africa: Peacebuilding Needs More Women, Youth - What's Holding Them Back?

Nov 9, 2021

First, I just want to welcome you both to all Africa's Silence The Guns series, where we focus on peacebuilding on the continent. I am…

Afghanistan: A Way Forward for Women and Girls

Nov 8, 2021 | Stephenie Foster and Susan Markham

Since Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in mid-August, the world has witnessed stories of perseverance, heroism, and heartache as Afghans flee their country. But almost…

COP26: Why Education for Girls is Crucial in the Fight Against Climate Change

Nov 8, 2021 | Betty Barkha and Katrina Lee-Koo

The Glasgow climate change conference is in its second week, with Tuesday November 9 dedicated to recognising gender equality, and the empowerment of women and girls…

Integrating Security into Sustainable Development to Build More Peaceful Societies

Nov 6, 2021 | Carl Bruch

War is development in reverse. To be effective, sustainable development must address conflict and promote peace.

Twenty years ago, the United Nations General Assembly declared 6 November…

Wetland Dynamics and Conflict in the Sudd

Nov 6, 2021 | Charlotta Ruuskanen and Eoghan Darbyshire

The Sudd wetland is situated alongside the White Nile in South Sudan. The Sudd provides important ecosystem services, including water purification, flood control, carbon sequestration, fish and wildlife…

EnvConflictDay 2021: It Takes a Community to Protect the Environment from War

Nov 6, 2021 | Doug Weir

Communicating why environmental protection is a humanitarian priority is also providing new arguments and audiences. 

The UN General Assembly declared November 6th the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of…

A Recipe for Perpetual Insecurity? The Case of a Syrian Protected Area

Nov 5, 2021 | Peter Schwartzstein

As snapshots of Syria’s environmental degradation go, Jebel Abdelaziz, in the northeastern part of the country, is hard to beat.

State mismanagement, particularly in establishing a…

New Wilson Quarterly Features Expert Insights on Climate Migration

Nov 5, 2021 | Shruti Samala

The number of forcibly displaced people doubled between 2010 and 2020. The multidimensional nature of climate migration complicates binary classifications such as “refugee” and “migrant.” The…

Stopping the Violence Devouring Colombia's Forests

Nov 4, 2021 | Bram Ebus

Colombia is the second most biodiverse country in the world, but about 780,000 hectares of primary forest—a territory the size of Haiti—have been cleared since the Revolutionary…

Syria: Killing the Khabur: How Turkish-backed Armed Groups Blocked Northeast Syria’s Water Lifeline

Nov 3, 2021 | Wim Zwijnenburg

With historic mentions by ancient Greek writers and the Bible, the Khabur river and its valley have been an important water source in the region. …

Safe Water and Sanitation: A Challenge for Gender Equality

Nov 1, 2021 | Wahid Bhat

Without clean and safe water there is no gender equality. Although access to water and sanitation has been recognized for more than a decade as…

COP26: Why Are Women Still Missing at the Top Climate Table

Oct 30, 2021 | Bonnie Chiu

When the global face to climate action is Greta Thunberg, it can appear that women and girls are well represented at the top table. As…

Can COP26 Become a Turning Point for Gender Responsive Climate Action?

Oct 26, 2021 | Mohammad Naciri, Samantha Hung, and Sun-Ah Kim

In a recent United Nations poll of young people in South Asia, 78 percent said that climate change has impacted their studies. More girls reported…

Climate Change and Nuclear War: Existential Threats on a “Split Screen”

Oct 26, 2021 | Shruti Samala

In international relations today, we face two truly existential threats in climate change and in nuclear warAt this critical juncture —when “the risk of conflict…

Gendering Just Transition

Oct 22, 2021 | Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt

As policymakers across the world look to shift their power sources away from coal, they must keep in mind the gendered impacts of their energy…

How Gender Matters in the Climate Fight

Oct 22, 2021 | Shia Kapos

When it comes to fighting climate change, it turns out gender matters.

Ahead of a major United Nations climate conference that begins later this month, a new…

How Efforts to Combat Climate Change Created New Security Challenges in the Arctic

Oct 21, 2021 | Andrew Latham

In a little over a week, the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will hold their annual meeting, dubbed COP26,…

Liberia: How FDA Allows a Foreign Family to Hoard Forests and Hurts Communities

Oct 21, 2021 | William Harmon and Varney Kamara

In 2018, the Bondi Mandingo Authorized Community Forest signed a logging agreement with Indo Africa Plantation Limited. The community agreed with the company to log in…

Colombians Are Uniting around Land Reform. Here’s Why.

Oct 20, 2021 | Peter Coy

During Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Colombia this week, the issue of land reform will be high on the agenda. Farmers’ lack of…

What an Irrigation Project Reveals about Farmer-Herder Conflict in Northern Nigeria

Oct 20, 2021 | Daniel Adeoluwa Adeniyi

Clashes between herders and local farmers in several communities in Nigeria have increased in recent years. The conflict is impacting the economy negatively. Nigeria loses almost US$14…

Sustainable Responses to Human Mobility, Climate Change, and Conflict

Oct 19, 2021 | Alice Chang

Significant progress has been made in understanding the impacts of climate change on migration and security. However, said Beatrice Mosello, a senior analyst at adelphi, generalized narratives that…

All Systems Go: Integrating Climate Security across the U.S. Government

Oct 18, 2021 | Shruti Samala

President Biden has taken an unequivocal position on climate change: The administration’s first order of business was to issue a series of executive orders aimed…