International


Governments Reflect on Key Elements of Peacebuilding, Sustaining Peace

Dec 11, 2018 | Catherine Benson Wahlén, International Institute for Sustainable Development

The UN Security Council discussed peacebuilding and sustaining peace in the context of post-conflict reconstruction, security and stability, in a debate on 5 December 2018.…


Afghanistan: Afghanistan Hopeful about Replacing Opium Crops with Saffron

Dec 11, 2018 | Mohammad Sadiq Rashtinai and Abubakar Siddique, Gandhara

At a sprawling government agricultural research farm in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, workers are now picking tiny purple flowers. Officials in the region…


South Sudan: South Sudan's Oil Suitors Still Skeptical over Security

Dec 11, 2018 | Ian Lewis, Petroleum Economist

An agreement under which South African state-controlled companies could invest as much as $1bn in South Sudanese energy projects, including a refinery, is welcome news…


Afghanistan: Armed Groups, MPs, Officials Involved in Illegal Mining: MEC

Dec 10, 2018 | Anisa Shaheed, TOLOnews

The Independent Joint Anti-Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Committee (MEC) on Monday released its first report on extraction of mines in the country, in which it…


Afghanistan: Afghan Villagers Face Hunger as Fighting Cuts Northern Roads

Dec 10, 2018 | Matin Sahak, Reuters

Villagers in the northern Afghan province of Faryab have appealed to the government for help after being cut off from food supplies for weeks by…


Nigeria: The Ordinary People Keeping the Peace in Nigeria’s Deadly Land Feuds

Dec 10, 2018 | Max Bearak, Washington Post

Nigeria’s population has grown exponentially and is projected to surpass the United States’ by 2050, although Nigeria is 11 times smaller in area than the…


Liberia: “Data Is a Serious Problem for Agriculture Sector”

Dec 10, 2018 | David A. Yates, Observer

Agriculture Minister Dr. Mogana Flomo says the lack of agriculture data remains a serious challenge to the sector, “because  data collection is a serious problem…


DRC: This Congo Project Could Supply the World with Lithium

Dec 10, 2018 | Frik Els, Mining.com

Manono project became the world’s largest non-brine lithium resource after the Perth-based company released the maiden estimate for its 60%-owned project in the southern Congo…


Colombia: Miners Operating in Colombia Accused of Forcing People off Their Land

Dec 9, 2018 | Valentina Ruiz Leotaud, Mining.com

Colombian Forjando Futuros foundation issued a report accusing 33 companies and 150 individuals, both foreign and Colombian, of forcing people living in rural communities off…


Colombia: 'Forgiveness Is to Remember Without Pain': FARC Ex-Combatants Live Fragile Peace in Colombia

Dec 7, 2018 | Albin Hillert, SOJO

Following the 2016 peace treaty between FARC and the Colombian government, Rubén and a group of ex-combatant families purchased and now cultivate 36 hectares of…


Afghanistan: 'Worst Drought I Have Seen': Afghan Farmers Forced to Flee

Dec 7, 2018 | Phys.org

Wheat and opium farmer Murad Khan Ishaqzai, 80, has never seen a drought as bad as the one ravaging western Afghanistan where more than 250,000…


Colombia: Their Waters Wrested Away, Colombia's Island Fishermen Lament - and Learn

Dec 6, 2018 | Anastasia Moloney, Thomson Reuters Foundation

“But we can’t fish there. I’m afraid to go there,” fisherman Oreste Howard laments, as his small one-engine motor boat bobs in the breeze. The…


Yemen: Almost Four Years of Conflict Leads to Declaration of Catastrophic Food Security Conditions in Yemen

Dec 6, 2018 | CARE

As pockets of famine-like conditions are announced in parts of Yemen and the majority of the population are shown to be suffering from emergency or…


New Zealand: Food Scarcity, Land Disputes: New Zealand Defence Force Issues Alarming Climate Forecast

Dec 6, 2018 | Zane Small, NewsHub

The New Zealand Defence force has issued a stark warning about the effects of climate change and how it will be forced to adapt to…


Sri Lanka: Tamil Villagers Call for End to Archaeology Land Grab in Trincomalee [Photos]

Dec 5, 2018 | Tamil Guardian

Locals in Trincomalee have written to the Divisional Secretariat of Kuchchaveli, calling for an end to an attempt by Sri Lanka’s archaeology department to seize…


Iraq: Cleaning up after ISIS: How Iraq’s New Chemicals Team Is Trying to Undo Years of Conflict Pollution

Dec 5, 2018 | UN Environment

ISIS (also known as the Islamic State or Da’esh) has more or less been defeated in Iraq, but throughout the areas it once occupied, the…


DRC: DRC Classifies Cobalt, Coltan as 'Strategic' Minerals

Dec 5, 2018 | Africa News

Cobalt and coltan, used in electric vehicle and renewable energy technology have been classified as strategic minerals in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Congolese Prime…


Myanmar: Jade Is Anything but Green

Dec 5, 2018 | Nick Meynen, Ecologist

Jade is the diamond of the East. A fast-growing, high-income class in China - who often cherish mystical values associated with jade - are causing a…


Peace, Not War, Responsible for Deforestation in Armed Conflict Zones

Dec 5, 2018 | University of Waterloo

Rates of deforestation in war zones increase dramatically once peace is declared, according to a study from the University of Waterloo. Forests and jungles provide…


Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone's 'Peace Diamond' Dividend Slow in Coming

Dec 5, 2018 | Agence France-Presse

They were promised a "peace diamond" dividend in the Sierra Leone village of Koryardu after the stone they handed over for auction fetched $6.5 million…


Colombia: Colombia Tropical Forest Fires Spike after 2016 Peace Accords

Dec 4, 2018 | Rutgers University

Fires that contribute to deforestation spiked six-fold in Colombia in the year after an historic 2016 peace agreement ended decades of conflict between FARC guerrilla…


Colombia: El Nino May Cut Colombia's Rainfall by 80 pct in Q1 2019 - Minister

Dec 4, 2018 | Reuters

The El Nino weather phenomenon could reduce rainfall in Colombia by 80 percent in the first quarter of 2019, the country's environment minister said on…


Pakistan: Land Grabbers, Henchmen Arrested in Islamabad after Gun Battle with Police

Dec 4, 2018 | Munawer Azeem, Dawn

The police arrested 42 people posing as the Taliban in order to grab land, after a gun battle during an operation Sunday night. Four policemen…


DRC: Cobalt Mining Shows Clean Energy Revolution Comes at a Price

Dec 3, 2018 | Zoe Dawson, Irish Times


Iraq: Iraqi Security Prevents Protesters from Storming Oilfield

Dec 3, 2018 | Middle East Monitor

Iraqi security forces yesterday prevented dozens of demonstrators from storming the major oilfield of West Qurna 2 in the country’s southern province of Basra.


Colombia: Deforestation Is Unexpected Result of Peace in Colombia

Dec 3, 2018 | Stony Brook University

War can have devastating effects on nature, but what happens in times of peace? In a first-of-a-kind study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, scientists provide…


Myanmar: Chinese Company behind Controversial Copper Mine Eyes Additional 100k Acres

Dec 3, 2018 | Zarni Mann, Irrawaddy

Local concerns over the environmental impacts and potential for land confiscation in the Latpadaung copper mining area are rising again with the submission of an…


Russia/Ukraine: HotSpots H2O, December 3: Water Infrastructure Still a Target in Ukrainian Conflict

Dec 3, 2018 | Kayla Ritter, Circle of Blue

Attacks on civilian water infrastructure remain a strategic vulnerability in the ongoing conflict between the Ukrainian military and Russian-backed separatists. Two major water lines were…


Iraq: Iraq's Nineveh Province Declares State of Emergency Following Flash Flooding

Dec 2, 2018 | Mina Aldroubi, The National

Iraqi authorities on Sunday declared a state of emergency after flash flooding and torrential rainfall battered Nineveh, further exacerbating the plight of the war-torn province.…


Afghanistan: Farmers Harvest More Saffron This Year

Nov 30, 2018 | Haidarshah Omid, TOLOnews

Amid arrival of saffron harvest season, the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) said farmers have harvested three tons more saffron compared with the…