International

Why global water shortages pose threat of terror and war

Feb 8, 2014 | The Guardian

On 17 January, scientists downloaded fresh data from a pair of Nasa satellites and distributed the findings among the small group of researchers who track…

Pillars of Peace: Understanding the key attitudes and institutions that underpin peaceful societies

Feb 5, 2014 | Institute for Economics and Peace

The Pillars of Peace is a new conceptual framework for understanding and describing the factors that create peaceful societies. This framework defines the national characteristics…

Haiti's wealth of untapped mining resources must benefit the poor

Feb 4, 2014 | The Guardian

In 2012 I wrote about the mining situation in Haiti and the vast potential for this sector. Mining companies could provide an increase in tax…

Elephant Campaign: How Africa’s ‘white gold’ funds the al-Shabaab militants

Feb 3, 2014 | The Independent

Transporting “jihad’s white gold” from the African bush to Asian cities is no small feat, but under the watchful eyes of the Somali Islamist militant…

Water Dimensions of ‘Land Grabbing’

Feb 2, 2014 | Africa UP Close

In recent years, arable land has become a highly coveted commodity in the global market. Emphasizing land as the issue at stake, water dimensions of…

Saving More Than Just Snow Leopards

Feb 1, 2014 | New York Times

THE cold and rugged mountains of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and China seem an unlikely place to find a flourishing combination of new community institutions and…

Initial assessment by the UK National Contact Point for the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises

Feb 1, 2014 | UK National Contact Point

Insight: Surge in Cocaine Trade Undermines Conde's Bid to Revive Guinea

Jan 31, 2014 | Reuters

A surge in cocaine trafficking has transformed Guinea into West Africa's latest drug hot spot, jeopardizing President Alpha Conde's efforts to rebuild state institutions after…

Gaza Warned of Looming Water Crisis

Jan 30, 2014 | The Guardian

Residents of Tel Aviv will wake up in February to discover a huge hourglass full of polluted water standing in the city's central Rabin Square.…

Security Council Adopts Resolution 2136 (2014), Renewing Amocratic Republic of Congorms Embargo, Related Measures Imposed on De

Jan 30, 2014 | United Nations

The Security Council today renewed until 1 February 2015 the arms embargo and related sanctions imposed on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, also requesting the…

Peace on the ground, through ecological conservation

Jan 28, 2014 | The Jerusalem Post

To Prof. Saleem Ali, transforming a slab of greenery sandwiched between northern Israel and Jordan into a shared ecological park would be nothing less than…

Israeli-Palestinian Agreement on Water Within Sight

Jan 28, 2014 | International Institute for Sustainable Development

Many people have said that the last thing on which Israelis and Palestinians will be able to agree is fresh water.  They are very likely…

Security Council Grants Year-long Mandate Extension for United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Central African Republic

Jan 28, 2014 | United Nations

The Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in the Central African Republic (BINUCA) for one year today, deciding also…

Rebels in Syria Claim Control of Resources

Jan 28, 2014 | New York Times

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Islamist rebels and extremist groups have seized control of most of Syria’s oil and gas resources, a rare generator of cash in…

Côte d’Ivoire’s Great West: Key to Reconciliation

Jan 28, 2014 | International Crisis Group

Western Côte d’Ivoire’s land, security and identity problems make this vast border territory the country’s most unstable area. Reconciliation has yet to begin there and…

Oil price volatility undermines economic growth, says Sir David King

Jan 27, 2014 | The Guardian

Governments need to deter oil speculators, set aside reserves of crude oil and take steps urgently to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels in order…

WikiLeaks, Drought and Syria

Jan 21, 2014 | New York Times

In the 1970s, I got both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in modern Middle East studies, and I can assure you that at no time…

Machar Calls on S. Sudan to Recognise Abyei Referendum

Nov 14, 2013 | Sudan Tribune

November 14, 2013 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s deputy chairman of the ruling party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), Riek Machar Teny, has called on…

Igad Condemns Abyei Referendum

Nov 7, 2013 | Daily Nation

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) condemned a recent unilateral referendum on the final status of Abyei region, which is currently controlled by Sudan but…

On International Day, Ban calls for protection of natural resources in war-torn countries

Nov 6, 2013 | United Nations

World: Empowering Women in Natural Resource Management Critical for Lasting Peace in War-Torn Countries, Says UN Report

Nov 6, 2013 | UNEP

Geneva /New York/Nairobi, 6 November 2013 - Ensuring that women have better access to and control of natural resources such as land, water, forests and…

No Need to Dig: Many of Africa’s Fastest-growing Economies Have Not Relied on Oil or Mining

Nov 2, 2013 | The Economist

AFRICA is a continent rich in minerals and oil. China has an economy that requires them in abundance. Since the mid-1990s the economy of sub-Saharan…

Abyei opts to join South Sudan in unofficial referendum

Oct 31, 2013 | BBC News

Residents of the disputed region of Abyei have voted overwhelmingly to join South Sudan in an unofficial referendum.But the Arabic-speaking Misseriya nomadic community favouring union…

Burma’s Old Guard Clings to $8B Jade Empire

Sep 30, 2013 | The Irrawaddy

HPAKANT, Kachin State — Tin Tun picked all night through teetering heaps of rubble to find the palm-sized lump of jade he now holds in…

Syria: Drought Helped Cause Syria’s War. Will Climate Change Bring More Like It?

Sep 10, 2013 | Brad Plumer, Washington Post

Francesco Femia and Caitlin Werrell are co-founders of the D.C.-based Center for Climate and Security, a think tank focused on the interactions between climate change and security issues. In…

Q&A: Aynak and Mining in Afghanistan

Apr 2, 2013 | The World Bank

Aynak is a large undeveloped copper resource, located about 40 km southeast of Kabul in Afghanistan’s Logar province.  After a competitive bidding process, the government…

Afghanistan: Afghanistan's Forests a Casualty of Timber Smuggling

Mar 18, 2013 | Sean Carberry, WBFO

Despite Afghanistan's fierce winter, it's rare to find a house with insulation or a modern heating system. So Afghans rely on bukharis, stoves that look…

Afghanistan/Pakistan: Pakistan Had Buried the Nuclear Waste in Helmand and Kandahar

Oct 9, 2012 | Sobah 8

Experts from environment are saying that the government of Pakistan, after testing a nuclear bomb in Baluchistan in the 1999-2001, at the time of the…

Afghanistan Bright Spot: Wildlife Surviving in War Zones

Jun 12, 2011 | Brian Handwerk

Despite decades of deadly fighting among humans, many of Afghanistan's mammals are doing surprisingly well in the country's remaining forests, according to a new study.

Recent…

Afghanistan/Pakistan: Pakistan 'Dumped Nuclear Waste'

Apr 1, 2008 | Martin Vennard , BBC News

The Afghan government says it has evidence that nuclear waste from Pakistan was dumped in Afghanistan during the reign of the Taleban. Parliamentary affairs minster…