News

Climate Change: Obama Says Climate Change Is a Security Risk. Why Are Republicans Laughing?

Mar 21, 2016 | Keith Johnson, Foreign Policy

In the middle of January, Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work signed off on one of the potentially most significant, if little-noticed, orders in recent…

Iraq: Sadr Wants Iraqis to Get a Share of Country's Oil Revenue

Mar 21, 2016 | Reuters

Influential Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr urged followers demonstrating in Baghdad for a new government to also demand that politicians give every Iraqi a…

China/South China Sea: China's Short-Term Victory in the South China Sea

Mar 21, 2016 | Mira Rapp-Hooper, Foreign Affairs

The sands are quickly shifting in the South China Sea. New reports suggest that China may be preparing to conduct land reclamation at Scarborough Shoal,…

Iraq: Iraq Exports First Natural Gas Shipment in Its History

Mar 20, 2016 | Associated Press

Iraq on Sunday exported the first shipment of natural gas in its history, a key development for the OPEC member struggling to feed a cash-strapped…

India: Water Wars: Prohibitory Orders in Maharashtra's Latur Town to Avoid Violence over Water

Mar 20, 2016 | DNA India

Authorities in drought-hit Latur have imposed an order prohibiting the gathering of more than five persons in areas around 20 water storage tanks until May…

The Flash War of '74: China and Vietnam's South China Sea Showdown

Mar 19, 2016 | Harry J. Kazianis

While Asia watchers the world over debate China’s latest moves to transform the status-quo in the South China Sea one fake island at a time,…

Iraq/Kurdistan: On Iraq's Faultline: Kirkuk Governor Calls for Vote on Kurdish Autonomy

Mar 19, 2016 | Florian Neuhof, Middle East Eye

Territorial gains and the weakness of the government in Baghdad emboldened the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in its quest for an independent state. It is the…

Long-term Peace in Afghanistan will Remain Elusive Without Land Security

Mar 18, 2016 | Mehrab Masayeed Habib

Decades of war have ravaged Afghanistan’s natural environment. But even after the recent round of fighting comes to an end, the country will continue to…

What the Environmental Legacy of the Gulf War Should Teach Us

Mar 18, 2016 | Laurence Menhinick

February marked the 25th anniversary of the 1991 Gulf War’s end. The intensity and magnitude of the allied coalition’s offensive, followed by the systematic destruction…

Afghanistan: Operations Manager

Mar 18, 2016 | Sodevco

Liberia: Grand Gedeh Braces to End Land Crisis

Mar 18, 2016 | New Dawn Liberia

At least six towns and villages [out of nine] within B’hai and Gbao administrative districts, Gbarzon Statutory District, Grand Gedeh County have resolved to give…

Colombia: Colombian Land Mines Unearthed by Ground-Penetrating Radar

Mar 18, 2016 | Jack Loughran, Engineering and Technology Magazine

Ground-penetrating radar systems are being used to detect land mines in Columbia far more effectively than with traditional methods. German researchers from Ruhr University Bochum…

Algeria: Gas Facility in Algeria is Attacked with Rockets

Mar 18, 2016 | Associated Press

Unknown attackers fired rockets on Friday at a gas facility in the Sahara in Algeria, the energy companies Statoil and BP said. There were no…

South Sudan: South Sudan Fuel Crisis Crippling Services and Drivers

Mar 18, 2016 | Parach Mach, Anadolu Agency

Another widespread fuel shortage has hit South Sudan’s capital, Juba rendering institutions ineffective amid hyperinflation after the country’s central bank devalued the currency by about…

Calculating the Environmental Benefits of Peace in Colombia

Mar 17, 2016 | Doug Weir

Colombia’s environment has suffered widespread and severe damage as a result of half a century of armed conflict. With a peace agreement with FARC on…

Kurdistan/Iraq: Iraq Halts Exports through Pipeline to Pressure Kurds - Iraq Oil Report

Mar 17, 2016 | Maher Chmaytelli and Chris Reese, Reuters

Iraq's central government has stopped oil exports through the Kurdish region to pressure the local authorities to resume talks about an oil revenue sharing agreement,…

Colombia: 'FARC Frog' Caught up in Colombian Conflict

Mar 17, 2016 | Roser Toll, Agence France-Presse

The little green frog's natural camouflage reminded the professor who discovered it of the guerrilla fighters hiding out in the very same Colombian forest. Conservationists…

Somalia: Elephant in Stealth Mode: A Bull Named Morgan Survives Somali War Zone

Mar 17, 2016 | Jeffrey Gettleman, New York Times

Elephant experts in Kenya were excited recently by some rare good news: An elephant had crossed into Somalia — and survived. Somalia, one of the…

Five Years on: Lessons Learned from the Environmental Legacy of Syria’s War

Mar 16, 2016 | Wim Zwijnenburg

This week the Toxic Remnants of War Network commemorates the beginning of the conflict in Syria. The devastation wrought upon the country has cost the…

Colombia: Can Sustainable Farming Revive Colombia’s Former Killing Fields?

Mar 16, 2016 | Karen Tatiana Pardo, El Espectador

In what was once the setting of civil war and gangland murder, peasants in northern Colombia's Montes de María region are using sustainable farming practices…

South Sudan: South Sudan Army Says Land Grabbing Not Official Policy

Mar 16, 2016 | Sudan Tribune

South Sudan’s national army, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), has distanced itself from reports charging that some of its soldiers and officers have been…

Kurdistan: Iraq: Iraq Preparing to Push Islamic State Away from Oil Region: Report

Mar 16, 2016 | Reuters

Kurdish Peshmerga forces, an Iran-backed Shi'ite militia and Iraq's army will launch an offensive soon to push Islamic State fighters away from the northern oil…

Ethiopia/Egypt: Church Could Broker Peace in 'Water Wars' between Egypt and Ethiopia

Mar 16, 2016 | Mark Woods, Christian Today

Christians could play an important role in easing tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia, according to an Egyptian Coptic bishop. Tensions have risen between the two countries…

Syria: Syrian Kurds Hope to Establish a Federal Region in Country’s North

Mar 16, 2016 | Anne Barnard, New York Times

Syrian Kurdish parties are working on a plan to declare a federal region across much of northern Syria, several of their representatives said on Wednesday.…

Kabul Greenbelt Project aims to Restore some Luster to War-ravaged Capital – and Resilience too

Mar 15, 2016 | Elizabeth B. Hessami

It’s hard to imagine today, but Kabul was once ringed with grassy areas and shrubs, a few trees in areas too. Some of my husband’s…

Cambodia: Kingdom's Sugar Exports to EU Plummet

Mar 15, 2016 | Will Jackson, Phnom Penh Post

New figures show that Cambodia’s sugar exports to the European Union fell by 94.8 per cent between 2013 and 2015, amid accusations of rights abuses…

Myanmar: NLD under Pressure to Scrap Hydropower Projects

Mar 15, 2016 | Lun Min Mang, Myanmar Times

Huge hydropower projects along the Thanlwin River must be halted, civil society organisations said yesterday, in an appeal to the incoming National League for Democracy…

Sierra Leone & Liberia: Research Associate in Natural Resources and Development (Fixed-Term)

Mar 14, 2016 | University of Bath (Social & Policy Sciences)

Applications are invited for a full-time Research Associate to work on a project entitled, ‘Deepening governance and widening ‘spaces’ for change: community participation and natural resource…

Iraq: Iraq Runs out of Money to Take on Islamic State

Mar 13, 2016 | Richard Spencer, Telegraph

In the last two months, a new foe has reared its head. The collapse in the price of oil on the world markets, thanks to…

Myanmar: Associate

Mar 12, 2016 | Natural Resource Governance Institute

The Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) helps people to realize the benefits of their countries’ endowments of oil, gas and minerals. We do this through…