News


Iraq/Islamic State: Iraq PM Says Turkey Main Conduit for Islamic State Oil-Smuggling

Dec 7, 2015 | Ahmed Rasheed, Reuters

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Monday that most of the oil produced in Islamic State-held territory in Iraq and Syria was being smuggled…


Colombia: Arrests Point to Urabeños' Evolving Role in Colombia's Illegal Mining

Dec 7, 2015 | Michael Lohmuller, InSight Crime

Authorities in Colombia have dismantled a network of illegal mining operators allegedly working for drug trafficking group the Urabeños, providing further evidence of how the…


Consultant - Study on Women's Economic Empowerment in (Post) Crisis Settings

Dec 6, 2015 | UNDP

Women’s Economic Empowerment is a key dimension of women’s empowerment, and is the focus of attention of both the gender cluster and the sustainable development…


Myanmar: Country Programme Officer

Dec 6, 2015 | International Fund for Agricultural Development, UNDP

Based in Naypyidaw and under the overall supervision of the Country Programme Manager (CPM), the Country Programme Officer (CPO) for Myanmar will represent IFAD on…


Mozambique: Disaster Risk Resilient Livelihoods Recovery in Gaza Province - Conduct Final Evaluation

Dec 6, 2015 | UNDP

In response to the devastating floods that hit Mozambique from January to February 2013, UNDP Mozambique launched a two year project in support of disaster…


DRC: US Forest Service National Coordinator

Dec 6, 2015 | USAID

Management and Engineering Technologies International, Inc. (METI), in collaboration with the US Forest Service, as a part of the US Agency for International Development’s Central…


Liberia: As They Abandon Barren Land, Farmers Take Problems with Them

Dec 6, 2015 | Megan Rowling, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Creeping deserts, loss of trees, barren soils and water shortages are pushing poor farmers off their land from Africa to Latin America, forcing people to…


Mexico: Brutal Cartels Fight over Mexico's 'Conflict-Free' Gold Revenues

Dec 6, 2015 | Frank Jack Daniel, Anahi Rama, and Lizbeth Diaz, Reuters

Heroin traffickers linked to the abduction and disappearance of 43 students a year ago are battling over millions of dollars paid by Canadian mining giant…


Environmental Protection and Non-State Armed Groups: Setting a Place at the Table for the Elephant in the Room

Dec 4, 2015 | Jonathan Somer

In this blog, consultant Jonathan Somer begins to explore the terra incognita of current efforts to strengthen legal protection for the environment in relation to armed…


Vietnam/South China Sea: Vietnam Launches Investigation into Killing of Fisherman in Disputed Waters

Dec 4, 2015 | Koel Chu, Hong Kong Free Press

Vietnamese officials have begun an investigation into the death of a fisherman who was shot in disputed waters in the South China Sea. Sources claim that…


Water Wars: Water Wars at Core of ISIS, Syria, Israel-Palestine and Other Conflicts Reports Fresh Water Advocate Sharon Kleyne

Dec 4, 2015 | PRWeb

Water, not oil or gold, is the world’s most precious commodity. Water not only keeps every living organism alive, it is the basis for all…


Iraq/Syria/Islamic State: Islamic State’s Moneymaking Streams Take a Hit as It Loses Territory

Dec 4, 2015 | Hugh Naylor, Washington Post

By most estimates, the Islamic State is the world’s richest terrorist organization. But it appears to be wrestling with money problems that could affect its…


Peru: Illegal Gold Miners in Madre de Dios, Peru, Paralyze the Region with Protests

Dec 4, 2015 | Ruxandra Guidi, Mongabay

Since November 23, the southeastern region of Madre de Dios in Peru has been paralyzed by street protests, road blockades, and tire burnings. Hundreds of…


Water, Wars and an Uncertain Future

Dec 2, 2015 | Sundeep Waslekar

In its Blue Peace report, published in February 2011, Strategic Foresight Group proposed several solutions to use water as an instrument of peace and prosperity…


Liberia: Taylor Land Dispute - Several Jailed in Tussle - Police Wounded

Dec 2, 2015 | Bettie K. Johnson Mbayo, FrontPageAfrica

Former Liberian President Charles Ghankay Taylor who is currently serving 50 years sentence in The Hague has requested the court to grant him damages on…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraqi Kurds Make $3.29bn from Direct Oil Sales

Dec 2, 2015 | Agence France-Presse

Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region said Tuesday it has made more than $3.29 billion in revenues since June from direct oil export sales that the country’s…


Iraq/Syria/Islamic State: Maps Reveal Chain of ISIS Oil Smuggling Routes from Syria and Iraq into Turkey. Russian Defense Ministry

Dec 2, 2015 | Global Research

Russia’s Defense Ministry published images and a map it says reveal a chain of oil smuggling to Turkey from Islamic State – from extraction to…


Iraq/Turkey/Islamic State: Iraq to File Complaint against Turkey if Daesh-Ankara Oil Trade Confirmed

Dec 2, 2015 | PressTV

Baghdad says it will lodge a formal lawsuit against Ankara with the United Nations Security Council if claims are proved right that the Turkish government is…


EnPAx Icon Environmental Peacebuilding Research Volunteers Needed

Dec 1, 2015 | ELI & UNEP

The Environmental Law Institute (ELI), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the University of Tokyo, and McGill University seek Visiting Attorneys, Visiting Researchers, and Research…


Climate Change Is a National Security Problem

Dec 1, 2015 | Chuck Hagel

It is remarkable that French security forces are taking on the international climate change conference in Paris in the shadow of the recent attacks. Then,…


Gender Equality Is Central to Effective Climate Action

Dec 1, 2015 | Melanne Verveer and Mary Robinson

As the nations of the world meet in Paris to address climate change, it is critical that women play a central role in these historic…


Sierra Leone: AWDC Issues Alert over Fake Sierra Leone KP Certificate

Dec 1, 2015 | David Brummer, IDEX

The Antwerp World Diamond Center’s (AWDC) Diamond Office has alerted the Kimberley Process (KP) about the discovery of a false KP certificate from Sierra Leone.…


South Sudan: Bishops Call on South Sudan Government, Oil Companies to Clean up Pariang Spills

Dec 1, 2015 | Radio Tamazuj

The Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan has appealed to the government of South Sudan and oil companies to deal with the oil spills…


The ECC Factbook Illustrates How the Environment Can Contribute to Peace and Conflict

Nov 30, 2015 | Johannes Ackva & Benjamin Pohl

In his speech on climate change and national security on November 10, Secretary of State John Kerry said climate change is already a “threat multiplier,”…


Algeria/Iraq/Libya/Nigeria/Venezuela: Oil Plunge Raises Fears of Societal Unrest

Nov 30, 2015 | Elizabeth MacDonald, FOXBusiness

With Wall Street shops like Goldman Sachs and government officials in Venezuela signaling oil could go to the mid-$20 per barrel range next year,…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Dana Gas Group Awarded $1.98 Billion in Iraq Kurds Dispute

Nov 29, 2015 | Arif Sharif, World Oil

Dana Gas said a court has ordered the Kurdistan Regional Government to pay it and two other energy companies $1.98 billion in a dispute over…


Climate Change: Meet the Woman Whose Two-Word Catchphrase Made the Military Care about Climate

Nov 29, 2015 | Dan Vergano, BuzzFeed

In 2006, as war mounted in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. military began to see the human costs of climate extremes. As drought hit Afghanistan,…


Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone Villagers Sue Mining Company in London High Court

Nov 29, 2015 | Lisa O'Carroll, The Guardian

An iron ore firm once listed in London is being sued in a multimillion pound lawsuit over evictions and alleged violent treatment of workers and…


Timor-Leste: Maritime Arrangements and Timor-Leste’s Oil Ploy

Nov 28, 2015 | Hamish McDonald, Saturday Paper

Who owns the petroleum resources of Tasi Mane is now the subject of diplomatic and legal machismo in a dispute between Timor-Leste and its much…


South Sudan: What Steps are Needed to Create 28 States in South Sudan?

Nov 28, 2015 | Radio Tamazuj

The proposal by South Sudan's President Salva Kiir to create 28 new states in place of the 10 existing states requires practical as well as…