Blogs & Opinions

We Have Money to Fight Climate Change. It's Just That We're Spending it on Defense.

Oct 8, 2016 | Kenneth Pennington

Climate change poses imminent threat to global and national security. CIA analysts and our nation’s military strategists are rightfully naming it as a contributor to…

Rights for Indigenous and Afro-Colombian Communities are Crucial for Colombia’s Peace

Oct 7, 2016 | Omaira Bolaños

The Nobel Peace Prize, awarded to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santosfor his efforts in ending a more than 50-year-long civil war, serves as a reminder that…

Do the ILC’s Draft Principles on Remnants and Data Sharing Reflect State Practice?

Oct 6, 2016 | Doug Weir

A new report from PAX and ICBUW on the legacy of depleted uranium use in the 2003 Iraq War could help inform the debate initiated…

Combat vs. Climate

Oct 5, 2016 | Miriam Pemberton

Our military calls climate change "an urgent and growing threat to our national security, contributing to increased natural disasters, refugee flows, and conflicts over basic…

As Colombia Pursues Peace, Nature Could be Powerful Bridge

Sep 30, 2016 | Molly Bergen

On October 2, Colombian voters will vote on a historic peace deal between the government and rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (known by their…

Myanmar’s Forests Face Myriad Problems as Logging Ban Continues

Sep 29, 2016 | Jennifer Rigby

Between 1990 and 2015, Myanmar lost nearly 15 million hectares of forest and other wooded land. Since 2010, half a million hectares of forest has…

Sierra Leone's Farmers Continue to Fight Multinational Land Grabs

Sep 28, 2016 | Silas Gbandia

A former member of Sierra Leone’s parliament has spoken of his determination to put an end to what he describes as the “underhand deals” taking…

It’s Not Funded Just by Oil and Looting. How the Islamic State Uses Agriculture.

Sep 27, 2016 | Eckart Woertz and Hadi Jaafar

The Islamic State has repeatedly made headlines for commandeering and profiting from the region’s oil. Less attention has been paid to its use of another…

What is Nigeria’s “Third Conflict”?

Sep 26, 2016 | E.A.D.W.

Last week armed men attacked a community in Enugu, a state in Nigeria’s south-east. Local press reported that they kidnapped two villagers and that another…

Editorial: Climate Security, Err … National Change

Sep 23, 2016 | Tim Wiederaenders

The White House on Wednesday published a presidential memorandum setting up a timetable for more than 20 federal agencies to come up with a plan…

Water Wars: Unease in the South China Sea—New Normal or Quiet before the Storm?

Sep 23, 2016 | Chris Mirasola

Updated satellite imagery from Google Earth revealed four new concrete structures on Taiwan-controlled Taiping Island (Itu Aba). Taiping Island is the largest maritime feature in the South…

'We Are Revolutionaries': Villagers Fight to Protect Myanmar's Forests

Sep 23, 2016 | Katie Arnold

U Ye Aung spent most of his adult life in a war zone. For over 60 years his village of Kalaikyi served as the frontline…

UN Special Rapporteur Calls for Action on TRW to Protect Children

Sep 23, 2016 | Wim Zwijnenburg

This month, Baskut Tuncak, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and toxics, presented the findings of his report on the effects of hazardous substances on the lives of children…

Our Take: New Intelligence and Presidential Memos on Climate Change and National Security

Sep 22, 2016 | Caitlin Werrell and Francesco Femia in Climate and Security

On September 21, 2016, the Obama Administration made two significant announcements related to climate change and national security – one which highlights the latest intelligence…

White House Announces Steps to Address Climate and National Security Alongside New Intelligence Assessment

Sep 22, 2016 | Schuyler Null, Cara Thuringer, and Lauren Herzer Risi

Yesterday afternoon President Obama announced a new Presidential Memorandum on climate change and national security. The policy directs 20 federal agencies to consider the national security implications…

Proposed Sale of Timber from Palm Oil Concession Sparks Alarm in Liberia

Sep 21, 2016 | Jeremy Hance

In July, news leaked out that Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority (FDA) was considering a new regulation to allow timber logged from palm oil and other plantations to…

Myanmar: The Next Great Land Tenure Reform?

Sep 20, 2016 | Roy Prosterman

Since World War II, there have been five great Asian development success stories founded upon land tenure reforms that allocated land ownership, or equivalent long-term…

Major Water Disputes Are Often beyond War and Peace

Sep 19, 2016 | Filippo Menga and The London Water Research Group

Early this June, the Israeli government cut off drinking water to people living in the Salfit region of the West Bank and three villages east of Nablus.…

Forests in Colombia Fall Victim to Illegal Coca Plantations

Sep 16, 2016 | María Lourdes Zimmermann

The illicit cultivation of coca leaf in Colombia grew by 39 percent between 2014 and 2015, from 69,000 to 96,000 hectares. According to the United Nations…

America the Plunderer

Sep 16, 2016 | Timothy Egan

As with everything in Trump’s world, his solution is simple: loot and pilfer. “Take the oil,” said Trump. He was referring to Iraq, post-invasion. And…

Can International Cooperation Revitalize Wetlands on Afghanistan-Iran Border?

Sep 15, 2016 | Fatemeh Aman

Efforts to revive the Hamoun wetlands on the Iran-Afghanistan border are intensifying. A recent panel at the Atlantic Council described international involvement as vital both to…

China, the Underdog Now, Will Work with Vietnam on Sea Dispute

Sep 14, 2016 | Ralph Jennings

Senior officials from China and Vietnam, never friends and even less so over the past two years, vowed this week to work more together – substantially…

Trump’s ‘Take Iraq’s Oil’ Isn’t a New Idea. Here’s Why It Won’t Work.

Sep 13, 2016 | Emily Meierding

During NBC’s Commander-in-Chief Forum last week, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump proposed an unusual policy for dealing with Iraq: “Take the oil.” When host Matt Lauer asked…

Intel Ad Campaign Highlights Importance of Supply Chain Responsibility

Sep 9, 2016 | Lewis Golove

The past two decades in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been characterized by civil war and mass atrocity, the staging ground of “Africa’s…

Water Wars: Series of Summits Highlights Persistent Divisions in the South China Sea

Sep 9, 2016 | Chris Mirasola

Staircase snubs notwithstanding, world leaders traded familiar talking points at this year’s G-20 Summit in Hangzhou, China. President Barack Obama stated that China should “abide by international law” and warned…

Afghanistan: Mineral-Rich, Conflict Torn Electronics Treasure Trove

Sep 6, 2016 | Jennifer Baljko

Besides oil, gas, and minerals such as as gold, copper and tantalum, a 2010, New York Times article cited an internal Pentagon memo stating that Afghanistan was…

Report Highlights Health and Environmental Impact of Makeshift Oil Refineries in Syria

Sep 5, 2016 | Doug Weir

Many Syrian civilians have begun refining oil due to the drastic decline in production by professional oil refineries in Syria. The conditions in these makeshift…

Climate Change, Arctic Security, and Methane Risks

Sep 5, 2016 | Chad Briggs

Over the past year, the climate risks of methane (CH4) released from natural sources have attracted increasing media attention in scientific and media forums as…

This Precious Resource Leads to Most Wars and Armed Conflicts and Things Are Only Getting Worse

Sep 5, 2016 | Benedict Brook

Armed conflicts are usually seen as falling into one of very few categories; capturing territory, a political ideology attempting to dominate another or, simply, for…

RGS Annual Conference 2016

Sep 4, 2016 | Becca Farnum

The RGS Annual Conference 2016 took place this week at the Royal Geographical Society and included a session on "Environmental Peacebuilding: The Peace-Environment-Conflict Nexus (2): Nature…