News


Congo: 'We Are Fighters, Too'

Mar 7, 2019 | Allison Shelley

Since the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide fled into eastern Congo, the region has been consumed by war. Armed groups proliferated, some from Rwanda…


Armenia: "Armenia Has To Stop Using Water As a Political Tool Against Azerbaijan"-Anastasia Lavrina

Mar 7, 2019

During the 40th Regular Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, assistant to President of the International Eurasian Press Fund (IEPF), political analyst Anastasia…


Women Underrepresented in Formal Peace Process, Study Finds

Mar 7, 2019 | Nyein Nyein

YANGON—More than 670 women are contributing to peace building in Myanmar, representing nearly 400 organizations, but only about one quarter of them serve as delegates…


Governing the Ayeyarwady

Mar 6, 2019 | Joern Kristensen

The continuing conundrum over Myitsone, concern among farmers over river bank erosion in the dry zone and the delta and reports of declining riverine resources…


Afghanistan: 'Chilling Reality': Afghanistan Suffers Worst Floods in Seven Years

Mar 6, 2019 | Haroon Janjua and Karen McVeigh, Guardian

Afghanistan has been hit with the worst flooding in seven years, with 20 dead, thousands of homes swept away and many families, already displaced by…


Sahel: Persistent Needs in Sahel, Conflict Driving Massive Displacement

Mar 6, 2019 | UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, World Food Programme, and Save the Children

Top United Nations and non-governmental aid officials today sounded the alarm over rising conflict and insecurity that have accelerated forced displacement across the Sahel, where…


Afghanistan: USAID Improves Livelihoods for Afghan Women through Credit Shura

Mar 6, 2019 | ReliefWeb

Balkh, Afghanistan – One of the most difficult challenges for female farmers and women who operate agriculture-related businesses in Afghanistan is access to credit. In…


Iraq: After IS, Mosul Tackles another Terror: Super-Resistant Bacteria

Mar 6, 2019 | Maya Gebeily, Agence France-Presse

Doctors around the globe are sounding the alarm over bacterial infections immune to modern medicine, but their prevalence in Mosul -- where thousands of patients…


A History of U.S. Defense, Intelligence and Security Assessments of Climate Change

Mar 5, 2019 | Peter H. Gleick

In March 2019, the Trump Administration announced they were considering creating an ad hoc White House panel to dispute a long-series of national assessments of…


'Greening the Desert': What Drives Militants' Environmentalism?

Mar 5, 2019 | Austin Bodetti, New Arab

Though al-Qaeda would appear to have little in common with the likes of the Earth Liberation Army and the Earth Liberation Front, it apparently shares…


Myanmar: Mandalay Starts to Streamline Land Records

Mar 5, 2019 | Phyo Wai Kyaw, Myanmar Times

The Mandalay City Development Committee (MCDC) has begun streamlining land records such as maps, surveys and title deeds, to be in line with rules and…


Myanmar: Naga Women in Myanmar Dream of Inheriting Land

Mar 5, 2019 | Morung Express

In November 2014, the Conference of Naga Nationals adopted a resolution that committed the indigenous Naga people in Myanmar to the Convention on the Elimination…


South Sudan: UN Accuses Oil Firms of Fuelling Armed Conflict in South Sudan

Mar 5, 2019 | Kevin J. Kelley, East African

Transnational oil-production companies controlled by Asian interests have been complicit in South Sudan government military offensives that involved killings of civilians. "There has been a…


Iraq: CPECC Agrees to Build Natural Gas Liquids Plant in Iraq

Mar 5, 2019 | Michael Marray, Asset

China Petroleum Engineering and Construction Corporation (CPECC) and Basra Gas Company (BGC) have signed a contract to build a natural gas liquids (NGL) plant in…


Climate Change: The Urgency of Tackling Climate-Related Security Risk in Africa

Mar 4, 2019 | KAD Africana

The African Union Peace and Security Council has been commended for dedicating its 828th session to climate change. During an open session on the theme:…


Myanmar: Myanmar ups Efforts to Save Marine, Wildlife

Mar 4, 2019 | Myanmar Times

“Life below water: for people and planet” was the theme of World Wildlife Day 2019, which was celebrated on Sunday to raise awareness about the world’s…


DRC: DRC President, Felix Tshisekedi, Ambiguous on Application of New Mining Code

Mar 4, 2019 | Miningmx

Felix Tshisekedi, the newly elected president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), gave mixed messages on how he would implement a recently promulgated mining…


Why Do People in Resource-Rich Iraq Protest?

Mar 3, 2019 | Nazli Tarzi

There appears to be little agreement among spectators over the motives and demands driving Iraq’s protest movement, which has grown in since late 2011. What…


Afghanistan: Heavy Rains, Floods Kill 20 Afghans

Mar 3, 2019 | DTN Progressive Farmer

A UN humanitarian agency says at least 20 people died as heavy rains and flooding over the past few days swept away their homes and…


Iraq: Iraq State Company Denies Shiite Militia Smuggling Mosul Oil

Mar 2, 2019 | Rudaw

Iraq’s North Oil Company (NOC) denied on Sunday that Shiite militia groups were smuggling oil from Nineveh to Syria and Iran, saying that the company…


Guatemala: Women Land Defenders Face 'Extreme Criminalisation', Added Risks

Mar 2, 2019 | Anna-Cat Brigida

El Estor, Guatemala - Since her teen years, Maria Magdalena Cuc Choc, now 39, has defended the natural resources of El Estor, a predominantly Mayan…


New Study on Infrastructure Damage in Gaza and the West Bank

Mar 1, 2019 | Leonie Nimmo

The targeting of water, energy, and agricultural infrastructure has created vulnerability and undermined livelihoods in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, according to a study…


In Search of Environmental Security at UNEA-4

Mar 1, 2019 | Doug Weir

The UN Environment Assembly (UNEA), which aims to be the leading body for the environment in the UN system, was established in 2012 by converting…


Myanmar: Myanmar Land Ownership Law Could Displace Millions of Farmers

Mar 1, 2019 | Peter Yeung and Carlotta Dotto, Deutsche Welle

Under a land reformation act, millions of farmers across Myanmar could be forced from land they have tilled for generations. Many are unaware of the…


Myanmar: Understand Customary System before Implementing Laws

Mar 1, 2019 | Morung Express

In 2014, the residents of Somra, a Naga village in Myanmar, found a new signboard posted on the side of the road inside the community…


Disputes over Water Will Be an Increasing Source of International Tension

Feb 28, 2019 | Economist

It has become a cliché of doom-mongering: future wars will be over water. The forecast is old enough to face a sceptical backlash. Whatever happened,…


Myanmar: Land Legacies, Segregation Could Deter Rakhine Investment Push

Feb 28, 2019 | Thompson Chau, Myanmar Times

The State Counsellor called for investments “implemented with responsibility” as a crucial force in “putting Rakhine’s development trajectory on track” at a Japan-sponsored investment forum…


Somalia: Set of Milestones to Meet Somalia’s Obligations under Environmental Conventions Agreed at a High-Level Meeting in Mogadishu

Feb 28, 2019 | UNDP

A set of milestones to meet three Rio Conventions on climate change, biodiversity and desertification were agreed at a high-level environment meeting this month, which was…


Myanmar: Mandalay to Debate Effort to Resolve Land-Ownership Issues

Feb 27, 2019 | Phyo Wai Kyaw, Myanmar Times

The Mandalay Region hluttaw (parliament) will debate a proposal to give title deeds to people who have lived for a long time on land that does…


Myanmar: Recognize Our Customary Tenure and Rights: Nagas to Myanmar Govt

Feb 27, 2019 | Morung Express

Indigenous Naga communities in Myanmar have called upon the Government of Myanmar to recognize “the customary tenure system and respect their rights to own, use…