Blogs & Opinions

Kurdistan’s Oil Lifeline at Risk as Baghdad Payments Fall Short Again

Jan 20, 2026 | Simon Watkins

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) is once again edging toward a fiscal breaking point. Officials in its Erbil-based semi-autonomous regional government (KRG) say they…

Gold in Sudan: The Resource That Never Became Wealth — A Vast Asset with No Developmental Impact

Jan 19, 2026 | Mohannad Awad Mahmoud

Since Sudan lost the bulk of its oil revenues following South Sudan’s secession in 2011, gold has become the country’s most important source of foreign…

Wars over Resources: A Persistent Driver of Security and Conflict

Jan 19, 2026 | Michał Zgórzak

From the perspective of security studies, wars rarely originate in abstract ideas or ideological declarations. More often, they emerge from material constraints: shortages of water,…

India’s Indus Gamble: How Water Is Becoming a Strategic Weapon in South Asia

Jan 16, 2026 | Saima Afzal

India’s approval of the 260-megawatt (MW) Dulhasti Stage-II hydropower project on the Chenab River marks more than an incremental expansion of infrastructure. It reflects a deeper transformation…

In the Race for DRC’s Critical Minerals, Community Forests Stand on the Frontline

Jan 16, 2026 | Didier Makal and Latoya Abulu

Ten years ago, the displacement of nearby famers from the villages of Bungubungu and Shilasimba by Société d’Exploitation de Kipoi (SEK), a company owned by…

State Fragility and Cascading Climate Risks

Jan 15, 2026 | Kathryn Cheeseman

The world is experiencing more conflict now than since 1946. State fragility, peace and security are increasingly at the forefront of development policy, which is…

The Middle East’s Next War Will Be over Water

Jan 15, 2026 | Jose Lev Alvarez Gomez

The Middle East is not running out of slogans. It is running out of water. And while pundits remain hypnotized by manifestos, missiles, and terrorist…

'Blood Minerals' in DR Congo - Myth or Reality?

Jan 14, 2026 | Alex Mvuka Ntung

“Blood minerals” in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) commonly refer to tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold (3TG). A widely promoted narrative, advanced…

Unearthing Power: Will the DRC Break Free of the “Resource Curse?”

Jan 13, 2026 | Diego Tobon

Explore how the Democratic Republic of the Congo can escape the resource curse and turn its mineral-rich geology into leverage in the global green transition,…

Afghanistan: Afghanistan’s Mines Fuel the War Economy

Jan 13, 2026 | Asif Zaeer Gondal

Recent accounts of Afghanistan’s war driven economy point to an alarming reality. Control over mineral resources has become a means of coercion and financing for…

Russia’s War on Ukrainian Farmers Threatens Global Food Security

Jan 8, 2026 | Oleksandr Tolokonnikov

Over the past year, Russian attacks on Ukraine’s agricultural sector have escalated alarmingly. According to research conducted by the University of Strasbourg, the University of…

The Grammar of Rivers: Choosing Cooperation over Conflict in the Indus

Jan 6, 2026 | Rajeev Kumar Jha

Geography and its ecosystems uniquely shape the connections and boundaries that define regions. While society may seek to define itself through religion, culture, language, race,…

Liberia: COP30 - a Turning Point Missed - and a Line Drawn for Frontline Women Defenders

Jan 2, 2026 | Radiatu H. S. Kahnplaye Gai
allAfrica

Monrovia — COP30 has come and gone in Belém, Brazil--another global climate summit marked by lofty promises and limited political courage.

The declarations were bold, the…

South Sudan: Oil Money without Consequences: Why the US Call Will Not Move South Sudan’s Regime

Jan 2, 2026 | Duop Chak Wuol

The US Embassy’s New Year statement on South Sudan’s oil revenues, as reported by Radio Tamazuj, is framed as a principled appeal for peace, accountability, and…

Weaponising Water: India’s Brazen Breach of the Indus Waters Treaty

Jan 2, 2026 | Majid Nabi Burfat

Weaponizing water is tantamount to an act of war— not because of rhetoric, but because water sustains life, food, energy and social stability. This stark…

Commentary: Pakistan-Afghanistan Border Clash Could Turn into a Wider Water Crisis

Dec 22, 2025 | Amit Ranjan and Genevieve Donnellon-May

With India suspending the Indus Waters Treaty and Afghanistan planning to build a dam on the Kunar River, Pakistan has reason to be anxious.

Escalating Tension: The Farmer Herder Clash in Nigeria

Dec 20, 2025 | Longbakwa Kevin Maiyaki

The farmer-herder conflict in Nigeria results in high fatality rates and the displacement of millions, with over 1.3 million people forced into IDP camps as…

Underwater Cities: Climate Change Meets Governance Crisis in Iraqi Kurdistan

Dec 17, 2025 | Farhad Mamshai

When floods struck the Kurdistan region of Iraq earlier this month, it was a deluge that demonstrated how fragmented governance and weak state capacity can…

How Climate Change Could Help Foster Peace in Yemen

Dec 17, 2025 | Tareq Hassan

Yemen’s tragedy is traditionally depicted through the limited perspective of humanitarian need and political divisiveness, but there is a greater existential crisis that is not…

Winter in Afghanistan: Women and Girls in the Front Line as Hunger Deepens

Dec 16, 2025 | Peyvand Khorsandi
World Food Programme

As winter sets in across Afghanistan, so does dread. “There’s usually a peak in child mortality in December and January, even in a good year,…

The Real Reason behind US Resuming Iraqi Kurdistan Oil Imports

Dec 15, 2025 | Simon Watkins

An oil tanker carrying crude from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) unloaded its cargo at a US port at the very end of last…

The Intersection of Transboundary Water Conflicts and Human Rights

Dec 14, 2025 | Sharmista Banik

When the United Nations General Assembly, in 2010, affirmed that 'the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation' (Resolution 64/292) is a human…

How RSF’s Seizure of Heglig Oil Field Threatens the Two Sudans

Dec 10, 2025 | John Bith Aliap

The Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) capture of the Heglig oil field represents one of the most consequential moments in the Sudanese conflict since the fall…

Environmental Peacebuilding 31Years Strong

Dec 9, 2025 | Gidon Bromberg

This week, thirty-one years ago, Jordanian, Palestinian, and Israeli environmentalists came together on the Red Sea in Taba, Egypt, to create EcoPeace Middle East.

Water Conflicts Surge Globally: A Conversation on Rising Threats

Dec 4, 2025 | Madelyn MacMurray

Events over this past year have made water’s role in global conflicts increasingly salient. India threatened to restrict water flows to Pakistan in response to…

As Solar Geoengineering Enters its Startup Phase, Governments Must Address Emerging Security Risks

Dec 2, 2025 | Scott M. Moore and Imran Bayoumi

Just decades ago, the idea of artificially cooling the planet to help fight climate change was viewed as science fiction. But as climate change impacts…

Water and Power: The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and Nile Basin Security

Dec 1, 2025 | Chourouk Mestour

When Ethiopia began filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in 2020, the dispute between Ethiopia and Egypt over the GERD and the Nile Basin…

Evidencing a Recovery Plan for Black Sea Dolphins and Porpoises

Dec 1, 2025 | Linas Svolkinas

Many human activities pose threats to cetaceans, including military activities. Russia’s war against Ukraine is no exception and there are significant concerns over its impact…

Monitoring Sudan’s Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining from Space

Nov 30, 2025 | Jonathan Walsh

Gold is helping fuel the war in Sudan, and its extraction is causing environmental degradation and chemical pollution that threatens human health.

Sustainability in the Wake of the Colombian Armed Conflict

Nov 30, 2025 | Ash Fowkes-Gajan

In the Colombian armed conflict, land ownership and agricultural strongholds for rebel forces were a form of political power. The peace owed to the 2016…