Blogs & Opinions

Where Water Security Begins

Mar 22, 2026 | Tetiana Tevkun

Climate change is making water one of the most vulnerable resources in the world. Even regions that were considered water‑secure just a few decades ago…

Unrecognised Environmental Costs of Conflict

Mar 20, 2026 | Syed Mohammad Ali

When assessing the costs of war, attention is typically directed toward human suffering, economic loss and geopolitical instability. Yet another major cost often goes unnoticed:…

ENMOD: Dodo, Dormant or Presciently Divine?

Mar 18, 2026 | Vanessa Murphy and Helen Obregón Gieseken

At the 34th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in October 2024, Nigeria and European Union Member States pledged, among other things,…

Don’t Lock in Future Fossil Fuel Insecurity in Response to the Iran War

Mar 18, 2026 | Grace Alexander

The Israeli-US war with Iran is disrupting global fossil fuel supply chains and, while states increasingly recognise that renewables reduce exposure to geopolitical shocks, there…

Women-led Peacebuilding

Mar 16, 2026 | Carlito G. Galvez Jr.
Manila Bulletin

When President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. stood before the United Nations General Assembly in New York City last March 10, he carried with him a clear…

Iraq’s Oil Paralysis: A Self-Inflicted Wound and a Gift to Tehran

Mar 16, 2026 | Yerevan Saeed

With the Strait of Hormuz closed and oil production from Iraq’s south in free fall, Baghdad’s failure to maximize the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline (ITP) is no…

Legal and Operational Issues in the Strait of Hormuz: Transit Passage Under Fire

Mar 15, 2026 | Mark Nevitt

The Strait of Hormuz — a narrow chokepoint through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil transits — is now an active conflict zone.…

In Context: Erika Weinthal and Jeannie Sowers on the Middle East Conflict’s Impacts on Civilian Infrastructure

Mar 11, 2026 | Stimson Center

Recent attacks on critical infrastructure in Iran and the Persian Gulf mark a troubling escalation in the widening regional conflict. Since the US and Israel…

After Oil, War of Water? Why Desalination Plants Are Turning into Targets in Middle East – Explained

Mar 9, 2026 | Times of India

The ongoing conflict in West Asia is entering a new phase as desalination plants, a key source of drinking water across the Gulf, begin to…

Climate, Conflict and Synthetic Fertilisers Are Sowing the Seeds of Instability

Mar 9, 2026 | Tom Nickson

As the latest rupture in an increasingly unstable geopolitical landscape, military strikes on Iran by the USA and Israel will likely increase pressure on the…

Broken Land Systems Risk Liberia’s Future

Mar 9, 2026 | New Dawn

Land disputes in Liberia have reached alarming levels, threatening not only the nation’s social stability but also its economic development prospects. The failure to address…

What International Law Says about the Israeli Strikes on Iranian Oil Facilities

Mar 9, 2026 | Saeed Bagheri

Israeli strikes targeted oil facilities near the Iranian capital of Tehran over the weekend. Two oil refineries, both of which had been attacked by Israel…

Black Rain: The Health and Environmental Risks from Tehran’s Oil Fires

Mar 9, 2026 | Conflict and Environment Observatory

Overnight on the 7-8th of March, the Israeli-US war against Iran saw a significant escalation as Israel targeted Iran’s oil infrastructure. Israel reportedly attacked more…

Why Women Are Central to Resilient Food Systems

Mar 9, 2026 | Mcallejas
CIMMYT

As climate change, economic instability, and biodiversity loss place increasing pressure on global food systems, building resilience has become an urgent priority. But resilience is…

Towards Safer Engagement with Women Peacebuilders

Mar 8, 2026 | Berghof Foundation
Berghof Foundation

This International Women’s Day, we highlight a vital but often overlooked connection: the link between women’s participation in peace processes and mental health and psychosocial…

Middle East Conflict Carries Significant Environmental and Ecological Consequences for Small States Such as Ours

Mar 6, 2026 | Stabroek News

Escalating tensions involving the United States of America, Israel, and Iran may seem geographically distant from Guyana. Yet in an interconnected global system, war in…

The Climate Briefing: The Future of Climate Diplomacy 4: Laurence Tubiana

Mar 5, 2026 | Chris Aylett and Laurence Tubiana

What are the most important changes the Paris Agreement has brought about? How should the COP process evolve? And why does geoengineering need to be…

As the Gulf Conflict Widens, So Does Its Environmental Footprint

Mar 4, 2026 | Daniel Cressey

On 28 February, the latest escalation between the US, Israel and Iran moved from threats to open strikes, plunging the Gulf region into crisis. Missiles…

Nature, Peace and Security: Too Important to Leave to Governments

Mar 2, 2026 | Doug Weir

The message is clear, the UK’s spooks have consulted with experts and concluded that global biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse are a serious threat to…

Addressing the Root Causes of the DRC Conflict

Feb 27, 2026 | Vuyisile J.S. Radebe

The DRC conflict has been going on for decades. Thousands of innocent lives have been lost while scores of women, children and the elderly have…

Groundwater and the Horn’s Climate Security Future: From Technical Resource to Strategic Asset

Feb 27, 2026 | Kidus Tesfaye

The Horn of Africa’s climate debate is often framed above ground: failed rains, drying rivers, shrinking pastures, emergency relief corridors, and displacement flows. But one…

The New Age of Resource Competition Needs Transparency

Feb 27, 2026 | Helen Clark and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

As countries scramble to secure the minerals needed for clean energy, digital technologies, AI, and defense industries, the new era of resource competition implies both…

Current Geopolitics Shift Deep-Sea Mining Debates

Feb 26, 2026 | Mahlet Mesfin

If anyone needed a signal of global interest in critical minerals and supply chains, the events in Washington DC earlier this month offered a clear…

Liberia’s Emerging Carbon Credit Sector: A Path Toward Climate Resilience, Economic Growth, and Sustainable Development

Feb 26, 2026 | Matthew Sieh Wisseh

Liberia, endowed with one of West Africa’s last vast rainforest ecosystems and significant coastal Blue Carbon resources, is moving decisively toward establishing a functional carbon…

The Environmental Peacebuilding Association: Year in Review and What’s Ahead

Feb 25, 2026 | Karishma Goswami and Madeleine Loll

With a reduction in capacity of bilateral and multilateral institutions and a broader political retreat from environmental protection and peacebuilding, environmental peacebuilding reached a turning…

Syria’s Environmental Woes Fueled Its Long Conflict. Left Unaddressed, They Will Do So Again

Feb 23, 2026 | Peter Schwartzstein

Peter Schwartzstein recently returned to Syria for his first peacetime visit. Unsurprisingly, the country is an awful mess. The destruction is somehow slightly more conspicuous…

The Converging Threats of Climate Change and War in Sudan

Feb 23, 2026 | Haley Schuler-McCoin and Mahitab Mahgoub

Environmental disasters affected hundreds of thousands of people in Sudan in 2025, and will only worsen in the coming years, with parts of the country…

Water as a Weapon: The New Frontier of an Old Conflict

Feb 22, 2026 | Muhammad Mohsin Iqbal

Parallel to the theatre of arms has been the subtler but no less consequential arena of water. The Indus basin is the lifeblood of Pakistan’s…

Kordofan and Blue Nile’s Quiet Battles: The Geopolitics of Resources behind Sudan’s Civil War

Feb 20, 2026 | Fernando Carvajal

Tens of thousands of people have been killed, and millions displaced, but this is only part of the story. Every morning, there is fear of…

The Indus Waters Treaty at Crossroads: Implications for Regional Peace & the Path Forward

Feb 20, 2026 | Mohammad Ishaq Rahman

The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) of 1960 stands as one of the most significant achievements in transboundary water cooperation globally. Brokered by the World Bank…