Blogs & Opinions

When Climate Becomes a National Security Blind Spot

May 25, 2026 | Nigel Savage

At the very moment when climate risks are accelerating across the world and the Middle East, Israel’s National Security Council is stepping back from addressing…

No Fuel, No Plan: Uganda and South Sudan Brace as Kenya Strikes

May 22, 2026 | Bec George Anyak

Uganda faces imminent fuel shortages if the just-ended transport strike in Kenya, temporarily suspended for a one-week grace period to allow dialogue, fails to resolve…

Water as a Weapon in the Nuclearized South Asia: The Relevance of Indus Waters Treaty

May 21, 2026 | Sarah Saeed

The latest decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in favor of Pakistan in its hydroelectric projects at Ratle Hydroelectric Plant and Kishanganga Hydroelectric Plant…

From Environmental Concern to Security Priority: Nature Loss as a Systemic Risk

May 19, 2026 | Shahzoda Alikhanova

The idea that biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation pose security risks is not new. What is new is a step change in how governments are…

Weaponizing Supply Chains: How Iran and China Drive Strategic Food Insecurity in Modern Conflict

May 19, 2026 | Bruce Randolph Tizes

Iran did not improvise the Hormuz crisis. The mine stockpiles, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ fast-boat fleet, and the Houthi program at Bab al-Mandab are…

The Missing Piece in Conflict Resolution

May 19, 2026 | Michael Keating

Conflict resolution is about much more than short-term agreements and transactional deals among powerful actors. Ceasefires can reduce suffering and create space for dialogue. But…

Myanmar’s Resource Curse Fueling Its Forever War

May 18, 2026 | James Shwe

Myanmar’s war is often described as a clash of ideologies, ethnic identities and competing visions of the state. That is true, but incomplete. At its…

DRC Is Sending in the Military to Guard Mines and Critical Minerals. Will It Be Enough?

May 17, 2026 | James Boafo, Alex Owusu Amoakoh, Jacob Obodai, and Senyo Dotsey

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is taking an unusual step to secure its critical minerals. It plans to create a new paramilitary unit to…

Deploying AI to Shed Light on the Murky Depths of Multi-Tier Supply Chains

May 14, 2026 | Jonathan Drimmer and Carl Hahn

As artificial intelligence becomes embedded across supply chain operations, companies are well-advised to plan for heightened expectations around transparency, explainability and governance from customers, investors,…

Minerals for Regime Security in the DRC

May 14, 2026 | Michelle Gavin

The Trump administration has made it plain that they have little interest in supporting democratic governance around the world, arguing that internal legitimacy issues can…

Climate Change as a Threat Multiplier in the Global South

May 14, 2026 | Lou Didelot

From devastating floods in Pakistan to prolonged droughts across the Horn of Africa, climate-related disasters are increasingly shaping political and humanitarian crises around the world.…

The Trump Administration’s Security-for-Minerals Model Faces Test in the DRC

May 13, 2026 | Chris Dantes

Minimal progress has been achieved towards a permanent settlement of conflict between the DRC and the Rwanda-backed rebel group M23. Fighting in the eastern Congo…

Peace Is Negotiable, Access Is Not: How Africa’s Mineral Belts Became War Economies

May 13, 2026 | Babatunde Fatai

On February 18, 2026, a ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of Congo was supposed to begin. It did not. M23 had publicly rejected the Angolan-proposed…

AI’s Environmental Footprint Is a Gendered Security Risk

May 12, 2026 | Tamara Bah

The infrastructure powering artificial intelligence (AI) has become both a political flashpoint and a signal for strategic warfare with significant military, geopolitical, and international security implications. Climate change is a “threat multiplier”…

Global: AI’s Environmental Footprint is a Gendered Security Risk

May 12, 2026 | Tamara Bah
New Security Beat

The infrastructure powering artificial intelligence (AI) has become both a political flashpoint and a signal for strategic warfare with significant military, geopolitical, and international security…

Climate Finance as a Tool for Global Stability

May 11, 2026 | Madelyn MacMurray

The relationship between climate vulnerability and political instability is clear. Twenty-two of the 30 countries ranked as the most vulnerable to climate change in 2025 also were categorized as fragile and/or conflict affected. Within this contexts,…

Resource Politics and Why the Democratic Republic of the Congo Echoes Sudan’s Path

May 8, 2026 | Rebecca Mulugeta

A lot of policy writing still returns to a familiar storyline: resource-rich countries slide into crisis because wealth intensifies competition, competition drives instability, and instability…

Is Water the Next Geopolitical Battle?

May 7, 2026 | Tony Maciulis

This spring, the World Bank launched a new initiative to tackle a growing problem plaguing the world’s most fundamental resource: water. The program, dubbed Water…

Roots and Returns: How Value-Added Timber Can Create Jobs and Keep Liberia's Forests Standing

May 7, 2026 | Ngao Mubanga, Alari Hasanatu Ijileyoh Mahdi, Julieta Calcopietro, Henrique B. Zay Zay, and Marcelo Acerbi

Half of Liberia’s population lives within two and a half kilometers of a forest. For most of these families, the forest is not scenery. It…

Espoo Convention: Does Cross-Border Environmental Impact Assessment Work in War Zones?

May 7, 2026 | Polina Tsybulska

In today’s world, where armed conflicts are becoming increasingly frequent, the environmental consequences of war extend beyond national borders, threatening not only local ecosystems but…

The Plow and the Well: Conflict Is Moving to Systems

May 6, 2026 | Russell D. Howard, Alicia Ellis, and Sarah Shoer

Control over water, food, and supply chains is increasingly shaping how power operates in modern conflict with non-state armed groups. When these systems fail, recruitment…

How to Integrate Green Economy Approaches into Peacebuilding Efforts in Africa?

May 5, 2026 | Ibrahim Dibal

Africa stands at a critical intersection where environmental degradation, climate change, and violent conflict converge to create complex crises that demand innovative solutions. As the…

The Environmental Costs of War: How the US–Israel–Iran Conflict Is Reshaping Climate Security in the Gulf

May 4, 2026 | Kristian P. Alexander

The recent US–Israel war with Iran, followed by Iranian missile, drone, and rocket retaliation across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, has largely been examined…

Powering Peace: Can Renewable Energy Help End Africa’s Conflicts?

May 4, 2026 | Andrew Hyde

When armed groups began threatening a community in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that had recently gained access to solar-powered electricity, something unexpected happened.…

Rethinking Funding for Climate and Peacebuilding: Insights from the CCDP and ECCP Community Fund

May 4, 2026 | Geneva Graduate Institute

A new contribution to CDA Collaborative Learning Projects Rebuilding the Anthills: Transformation Prototypes for the Post-Aid World explores this question through the concept of “curiosity-guided…

How Modern Conflicts Are Accelerating the Climate Crisis

May 2, 2026 | Farah Naz

Conflicts have a substantial connection to geopolitics, security, and human tragedy, yet there is another, less-discussed dimension of aggressive conflicts: their impact on the global…

Collective Management of Natural Resources for Post-Conflict Recovery

Apr 29, 2026 | Anna Wallace

How can natural resource management support post-conflict recovery? The second of a two-part blog series draws on evidence from Colombia, Nepal, and Sudan to explore…

Afghanistan Is Surrendering Its Mineral Wealth – and Its Future

Apr 28, 2026 | Javed Noorani and Lynne O’Donnell

Afghanistan is giving away its mineral wealth. Through a pattern of deals that export value at the point of extraction, the country is surrendering control…

A New Oil Crisis Stress-Tests the Global Energy Transition

Apr 22, 2026 | Jewellord Nem Singh

The US–Israeli war launched against Iran in 2026 may be remembered as the moment fossil-fuel dependence became more than a mere abstraction for the Global…

Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Nile: Why International Water Law Is Failing the GERD Dispute

Apr 22, 2026 | Mostafa Ahmed Fouad Makled

The ongoing dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) reflects a deeper structural challenge in international water governance: the fragmentation of legal regimes and…