Blogs & Opinions

Environmental Peacebuilding Is Essential and Complex – but It’s Also Exciting

Feb 4, 2022 | Carl Bruch

Environmental peacebuilding remains a young field but is rapidly evolving. There are still many complexities in the range of issues that it encompasses in dealing…

Why Women’s Leadership is Key to Climate Action

Feb 2, 2022 | Nina Jeffs

At the COP26 climate summit, the leaders of Estonia, Tanzania and Bangladesh were the first to sign the Glasgow Women’s Leadership statement, calling for countries to…

For National Security, Climate Finance Must Be Made 'Conflict-Proof'

Feb 2, 2022 | Elsa Barron and Erin Sikorsky

As the House takes up the America COMPETES Act of 2022, a comprehensive bill to promote innovation and economic competition with China, climate change is…

Why International Geneva’s ‘Human Dimension’ Bodes Well for Environmental Peacebuilding

Feb 2, 2022 | Annika Erickson-Pearson

It’s a compound problem: areas with dwindling natural resources, harsh climate change impacts and biodiversity loss also tend to be those experiencing violent conflict. But…

Climate Change Could Turn Iraq's Marshes Into Barren Wasteland

Feb 1, 2022 | Mina Aldroubi

Iraq’s marshes, home to the country's famed Marsh Arab culture and a haven for migratory birds, are under threat from climate change, water scarcity and increasing water salinity,…

International Geneva Turns Focus to Nature and Peace

Jan 31, 2022 | Michelle Langrand

Nature and peace will be in the spotlight this week in Geneva as experts from around the world gather online for the International Conference on…

Guatemala’s Western Highlands: Addressing Gendered Vulnerability to Climate Change

Jan 30, 2022 | Jessie Pinchoff and Angel del Valle

The Population Institute’s recent report, Invisible Threads: Addressing the root causes of migration from Guatemala by investing in women and girls, has brought attention to…

Paradise Imagined: Environmental Peace Education in Carceral Spaces

Jan 30, 2022 | Elsa Barron

Where does the material that makes up a tree come from? When asked that question, many of our students turned to the soil for answers,…

Turning Climate Adaptation Commitments into Reality in Peru

Jan 26, 2022

Peru was one of the first countries to set climate adaptation goals as part of its climate change commitments, known as Nationally Determined Contributions or…

Gender, Climate Change, and Security: Missing Links

Jan 26, 2022 | Chantal de Jonge Oudraat and Michael E. Brown

Gender issues, climate change, and security problems are interconnected in complex and powerful ways. Unfortunately, some of these connections have not received enough attention from…

Are Indian States Secured by Water Security?

Jan 24, 2022 | Jagdish Chandra Rout

H2O (two molecules of hydrogen and a single molecule of oxygen) is not merely the scientific nomenclature of the most precious liquid on our planet…

How to Steal Land the Size of a Small Country | Part VII: Coercing Justice

Jan 24, 2022 | Adriaan Alsema

The director of Colombia’s ranchers federation allegedly teamed up with designated terrorists to steal land and coerce the Supreme Court. Recent testimonies indicate that Fedegan…

Exploring Gender, Social Aspects of Climate Policies

Jan 20, 2022

With a focus on climate change and gender, the Women’s Indian Association (WIA) has partnered with the Gender Into Urban Climate Change Initiative (GUCCI), and…

How to Address Climate Change with Better Food Systems

Jan 18, 2022 | Eugene Willemsen

It comes as no surprise that climate change directly affects the future of security. A report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation clearly outlines the role that…

Climate Action and Security – Two Sides of the Same Coin

Jan 14, 2022

In November, the world came out of COP26 with a mixed bag of results. The 1.5 degrees target was kept alive, and 154 countries submitted revised…

Gender Day Gives Rise to the Forgotten Energy Providers in the Climate Conversation

Jan 13, 2022 | Philippe Benoit

The singular issue that emerged on Gender Day during during last year's COP26 was the need for disadvantaged women, who are the majority producers and users of biomass…

To Help Ensure Food and Economic Security in Afghanistan, Invest in the Skills of Young Women and Girls

Jan 12, 2022 | Nangyalai Attal

With the prevailing food security crisis in Afghanistan, the international community must invest in the significant potential of Afghan girls to increase their participation in…

Climate Change Amplifies the Risks for Violent Conflicts in Africa

Jan 10, 2022 | Philip Osano

The potential for climate change to exacerbate violent conflict is manifest in Africa. Growing competition over natural resources will likely increase tensions on a continent…

No, There Will Not Be a War for Water

Jan 10, 2022 | Jeroen Warner and Sumit Vij

Some people falsely believe that the Afghanistan takeover by the Taliban during a drought increases the risk of violence over shared waters such as the…

Tackling Militarism’s Contribution to the Climate Emergency

Jan 5, 2022 | Doug Weir

The past year saw the dial finally shift on reducing the carbon bootprint of the military. Since the topic was excluded from international climate processes by the…

Can We Predict Climate Change Impacts on Future Peace and Security?

Jan 5, 2022 | Halvard Buhaug and Nina von Uexkull

Analytical challenges notwithstanding, it is therefore not only a natural, but also a necessary step for conflict research to catch up with the rapid developments…

Merging the Environmental and Security Sectors in Climate Risk Responses

Jan 3, 2022 | Alexis Eberlein

Environmental security notions have evolved over the past 30 years. Once a sub-field of Security and Peace Studies focusing on how environmental issues correlate with…

Year in Review: The Top Climate & Security Stories of 2021

Dec 31, 2021 | Joon Hwang

2021 was a momentous year for climate security. From President Biden’s Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, to NATO’s Climate…

Militaries Are among the World’s Biggest Emitters. This General Wants Them to Go Green.

Dec 30, 2021 | Michael Birnbaum

Convinced that someone needed to shake awake Britain’s security establishment about the risks of climate change, Nugee asked to be tasked with one final mission…

Poverty, Displacement and 300 Storms: How 'Climate Violence' Threatens Iraq

Dec 29, 2021 | Safaa Khalaf

As water flows in rivers decline dramatically, Iraq is expected to become one of the world’s most water-stressed countries by 2040, with a forecasted rating of 4.6 out…

The Defense Department’s Role in the New Sustainability Executive Order

Dec 27, 2021 | Erin Sikorsky

On Dec. 8, President Biden announced a new executive order, Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability, which directs the federal government to…

Towards Enforcement of the EU Conflict Minerals Regulation in Belgium

Dec 24, 2021 | Camille Leroy and Justine Tixhon

Although the EU Conflict Minerals Regulation no. 2017/821 of 17 May 20171 (the CMR) entered into force on 1 January 2021, there has been no…

Climate Change Is a Feminist Issue Not Just an Environmental One

Dec 23, 2021

In 2015, Botswana experienced its worst drought in history. Since then, families have had to move, taking their children out of schools; farmers have lost…

How Does Political Instability in the Mekong Affect Deforestation?

Dec 23, 2021 | Sheryl Lee Tian Tong

Myanmar’s rainforests, home to the endangered Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus), critically endangered Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) and endangered lar gibbon (Hylobates lar), are some of…

Cover Women from Climate Change to Tame Gender Wars

Dec 21, 2021

As the year winds down, it is a good time to reflect on how the effects of climate change have impacted the lives and livelihoods…