Environmental Peacebuilding Association

International

Guterres Highlights Water Cooperation at Security Council Briefing on Afghanistan and Central Asia

Jan 24, 2018 | OOSKAnews

“Regional cooperation offers opportunities to address common concerns, including counter-terrorist financing, improving border security, fostering dialogue with religious institutions and leaders, and countering human trafficking…

Conflict Minerals: Gold Market Mulling Blockchain for $200 Billion of Supply

Jan 23, 2018 | Eddie Van Der Walt and Ranjeetha Pakiam, Bloomberg

Gold is going digital. Blockchain technology may help keep track of the roughly $200 billion of the precious metal dug from remote mines, traded by…

Afghanistan: Afghan Land Endangered by Amu River

Jan 23, 2018 | Samiullah Saihoon, Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Afghan officials are warning that work carried out to shore up the Amu river by countries upstream is causing serious flooding and the destruction of…

Iran: Water Conflict: Will a Drying Iran Face Syria’s Fate?

Jan 23, 2018 | Erik Khzmalyan, Geopolitical Monitor

Perhaps one of the most quoted predictions regarding the increasing role of water conflicts in global affairs belongs to former vice-president of the World Bank…

China/Southeast Asia: Return to Conflict for the Mekong River Delta?

Jan 21, 2018 | C. Danielle Bizier, SOFREP

For years, the principal narrative has been a world attempting to keep China’s maritime ambitions in check in the South China Sea. With one-third of…

Egypt/Ethiopia: Ethiopia Leader Rejects Call for World Bank Arbitration in Dam Dispute

Jan 21, 2018 | Aaron Maasho, Reuters

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn has rejected a call by Egypt for World Bank arbitration in a dispute over a hydroelectric dam Addis Ababa is…

Myanmar: Thousands of Tons of Illegal Timber Seized in Nine Months

Jan 20, 2018 | Eleven

Myanmar seized more than 35,000 tons of illegal timber in nine months of fiscal year 2017-18, according to the Forest Department. The seized illegal timber…

South China Sea: Quiet Cooperation Eases Safety Risks in South China Sea

Jan 20, 2018 | Voice of America

Recently, an Iranian oil tanker exploded and sank after hitting a Chinese ship in the East China Sea. Investigators are still looking for a cause…

Iraq/Kurdistan: Kurdish Oil Exports Must Come under Iraqi Control, Abadi Tells PM Barzani in Baghdad

Jan 20, 2018 | Rudaw

Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has met with his Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi in Baghdad on Saturday, just a day before he is scheduled to…

Egypt/Ethiopia: Nile River Is Source of Development Not Conflict: Al-Sisi

Jan 20, 2018 | Daily News Egypt

President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn signed Thursday several bilateral agreements in context of Desalegn€™s first visit to Egypt. The signing…

Climate Security: From Analysis to Action - High Profile Experts Launch Declaration on Climate and Security

Jan 20, 2018 | Climate Diplomacy

In December, the leading lights of the climate and security community launched an unprecedented declaration to catalyse action in the field in front of 350…

Myanmar: Kachin IDPs Fear Land Grabs in the Villages They Once Called Home

Jan 19, 2018 | Htun Khaing, Frontier

Companies are establishing banana plantations on land in Kachin State left idle and untended because of fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Kachin Independence Army,…

Central Africa’s Iconic Mammals Threatened by Poachers, Armed Groups – UN Environment Wing

Jan 19, 2018 | UN

Elephants, giraffes, rhinos and other magnificent mammals targeted in wildlife conservation areas of Central Africa are under threat of extinction, caught in the crosshairs of…

Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraq's Kurdish Gas Project Gets Boost amid Political Tumult

Jan 19, 2018 | Angelina Rascouet, Bloomberg

Plans to export natural gas from Iraqi Kurdistan got a boost after reserves were upgraded at two key fields. Yet successful development still hinges on…

Nigeria: NEC Constitutes Committee to Tackle Conflict Between Herdsmen and Farmers

Jan 19, 2018 | Omololu Ogunmade, Paul Obi, and Victor Ogunje, This Day

The National Economic Council rose from its first meeting this year in the State House, Abuja, thursday and announced that it has set up a…

Iraq/Islamic State: ISIL Is Lighting Oil Wells on Fire as They Retreat, and No One Is Paying Attention

Jan 18, 2018 | Zoë Schlanger, Quartz

When ISIL retreats from an area in Iraq, they usually bomb anything that supports the local economy. Most of the time, that means they bomb…

Iraq/Kurdistan: BP to Help Iraq Boost Oil Flow at Fields Retaken From Kurds

Jan 18, 2018 | Khalid Al-Ansary, Kadhim Ajrash, and Bruce Stanley, Bloomberg

BP Plc agreed to help increase crude production at northern Iraq’s Kirkuk fields as the government pushes to restore output and exporting capacity after recapturing…

Egypt/Ethiopia: Egypt, Ethiopia Look to Avoid Conflict over Nile Dam

Jan 18, 2018 | Reuters

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pledged on Thursday not to let differences over a dam Ethiopia is building on the Nile river ruin relations with…

Climate Change: Climate Change Is National Security Risk, Congress Members Warn

Jan 18, 2018 | Randy Showstack, Eos

A bipartisan group of more than 100 members of Congress has urged U.S. president Donald Trump to recognize climate change as a national security risk,…

DRC: DRC Revises Mining Code to Capitalise on Cobalt Boom

Jan 18, 2018 | eNCA

As demand for batteries drives a surge in the price of cobalt, the Democratic Republic of Congo is gearing up to overhaul its mining regulations…

Myanmar: Myanmar to Target Illegal Charcoal Trade with China

Jan 18, 2018 | Mongabay

Myanmar has pledged to stem the massive tide of charcoal being illegally harvested, produced and exported from their forests to Chinese factories. Last week a…

Colombia/Somaliland/Somalia: Incorporation of Ex-Combatants in Humanitarian Demining Lessons from Colombia, Somaliland & Southern Somalia

Jan 18, 2018 | Adriana Erthal Abdenur and Laurie Druelle, Instituto Igarapé

As part of the peace effort between the Colombian government and the FARC, a pilot program was launched in 2015 allowing ex-combatants from the guerrilla…