International


Food Security: Ongoing Conflicts Continue to Intensify Food Insecurity

Dec 16, 2016 | Military News

Civil conflict and weather-related shocks have severely stressed food security in 2016, increasing the number of countries in need of food assistance, according to a…


Colombia: Peace Can Transform Colombia into Breadbasket for World, President Says

Dec 15, 2016 | Alex Whiting, Reuters

Curbing poverty and hunger in rural areas is crucial to building lasting peace in Colombia and in turn will help the nation become a breadbasket…


Myanmar: Another Victim of Illegal Logging and Forest Crime?

Dec 14, 2016 | Environmental Investigation Agency

Illegal logging in Myanmar is more than the issue of cutting trees – it is an umbrella issue which underlines the absence of good governance…


Myanmar: Parliamentary Commission Calls for New Water Law

Dec 14, 2016 | Htoo Thant , Myanmar Times

Already feeling the combined stresses of climate change and an increasing population, Myanmar’s clean water needs to be protected by a national water policy, parliament…


Myanmar: Forestry Industry Hopes Hyacinth Can Save Trees, Create Jobs

Dec 14, 2016 | Su Phyo Win, Myanmar Times

A shortage of skilled labour and low profits are preventing local businesses from making use of one of the country’s most abundant and versatile renewable…


Myanmar: Commission Suggests New Water Tax

Dec 14, 2016 | Eleven

The legal affairs and special cases assessment commission suggested that the government collect a new rate of water tax from factories, workshops and agricultural businesses…


Lebanon: FAO Opens Lebanon Office to Boost Conflict-Hit Food Supplies

Dec 14, 2016 | RJ Whitehead, Food Navigator Asia

The director-general of the Food and Agriculture office of the United Nations has blamed conflicts in the Middle East for a doubling of undernourished people…


Myanmar: Karen People Call for a Peace Park Instead of Big Hydropower in Their Homeland

Dec 14, 2016 | Demelza Stokes, Mongabay

The Salween Peace Park would set aside a 5,200 square kilometer (around 2,000 square miles) swathe of Myanmar’s southeastern Karen state as an indigenous Karen-led…


Afghanistan: Afghan Villagers Learn Sustainable Irrigation Practices through On-Farm Water Management Project

Dec 14, 2016 | World Bank

With a $25 million grant from the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF), OFWMP works to improve agricultural productivity in project areas by enhancing the efficiency…


Myanmar: Illegal Farmland Sales Prompt Calls for Action

Dec 13, 2016 | Zay Yar Linn, Myanmar Times

The Myanmar Real Estate Services Association wants the government to crack down on the illegal sale of farmland for residential development. U Than Oo, vice…


Colombia: FAO, World Bank to Support Land Reform in Colombia

Dec 13, 2016 | Wangu Mwangi, International Institute for Sustainable Development

Following the signing of a peace agreement between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP), the Food and Agriculture Organization…


Iraq: Iraq to Abide by OPEC Cut, Expects Output Growth in Future

Dec 12, 2016 | Rania El Gamal, Reuters

Iraq is committed to cutting its production to comply with a global pact to support prices, the country's oil minister said, adding he was nevertheless…


Myanmar: Myanmar Farmers Hope NLD Can End Suffering of Junta-era Land Grabs

Dec 10, 2016 | Paul Vrieze, Voice of America

Kachin farmers became embroiled in a land dispute with a Burmese businesswoman named Khin Thant Zin after she purchased the title to 170 acres from…


Iraq/Kurdistan: After the Islamic State, Iraq at Risk of a New Battle for Disputed Territory

Dec 10, 2016 | Missy Ryan and Aaso Ameen Shwan, Associated press

Kurdish intentions to remain in disputed areas of northern Iraq, despite warnings from Baghdad, threaten to spark renewed ethnic conflict once the Islamic State can…


Liberia: Lawmakers Raise Red Flag over Alterations in New Oil Law

Dec 9, 2016 | FrontPageAfrica

Liberia’s hydrocarbon sector was expected to be a blessing for the country since offshore exploration began by African Petroleum in February 2012, but conspiracies have…


Syria: US Coalition Destroys 168 ISIS Oil Tankers [Video]

Dec 9, 2016 | Scout

In the largest air strike of its kind to date, Coalition airstrikes destroyed a fleet of 168 ISIL oil tanker trucks near Palmya, Syria, Dec.…


Food Security: Civil Conflict and Unpredictable Weather Cast ‘Long Shadow’ on Food Security’ in 2016 – UN

Dec 8, 2016 | UN

This year, the world suffered many weather-related shocks and civil conflicts which pressured food security for many countries, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization,…


South Sudan: South Sudan President Orders Deployment of Troops to Oil Fields

Dec 8, 2016 | Sudan Tribune

South Sudan president Salva Kiir has ordered for the deployment of additional troops to the oil producing region, saying it would ensure no armed elements…


Conflict Minerals: Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative (CFSI) Releases Latest Reporting Conflict Minerals Reporting Template

Dec 8, 2016 | Source Intelligence

One of the most important efforts to trace whether conflict minerals are entering global supply chains is the Conflict Minerals Reporting Template (CMRT) developed by…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraq Can’t Count on Kurds or Oil Companies to Meet OPEC Cuts

Dec 8, 2016 | Sam Wilkin, Bloomberg

Iraq can’t count on self-governed Kurds in the country’s north or international oil companies to help it cut crude production as promised at an OPEC…


India/Pakistan: Kashmir, Climate Change, and Nuclear War

Dec 7, 2016 | Zia Mian, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

The White House press secretary explained that the underlying concern about South Asia was “the risk that a conventional conflict between India and Pakistan could…


Timor-Leste: East Timor is Going for Broke as Oil Runs out

Dec 7, 2016 | Damon Evans, Forbes

East Timor could be bankrupt within a decade unless it takes urgent action to diversify its economy and reassess its fixation with mega-petroleum projects. Significantly,…


Myanmar: Burma Rivers Network Calls for a Halt to Dam Projects in Conflict Areas

Dec 7, 2016 | Nyein Nyein, Irrawaddy

The Burma Rivers Network (BRN) has called for a halt to hydropower dam projects, special economic zones and natural resource extraction in ethnic areas where…


Climate Change: Dutch FM Calls on Putting Climate-Related Security Risks on UN Security Council Agenda

Dec 6, 2016 | Xinhua

Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said on Monday that water- and climate-related security problems belong to the agenda of the UN Security Council, and the…


Colombia: Land Access and Restitution at the Heart of Peacebuilding in Colombia

Dec 6, 2016 | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

FAO will support Colombia in carrying out a comprehensive rural reform aimed at strengthening food security and peace, including measures which address issues of land…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Exxon Pulls out of Three Exploration Blocks in Kurdistan: Iraq Oil Report

Dec 6, 2016 | Vishal Sridhar, Reuters

Exxon Mobil has pulled out of half of the six exploration blocks it operated in the Kurdistan region, the Iraq Oil Report reported. The oil…


Sudan: Sudan Pressures OVL for Higher Tax, Sits on Extension

Dec 6, 2016 | Time of India

Sudan is playing hardball with India on the issue of extending the licence for an oilfield with a view to extracting additional revenue, even though…


Land: Rural Women Demand Increased Access to Land Rights

Dec 6, 2016 | Gbatemah Senah, Bush Chicken

Amid the celebration of the UN Women-led 16 Days of Activism, a group representing rural women in Liberia has presented a list of demands for…


Iraq/Kurdistan: As Iraq's Kurds Eye Statehood, a Border Takes Shape

Dec 5, 2016 | Associated Press

The sand berms and trenches that snake across northern Iraq stretch toward Syria, some accompanied by newly paved roads lit by street lamps and sprawling…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraq's Kurdistan Sees No Major Oil Output Cuts as Part of OPEC Deal

Dec 5, 2016 | Reuters

Iraq's semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan sees no major impact on its crude oil production from OPEC's output cuts, agreed last week, it said on Monday,…