Blogs & Opinions

Taliban Mining Economy: An Insurgent Way of Doing Business

Aug 11, 2026 | Sadia Sulaiman

Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban have centralized control over Afghanistan’s trillion-dollar mineral wealth, treating it as a primary revenue source rather than…

Addressing NATO’s Arctic Intelligence Gap: Indigenous-Led Environmental Monitoring

Aug 8, 2026 | Olly Griesbach

The warming Arctic is one of the greatest sources of vulnerability for Canadian security and defence, and yet the communities best positioned to generate the…

Environmental Cooperation Turns Shared Resources into Channels for Dialogue

Aug 8, 2026 | Global Society

Shared natural resources can force divided communities into the same practical conversation. A river carries pollution across a border, livestock follow seasonal pasture, wildlife moves between…

Behind the Ceuta Surge: Q&A with Peter Schwartzstein and Dimitrios Kantemnidis

Aug 7, 2026 | Lauren Herzer Risi

Last week, an estimated 60,000 Moroccans crossed the border into Ceuta, a Spanish city located in North Africa. The surge left more than 80 people…

Protecting Women Environmental Defenders: Lessons from Colombia

Aug 6, 2026 | Juanita Serrano Zapata
Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security

For women environmental defenders, protecting the environment is inseparable from peacebuilding, protecting human rights, and territorial survival. In Colombia, where I am from, women environmental…

The Arctic in a Changing World: Climate, Security and Ethics of Global Governance – Analysis

Aug 6, 2026 | K.M. Seethi

The Arctic is rapidly becoming one of the principal arenas of twenty-first century geopolitical competition. The retreat of sea ice, driven by accelerating climate change,…

Minerals Must Benefit Countries, Communities, Not Finance Criminals, Conflict

Aug 6, 2026 | UN Economic Commission for Africa

Countries and communities, especially in resource-rich Africa, must benefit most from the minerals in their own backyards, speakers affirmed today at a Security Council debate…

Little Rumours, Real Consequences: Disinformation and Gender in the Central African Republic

Jul 31, 2026 | Conciliation Resources
Conciliation Resources

In global debates around information integrity and “fake news”, attention tends to concentrate on digital platforms, algorithm regulation, and election security in high-connectivity nations. However,…

The Great “Green” Heist: When Artificial Intelligence and Arms Dealers Seize the Minerals of the South

Jul 31, 2026 | Franck Zongwe Lukama

We were sold a simple equation: to save the planet, we must dig. Dig faster, deeper, extracting from the earth the cobalt, lithium, or copper…

Positioning Humanitarians at the Intersection of Environment, Climate, Conflict and Peace

Jul 31, 2026 | Juliane Schillinger

What role can humanitarian organizations play at the intersection of conflict, climate change and environmental degradation? As these challenges increasingly converge in some of the…

Climate Risk Is Forcing Multilateralism to Evolve

Jul 30, 2026 | Janani Vivekananda

A new trend is emerging in climate diplomacy: some of the most consequential conversations are happening in new, multi actor dialogues that sit alongside the…

The Indus Water Treaty Suspension: A Growing Threat to Regional Security

Jul 30, 2026 | Mohammad Ishaq Rahman

The recent suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty by India following the Pahagram incident in April 2025 marks a dangerous turning point in South Asian…

The Environmental Peacebuilding Agenda: What’s Essential and Where Do We Go Next?

Jul 30, 2026 | Mara Pusic and Karishma Goswami

Environmental peacebuilding is at a pivotal moment. Rising geopolitical tensions, accelerating climate impacts, shifting political priorities in the Global North, and reduced capacity bilateral and…

Why the Kimberley Process Still Matters: Protecting the Integrity of the Global Diamond Trade

Jul 29, 2026 | Kundai Kwenda

The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) continues to play a pivotal role in protecting the integrity of the global diamond trade by promoting transparency, ethical…

World Conservation Day: Restoring Nature to Build Resilience, Cooperation and Lasting Peace

Jul 28, 2026 | Kathryn Goodwin

As climate change intensifies pressures on people and ecosystems, IUCN’s Global EbA Fund projects demonstrate how Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) can advance climate resilience while fostering…

Starvation as a Weapon: The ICJ Myanmar Case Could Redefine Genocide

Jul 28, 2026 | Yuyun Wahyuningrum

As the International Court of Justice deliberates its judgment in the case of The Gambia v. Myanmar after the conclusion of public hearings earlier this…

The Green Revolution’s Fragile Core: The DRC’s Security Future

Jul 25, 2026 | Jean-Michel Marie

The latest American sanctions directed at former Democratic Republic of the Congo President Joseph Kabila fail to address the core of the country’s fragility, favoring…

Water, Power, and the Red Sea: The Egypt–Ethiopia Conflict Explained

Jul 25, 2026 | Mohamed Osman

The conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia is often described as a dispute over a dam, but it is really a struggle over water security, historical…

Climate Security: Entering a New Era?

Jul 21, 2026 | Kaysie Brown and Travis Brubaker

Twenty years after the UK first brought climate to the UN Security Council, the topic is re-emerging as a strategic priority. During London Climate Action…

Bridging the Conflict Gap in Climate Action and Finance

Jul 16, 2026 | ODI Global

Many of the world’s most climate-vulnerable people live in place affected by armed conflict, violence, and fragility. Yet fragile and conflict-affected countries receive just 10%…

The Abyei Dispute: Why South Sudan Is on the Right Side of History

Jul 16, 2026 | Amaju Ubur Yalamoi Ayani

First and foremost, the unresolved status of the Abyei Area stands as a stark indictment of failed diplomatic processes and an enduring obstacle to lasting…

South Sudan’s Oil Is Flowing, but Who Really Gets Paid?

Jul 16, 2026 | Warille B. Warille

A recent partial settlement between the Government of South Sudan and commodities trader BB Energy has eased restrictions imposed by the London High Court, which…

Minerals at the Negotiating Table: Resource Politics and Peace in Eastern DRC

Jul 15, 2026 | Julian Neef

The United States brokered a strategic partnership deal with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in December 2025, co-signing a DRC–Rwanda peace agreement on the…

How EU Regulations Are Changing 3TG Conflict Minerals Compliance

Jul 13, 2026 | Z2

Since the EU Conflict Minerals Regulation (EU Regulation 2017/821) took full effect in 2021, importers of tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold have operated under a…

WISEN: A Tool for Post-War Environmental Accountability?

Jul 13, 2026 | Lydia Millar

CEOBS’ new Wartime Incidents to Environment Database (WISEN) is a tool for systematically identifying and mapping the environmental harm caused by armed conflicts. In this…

Should the World Adopt a Law to Recognise Ecocide as a Global Crime?

Jul 10, 2026 | Shyam Saran

It was an American scientist, Arthur Galston, who coined the word “ecocide” in 1970 to describe the catastrophic effects from the indiscriminate use of the…

Thawing Foundations: Permafrost and the Future of Arctic Defence

Jul 10, 2026 | Joshua Kelly

Canada’s Arctic security debate mostly focuses on the visible signs of geopolitical change. While Russian military activity, Chinese interest in polar routes, and NORAD modernization…

How the Iran War Worsens the Climate Crisis

Jul 10, 2026 | Sarah Yerkes and Alejandro Martin Rodriguez

Fears of a reignited conflict are rising, even as the true cost of war is only beginning to be tallied. Alongside the thousands of deaths,…

What We Are Learning about Climate Action in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Places

Jul 9, 2026 | Mauricio Vazquez

The future of climate resilience in fragile places depends not only on mobilising more finance, but on whether it reaches people through the systems and…

Should NATO Treat Climate Data as Strategic Intelligence?

Jul 9, 2026 | Aanvi Sharma

Climate data is long-term information on environmental conditions, such as temperature trends, sea-level rise, and the frequency of extreme weather events, and it provides predictive…