Blogs & Opinions

The Indus Waters Treaty at Crossroads: Implications for Regional Peace & the Path Forward

Feb 20, 2026 | Mohammad Ishaq Rahman

The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) of 1960 stands as one of the most significant achievements in transboundary water cooperation globally. Brokered by the World Bank…

Pax Sinica vs Pax Silica: How China-US Mineral War Is Taking Shape

Feb 20, 2026 | Chenjie Song

If 2026 were a chess match, critical minerals would be the opening gambit, and both China and the United States are going all out. On…

Being There Is Not Enough: The Paradox of Land Restitution in Colombia

Feb 20, 2026 | María Socorro Granda Abella

Under the current government’s ‘Total Peace’ agenda, this territorial emphasis is invoked across state institutions through dialogue and negotiations with armed groups and criminal organisations,…

Water Nationalism, Climate Anxiety, and the Myth of the Coming Water Wars

Feb 18, 2026 | Jeremy Allouche

Will future wars be fought over water? Global policymakers, politicians and the media promote a sense of catastrophism about the impact of climate change on…

Clionadh Raleigh on the Race for Africa’s Minerals

Feb 17, 2026 | Clionadh Raleigh

As the United States, China and the European Union intensify efforts to secure minerals such as cobalt, lithium and coltan, all central to defence, technology…

Iran’s Water Crisis: A National Security Imperative – Analysis

Feb 17, 2026 | Scott N. Romaniuk, Erzsébet N. Rózsa, and László Csicsmann

Iran is confronting an unprecedented water crisis. Rivers that have sustained settlements and agriculture for centuries are drying, while groundwater reserves are being extracted far…

Climate Security Should Be a Bigger Priority at the Munich Security Conference

Feb 13, 2026 | Beatrice Mosello

At the Munich Security Conference (MSC) – long a barometer of global security priorities – climate change is of reduced importance this year. While it…

The Munich Security Conference's Uncomfortable Truth: Fossil Fuels Are Now a Security Risk

Feb 12, 2026 | María Mendiluce

At Munich world leaders will talk about defence readiness, economic resilience and strategic autonomy, but energy and climate change should be understood as central to…

Reimagining Land, Justice, and Post-War Responsibility in Liberia

Feb 12, 2026 | Ysyndi Martin-Kpeyei

Nations emerging from conflict are not rebuilt by rigidity, but by vision anchored in humanity. In Liberia, it is unproductive and ultimately visionless to suggest…

Venezuela’s Democratic Transition Needs Women, Including Machado

Feb 11, 2026 | Caroline Hubbard
Council on Foreign Relations

Women have been on the frontlines fighting Maduro’s dictatorship, and other countries’ transitions show that women’s participation is vital for democracy to succeed. 

Power Shift: Can Syria's Oil Fields Reshape Its Energy Future?

Feb 11, 2026 | Cian Ward

Following the government’s takeover of much of northeast Syria from the Kurdish-majority Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in recent weeks, Syria’s vast oil fields now have…

Water, Power, and the Future of Conflict

Feb 11, 2026 | Nick Kraft and J. Carl Ganter

In 2026, water is emerging as one of the world’s most contested shared resources. Water is becoming the protagonist in a story of global disruption and…

Climate & Policing

Feb 10, 2026 | Mohammad Ali Babakhel

Climate change is changing policing roles. Besides crime, police are now also expected to handle disaster management, help with evacuation, rescue, control traffic, secure relief…

Local Resilience Can Mitigate Climate Conflicts in the Pacific

Feb 9, 2026 | Tobias Ide

The Pacific Island countries are at the frontline of climate change. Their territories mostly consist of small, low-lying islands, with long coastlines and vast ocean…

Can Climate Security Survive the Crisis of Multilateralism?

Feb 3, 2026 | Tabea Campbell Pauli and Benedetta Zocchi

Multilateralism is under threat, as many global powers increasingly choose to center their security priorities around defense and economic competition over international cooperation. This shift…

Environmental Security: A Key Element of Ukraine’s National Policy

Feb 3, 2026 | Polina Tsybulska

As war and climate change inflict damage on Ukraine’s environment, from polluting rivers and soils to destroying ecosystems, how could these threats be transformed into…

A UK Climate Security Report Backed by the Intelligence Services Was Quietly Buried – a Pattern We’ve Seen Many Times before

Feb 3, 2026 | Marc Hudson

Last autumn, a UK government report warned that climate-driven ecosystem collapse could lead to food shortages, mass migration, political extremism and even nuclear conflict. The…

How the EU’s New Carbon Border Undermines Military Decarbonisation

Feb 2, 2026 | Grace Alexander

The EU has positioned itself as a global leader on climate action and decarbonisation. Its European Green Deal sets a goal for carbon neutrality by…

When Nature Becomes a Security Risk

Feb 2, 2026 | Rhett Ayers Butler

Britain’s national security thinking has traditionally been shaped by familiar concerns: hostile states, terrorism, energy supply, and, more recently, cyber threats. A new assessment from…

Local Resilience Can Mitigate Climate Conflicts in the Pacific

Jan 31, 2026 | Tobias Ide

The Pacific Island countries are at the frontline of climate change. Their territories mostly consist of small, low-lying islands, with long coastlines and vast ocean…

Why Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Belong in Climate Action

Jan 29, 2026 | Ipas & The Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and Climate Justice Coalition
Ipas

A conversation with Ipas research expert Sally Dijkerman on why climate action must include sexual and reproductive health and rights, and what it will take…

Critical Minerals: Licensing, Tariffs, and the New Supply-Chain Risk

Jan 29, 2026 | Mark R. Ludwikowski, Kelsey Christensen, and Ashley Gifford

Critical minerals are no longer just industrial inputs. They are now strategic assets treated by governments as both economic infrastructure and national security leverage. Critical…

The Double Threat: How Conflict and Climate Change Disrupt Agricultural Input Use

Jan 29, 2026 | Rajalakshmi Nirmal

We often talk about war and weather as separate disasters. But for a farmer, they are a combined force. New research shows that conflict doesn't…

Reimagining the UN’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda: Climate Resilience and Women’s Peacebuilding in Lake Chad

Jan 26, 2026 | Aïssatou Oumar Magra Avaramla
PRIF Blog

As Lake Chad’s waters shrink and droughts intensify, pastoralists and farmers clash over the remaining oases. Amid this crisis, rural women – farmers, water-keepers, and…

Water Cooperation Is Under Threat

Jan 26, 2026 | Susanne Schmeier, Melissa McCracken, and Aaron Wolf

Rivers, lakes, and aquifers ignore borders and politics, binding countries, people, and ecosystems together. This shared reality has long required cooperation, even among states divided…

Exposing the Rural Insecurity behind Nigeria’s Food Crisis

Jan 25, 2026 | Lekan Olayiwola

Nigeria’s food crisis is often described in the language of numbers: inflation rates, tonnage of grains lost, millions displaced, and millions hungry. These figures matter,…

The Looming Hydrological Crisis: How Water Weaponization Threatens Regional Stability and International Order

Jan 24, 2026 | Jamal Khan

Rising tensions over shared rivers in South Asia highlight how water management disputes increasingly threaten regional stability, human security, and broader international order.

In 21st-century geopolitics,…

Why Sudan Is Drawing a Red Line around the Heglig Oil Field

Jan 23, 2026 | OilPrice.com

On the Sudan civil war front, the government is trying to draw a hard boundary around a shrinking but still critical part of the oil…

Afghanistan’s Secret Gold Rush Risks Poisoning Its Waters

Jan 23, 2026 | Shahla Muram and Nadja Kunz

Afghanistan is one of the countries most affected by climate change, and the largely hidden gold rush in Badakhshan is not only endangering the lives…

Seeing Women Behind Supply Chains: A Methodology to Strengthen Gender Equality and Social Inclusion in Agrifood Systems

Jan 21, 2026 | Fernanda Soto, Marlène Elias, and Jenny Wiegel
The Alliance of Bioversity International & CIAT

A new methodology helps agrifood companies meet their gender equality and inclusion commitments by better understanding diverse actors and experiences in their supply chains.

For many…