- How Russia’s war on Ukraine is threatening climate securityThe international community needs to redouble its efforts to avert new security risks as a result of climate change. By Oli Brown for Chatham House … Read more
- Environmental Peacemaking in the Liptako Gourma: What have we learned so far?The vast Sahelian region of the Liptako Gourma—which spans the three-way frontier among Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger—is in the grips of a complex humanitarian … Read more
- The White Paper one year on: The way forward for environmental peacebuildingOne year after the launch of the White Paper on the Future of Environmental Peacebuilding, Oli Brown and Carl Bruch reflect on what has been … Read more
- From Samoëns to Berlin and backHow do we make climate security action a reality? As a Junior Research Associate with Alp Analytica, my days in the French Alps are a … Read more
- Takeaways from the 2022 Berlin Climate Security ConferenceBy: Anneka Williams Last week (October 11-12) I had the opportunity to attend the Berlin Climate and Security Conference (BCSC) hosted by adelphi, the German … Read more
- Borgen: Power & Glory is a great excuse to talk about energy security, climate change, and Arctic geopoliticsBy: Anneka Williams Time and again we’ve seen political probity take a nosedive as incumbents pander to audiences with vastly different environmental value systems in … Read more
- On the Front Lines of Climate Change: Loss and Damage in Alaska, USABy: Anneka Williams As I run through the town of Bethel, Alaska I find myself navigating collapsed sections of roads, overgrown willow trees encroaching from … Read more
- In the jaws of a conflict trap: a slow-motion crisis in Liptako GourmaIt’s the total impunity that strikes you first. The gunmen stride nonchalantly around the village, exchanging small talk and the occasional “Allahu Akbar” while going … Read more
- Climate change must become part of the global agenda on AfghanistanAction on climate change could be a way to move beyond humanitarian aid and start building the food and water security Afghanistan so desperately needs. … Read more
- On the front line of climate change, Somalia needs helpSomalia is emblematic of the wider situation around the world whereby climate change is having cascading impacts that reach far beyond borders. For more than … Read more
- Why managing sand sustainably is a gritty problemSand from fragile rivers, beaches, and the sea floor is being mined to meet the vast demand for construction materials, resulting in major environment and … Read more
- The Science of DestructionIn 1965, 29-year-old Dang Hong Nhut was visiting her husband in the Chu Chi region of Vietnam when the planes came. ‘After they had gone, … Read more
- Lake Chad shrinking? It’s a story that masks serious failures of governanceLake Chad is a hydrological miracle – a life-giving, freshwater lake in the Sahara desert. But the region around the lake has been engulfed in … Read more
- Climate Security in Afghanistan: Should it even be on the radar?Today (Tuesday 17th September) the UN Security Council will debate the renewal of the mandate for UNAMA—the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan—a twice-yearly event that … Read more
- Heating up: mediation and climate changeMediation – the process of helping groups in, or at risk of, armed conflict settle their differences peacefully – rarely gets the attention it deserves … Read more
- Driven to Extraction: Can Sand Mining be Sustainable?Sand is a critical ingredient for many of the materials that we take for granted: concrete, glass and asphalt. Sand and coarse aggregates form the backbone … Read more
- Better the Devil You Know: The Importance of Measuring Climate RiskAvoiding the worst impacts of climate change requires a better understanding of what those may be and impartial ways to track them. [This piece first … Read more
- Stopping the Great Splintering: A 5-Step Plan to Revive MultilateralismI miss 2015. It was a landmark year. In the space of 12 short months governments signed a slew of groundbreaking agreements: the Sustainable Development … Read more
- Craft and the Council: Will Kelly Knight Craft end climate action at the UN Security Council?In late February, Donald Trump announced Kelly Knight Craft, a 57-year-old Kentucky native, as his pick to succeed Nikki Haley as US Ambassador to the … Read more
- Who defends the defenders?They came for Niloufar more than a year ago. On 24th and 25th January 2018, Niloufar Bayani, a former colleague of mine at UN Environment, … Read more
- Fool Britannia: Britain’s position in the world after BrexitBritain once ruled the waves, but, for the moment, its dominion is confined to the airwaves. With Theresa May’s tweaked deal ruled out for a … Read more
- UNEA: The most important environmental meeting that most people have never heard ofAs I write, delegates are starting to arrive in Nairobi for the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA). The Assembly starts in earnest on Monday 11th … Read more
- Podcast: The Security Council’s role in addressing climate-related security risksWith climate change increasingly being seen as a security issue, there is a question about what role the United Nations Security Council could and should … Read more
- In praise of small ‘b’ bureaucracyStick with me here, but I’m going to try to argue that for those working in international development, bureaucracy is something to lean into, rather … Read more
- Erik Solheim: what he got right, what he got wrong, and what the new UN Environment chief should do nextMake no mistake, when Erik Solheim resigned as head of UN Environment on 20th November 2018, less than two and a half years into what … Read more
- Are humanitarians going green?In 2018, a staggering 141 million people across the world required humanitarian assistance. With the need for aid far outstripping available resources, it is no … Read more
- The Brumadinho mine tailing collapse: an avoidable disasterThe collapse of the Brumadinho mine tailings dam in Minas Gerais state in Brazil on 25th January was a triple tragedy. First, of course, is … Read more