News
Iran/Jordan: A Controversial New Power Grid Divides the Middle East
Dec 22, 2020
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Simon Watkins, OilPrice.com
More details have emerged on the Iraq-Jordan electricity power grid that is fast becoming a highly controversial project due to Iraq’s persistent political game-playing with…
Afghanistan: UN Involved in Afghanistan Blockchain Land Registry Tool
Dec 2, 2020
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Ledger Insights
Later this month, the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) plans to launch a land registry solution for urban cities in Afghanistan called goLandRegistry. The project is a collaboration with…
More Women in Boardrooms Mean Better Climate Change Policy, Study Says
Dec 1, 2020
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Heesu Lee, Business Standard
Companies with greater gender diversity in their boardrooms show better performance on developing policies and methods to address climate change risks, according to BloombergNEF.
Fire, Conflict and Land Systems in the Middle East
Nov 27, 2020
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Lina Eklund
Since 2019, the author has been involved in a Marie Curie project on fire and conflict in the Middle East: FIRE – Fighting Insurgency Ruining…
Conflict Minerals: Minespider Partners with Google for Tin Blockchain Traceability
Nov 23, 2020
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Ledger Insights
Minspider has partnered with Rwandan tin producer LuNa Smelter and Google to develop a blockchain-based tool, OreSource, to help miners and smelters track data about the mineral’s production process. The platform…
Sierra Leone: ‘We See the Sparks Before They Turn into Fires’: Training Women to Avoid Conflict in Sierra Leone
Nov 21, 2020
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UN News
In the West African country of Sierra Leone, the UN is supporting a government programme, training women and men to take on leadership roles in…
The Weaponisation of Environmental Information in the Era of Fake News
Nov 12, 2020
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Doug Weir
Environmental disaster? War crime? Ecological terrorism? A polarised and omnipresent social media is turbocharging the manipulation of environmental information during conflicts. While the use of…
A Digital Revolution to Save Nature and Build Peace
Nov 12, 2020
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Wim Zwijnenburg
The revolution in space-based technologies is creating a wealth of opportunities to track environmental degradation and its impact on lives and livelihoods. From rapid urbanisation…
Key Player in War on Climate Change? The Pentagon
Oct 26, 2020
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Michèle A. Flournoy
To its credit, the DoD has already been investing over $1.5 billion of its annual research and development budget in new energy technologies. In the past,…
Lack of Flood Maps at Many U.S. Military Bases Creates Risks
May 22, 2020
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Marc Kodack
In the 2020 NDAA, Congress further required that DoD include in its’ installation master plans a discussion of risks and threats that included those from extreme…
There Have Been Repeated Warnings About the Environmental Risks Posed by Flooded Coal Mines in Eastern Ukraine, Are We Now Seeing Evidence That It Is Happening?
Apr 27, 2020
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Eoghan Darbyshire
On the 12th March reports emerged on social media of contamination and discoloration at a reservoir in the town of Yenakiyevo, northwest of Donetsk. A follow up article by Free…
From ENMOD to Geoengineering: The Environment as a Weapon of War
Apr 7, 2020
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Gabriela Kolpak
Collateral environmental damage has long been regarded as an inevitable consequence of armed conflicts. But there have also been many examples of the intentional manipulation of…
Launch of NextGen Climate Forecasting System in Colombia [Video]
Mar 11, 2020
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Francesco Fiondella
In August of 2019, Colombia’s national meteorological service, IDEAM, launched a state-of-the-art climate forecasting system called NextGen. You can read more about this milestone in the latest report about…
Upcoming Conflict Minerals Regulation Does Not Cover Major Technology Companies
Mar 9, 2020
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Sebastian Kovig Skelton
Technology companies are unlikely to tackle the controversial use of so-called conflict minerals in their products because of weaknesses in a forthcoming EU regulation.
The European…
Can Artificial Intelligence Predict the Middle East's Next Conflict?
Feb 28, 2020
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Robert Tollast
In January 2014, most Iraq analysts knew security in the country was rapidly deteriorating. Beyond general warnings, however, few predicted exactly how bad the situation…
How Can Data Build a Truer Picture of the Gender Gap in Food Insecurity?
Feb 4, 2020
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Teresa Welsh
Getting an accurate picture of the differences in food security between men and women can be hampered by typical household survey methods, experts say.
The most…
Land Portal at CFS46: Empowering Advocates for Women's Land Rights Through Open Data
Nov 15, 2019
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Laura Meggiolaro
At CFS 46, the Land Portal had the opportunity to be the co-organizer of the side event How the VGGT have changed rural women’s lives: Key…
Peace, Security and Conservation on Central Africa's Radio
Nov 13, 2019
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Tiffany Gibert
In northern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and eastern Central African Republic (CAR), high-frequency radios are helping to cultivate peace, security, and, more recently, conservation.…
Green Technology's Dark Side
Aug 7, 2019
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Ronald Stein
The hype these days is to stop using those dirty fossil fuel driven cars and trucks and convert everyone to those clean electric vehicles. But…
Serving Refugee Communities with Tech, Energy Access, Entrepreneurship: Mastercard and USAID’s Collective Approach
Jun 19, 2019
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Katrina Pielli and Sasha Kapadia
As we mark World Refugee Day 2019 (June 20) and reflect on the fate of displaced communities all around the world, we are convinced, now…
Blockchain Is Great, but It Can't Solve Everything. Take Conflict Minerals.
Apr 23, 2019
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Fritz Brugger
Blockchain technology can help trace a product as it moves through a supply chain, but it cannot create trust where it’s often most needed.
Who's Interested in Afghanistan's Lithium?
Mar 27, 2019
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Hindol Sengupta
What connects mobile phones, the Taliban, India and China? A metal called lithium.
Blood Diamonds to Blockchain Diamonds?
Sep 3, 2018
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Forbes Africa
Do you know where your diamonds come from? Ethically-sourced minerals and gems have gained a lot of traction of late. And increasingly, globally, consumers want…
Artificial Intelligence: Our Next Ally against Environmental Risks
Aug 21, 2018
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Lou del Bello
A glance at one satellite map of the Peruvian Amazon is enough to grasp the scale of devastation humans are causing to one of Earth's…
Open Mineral and ConsenSys Seek to Put the Blockchain in the Mineral Supply Chain
Jul 9, 2018
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Kyt Dotson
Open Mineral, an online metal and mineral exchange based in Switzerland, announced today the company’s upcoming launch of a distributed ledger blockchain platform to serve…
Why Blockchain Can Be an Effective Tool for Fighting Environmental Crime
May 10, 2018
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Samantha Radocchia
The effects of environmental crime and illicit trade are vast and often irreversible. For illustration, look no further than the recent death of the last…
Blockchain & the Gold Standard for a Conflict-Free Supply Chain
Apr 27, 2018
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Ariella Brown
Conflict minerals making their way into the electronic supply chain presents a challenge to companies that want to act both legally and ethically. Tracing such…
This Website Can Tell You Who Owns Land in 60 Countries
Feb 20, 2018
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CRL
Helping cultures and nations communicate with one another has traditionally been the responsibility of diplomats, but the Land Portal Foundation takes the position that strengthening…
New Data Highlight Afro-Descendant Territories without Legal Recognition, and the Threats They Face
Jan 9, 2018
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Mary Alice Jackson
New data gathered from Afro-descendant community councils and state records reveal that the Colombian government has failed to address 271 claims for collective Afro-descendant land…
The Environmental Consequences of the Use of Armed Drones
Oct 20, 2017
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Doug Weir
To date, debate over the implications of the growing use of armed drones has focused on human rights, on the expansion of the use of…