Natural Resources
Resources
The Impact of Conflict-Driven Cropland Abandonment on Food Insecurity in South Sudan Revealed Using Satellite Remote Sensing
Briefs & Development
Armed conflicts often hinder food security through cropland abandonment and restrict the collection of on-the-ground information required for targeted relief distribution. Satellite remote sensing provides…
War, Waste and Polluted Pastures
Briefs & Development
The environment in north-east Syria has faced serious challenges since the outbreak of the peaceful revolution ten years ago. The ensuing violence by the Syrian…
Solar-Powered Irrigation in Yemen: Opportunities, Challenges, and Policies
Briefs & Development
Yemen is one of the most water-scarce countries in the world, with renewable water resources currently capable of providing only 75 m3 per capita per…
Satellite Analysis of the Environmental Impacts of Armed-Conflict in Rakhine, Myanmar
Briefs & Development
The impacts of armed conflict on the environment are extremely complex and difficult to investigate, given the impossibility of accessing the affected area and reliable…
GIS in Colombian Post-Conflict Land Use Planning
Briefs & Development
This research collected and interpreted geographic and temporal data on changes in land use coverage in order to improve sustainable development and land use planning in…
Food and Water Insecurity as Causes of Social Unrest: Evidence from Geolocated Twitter Data
Briefs & Development
Research often fails to account for the specific pathways by which climatic factors can cause social unrest. One challenge lies in understanding the distinct effects…
Armed Conflict, Militarization and Ecological Footprint: Empirical Evidence from South Asia
Briefs & Development
Environmental degradation as a consequence of military activities largely remains a neglected subject, especially in South Asia. To fill this gap, we have investigated the…
Liberia: Communities Use New App to Track Illegal Logging
International
Rural towns and villages are now using ForestLink, a new app, to track illicit forest operations and deforestation across Liberia, including illegal logging and mining,…
Iran/Jordan: A Controversial New Power Grid Divides the Middle East
International
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
International
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
International
Companies with greater gender diversity in their boardrooms show better performance on developing policies and methods to address climate change risks, according to BloombergNEF.
Conflict Minerals: Minespider Partners with Google for Tin Blockchain Traceability
International
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
International
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…
Key Player in War on Climate Change? The Pentagon
Blog
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
Blog
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?
Blog
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
Blog
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…
Upcoming Conflict Minerals Regulation Does Not Cover Major Technology Companies
Blog
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?
Blog
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?
Blog
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 Use and Land Cover Change Detection and Prediction in the Kathmandu District of Nepal Using Remote Sensing and GIS
Briefs & Development
Understanding land use and land cover changes has become a necessity in managing and monitoring natural resources and development especially urban planning. Remote sensing and…
Mapping Untreated and Semi-Treated Wastewater Effluent off the Coast of Gaza with Sentinel-1 Time Series Data
Briefs & Development
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most contested and complicated conflicts in the world. As one of the occupied Palestinian Territories recognized by the…
Land Use and Land Cover Changes along the China-Myanmar Oil and Gas Pipelines – Monitoring Infrastructure Development in Remote Conflict-Prone Regions
Briefs & Development
Energy infrastructures can have negative impacts on the environment. In remote and / or sparsely populated as well as in conflict-prone regions, these can be…
Revisiting the Contested Role of Natural Resources in Violent Conflict Risk through Machine Learning
Briefs & Development
The integrated character of the sustainable development goals in Agenda 2030, as well as research in environmental security, flag that sustainable peace requires sustainable and…
Reducing Deforestation through Value Chain Interventions in Countries Emerging from Conflict: The Case of the Colombian Cocoa Sector
Briefs & Development
Sustainability commitments by private sector actors are emerging as interventions to help reduce global deforestation. Much attention is placed on the forest conservation impact of…
Vulnerabilities and Inequalities Experienced by Women in the Climate Change Discourse in South Africa’s Rural Communities: Implications for Social Work
Briefs & Development
Women’s vulnerability to climate-induced shocks hinges on a high dependence on climate-sensitive livelihoods and a natural resource base aggravated by the acute inequalities that they…
Satellite Imagery in Conflict-Affected Areas: How Technology Can Support WFP Emergency Response
Briefs & Development
The past decade has witnessed a boom in the availability of satellite data whether from established space agencies or from the private sector. Unique in…
Eyes in the Sky (Chapter in "Talking Tactics: Environmental Protection and Armed Conflicts")
Briefs & Development
Regions of active conflict are typically data poor, access for environmental measurements is limited and many contemporary conflicts show no sign of conclusion. Earth observation…
Closing the Environmental Monitoring Gap in Conflicts (Chapter in "Talking Tactics: Environmental Protection and Armed Conflicts")
Briefs & Development
Armed conflicts can create acute environmental risks and lead to degradation that impacts ecosystems, human health and livelihoods. However, poor security conditions in conflict-impacted areas…
Global Peace Index 2020: Measuring Peace in a Complex World
Briefs & Development
This is the 14th edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI), which ranks 163 independent states and territories according to their level of peacefulness. Produced…