A window what we’re reading at the Stimson Center’s Environmental Security Program

Community Patrols Offer a Blueprint to Enforcement of Conservation Law (Mongabay)

In the remote reaches of the Brazilian Amazon, an experiment in grassroots enforcement is yielding results. The Voluntary Environmental Agents Program, which trains and funds residents to patrol their own territories, has reduced illegal fishing, hunting, and logging by 80%. Operating in the Mamirauá and Amanã reserves, the program equips communities with surveillance tools, environmental education, and leadership training, weaving traditional knowledge into conservation efforts.

A new study in Conservation Biology found that 20,000 patrols carried out by over 200 community patrollers dramatically curbed illicit activities in the absence of government enforcement. Building local governance rather than relying on top-down enforcement offers a blueprint for protecting vulnerable ecosystems where state oversight is weak. 

READ | To Help Save the Planet, Stop Environmental Crime

The Climate Crisis Identified as a Key Driver of Rising Global Food Prices (Al-Jazeera)

The climate crisis is a leading driver of skyrocketing grocery bills. A team of international researchers has traced extreme price surges directly to climate disruptions, from West Africa’s cocoa farms to Australia’s lettuce fields. After a devastating heatwave in West Africa, cocoa prices spiked 280%, while floods in Australia in 2022 sent lettuce costs soaring to 300% above normal.

The financial toll is already hitting households: in the UK alone, climate-related agricultural losses added USD to the average family’s annual food bill between 2022 and 2023. With more frequent and longer-lasting drought and flood events, researchers warn that stabilizing food systems will require slashing emissions now, or today’s price shocks will become the new normal.

READ | COP27: Growing Roles for Agriculture and Food Security

Seabed-Mining Firm Faces Legal Questions Over Controversial Trump Policy (The New York Times)

President Trump’s decision to greenlight deep-sea mining in international waters has thrown The Metals Company (TMC) into a legal storm. The startup, which has invested more than $500 million in technologies to mine the Pacific Ocean’s mineral-rich Clarion-Clipperton Zone, now faces growing backlash. At the International Seabed Authority, the body created through the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to regulate deep-sea mining on the high seas, policymakers are pushing to revoke TMC’s permits, warning of ecological havoc. As China continues to dominate the critical mineral supply chain, the Trump administration sees deep-sea mining as a strategic necessity, setting the stage for a high-stakes clash between economic ambition, environmental protection, and international law.

READ | Deep Seabed Mining: Will It Rise to The Surface—and Where?