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

High Seas Treaty Takes Effect as Global Ocean Protection Framework (Associated Press) 

The High Seas Treaty is the world’s first legally binding agreement to protect marine life in international waters, and its broad impacts began when it entered into force on January 17, 2026. The treaty governs the nearly half the planet’s surface comprised of vast ocean areas beyond any individual country’s exclusive economic zone—an area which faces threats from destructive fishing, shipping, plastic pollution, overfishing, and potential deep sea mining. The agreement also establishes the first framework for creating Marine Protected Areas on the high seas, which constitute about two-thirds of the world’s ocean.  

Countries which are party to the treaty must immediately begin a wide range of related activities: collaborations on ocean science and technology, environmental impact assessments for activities that could harm marine life, shared research findings on ocean organisms with commercial potential, and the promotion of conservation goals in other international bodies. Key details remain undecided even as the treaty takes effect, however, including how protected areas will be monitored and enforced. And while the first Conference of Parties will meet within a year to determine operational details, the earliest any Marine Protected Areas could be approved is set for the second COP. 

READ | Three Takeaways From the Third UN Ocean Conference 

Can Food Sovereignty Halt Haiti’s Hunger Crisis? (The New Humanitarian) 

Gang violence is fueling the worst hunger crisis in Haiti’s history. Over 5.7 million people in the country are food insecure, and a total of 1.9 million face emergency-level hunger. Gangs now control roughly 90% of Port-au-Prince, but they have expanded into rural agricultural areas like Kenscoff (the capital’s former “breadbasket”) and the Artibonite department (which produces 80% of Haiti’s rice). Severe funding shortfalls have crippled humanitarian response just as the nation’s needs have skyrocketed. The World Food Programme halted its hot meal provision and cut monthly rations in half without the $139 million over 12 months needed to reach vulnerable families.  

Haitians now are developing homegrown food sovereignty initiatives to break their dependence on foreign aid and rebuild a local agriculture devastated by decades of cheap US rice imports. The Mèt Fèy Vèt cooperative in northern Haiti produces 5,000 school breakfast portions daily from locally grown corn and cassava to help source 72% of its school meals program locally. Advocates also emphasize that Haiti’s food crisis stems not just from current violence, but from historical exploitation that included IMF-mandated tariff cuts in the 1990s that destroyed local farming. 

READ | In the Wake of a Tropical Cyclone: Turning to Violence or Building Peace? 

Indigenous Communities in Brazil Will Receive Millions in Belo Monte Compensation (Associated Press) 

A decade after the massive Belo Monte hydropower plant began operations in 2016, Brazilian courts have found that it failed to meet environmental and social requirements, and by caused far greater impacts than developers had forecast. The dam diverts 70-80% of the flow of the Xingu River, and it has devastated the Juruna and other Indigenous communities who depend upon it. Since Belo Monte operations began, fish populations have collapsed, navigation is nearly impossible, access to healthcare and schools has been restricted, and water sources have dried up. 

Brazil’s Supreme Court recently ordered $3.6 million in compensation for Indigenous communities. A federal judge also mandated a reassessment of water diversion that could reduce the dam’s power output, which currently supplies 10% of Brazil’s electricity. Experts say that the case demonstrates how climate-intensified impacts such as altered river flows are routinely underestimated in project planning. Yet other trends suggest a contrary tide in environmental protection. New legislation which takes effect in February will reduce infrastructure licensing from 6-7 years to just 12 months, and calls for less rigorous environmental scrutiny. raising fears that damaging impacts like those at Belo Monte could become more common.  

READ | Navigating Trade-Offs Between Dams and River Conservation