The article was adapted from “Local Resilience Can Mitigate Climate Conflicts in the Pacific,” published by Global Outlook.

Pacific Island countries sit at the frontline of climate change. Many consist of small, low-lying islands, with long coastlines and vast ocean spaces between them. Livelihoods often depend on agriculture and fishing, and importing water or food is often infeasible or expensive. This makes those large ocean nations highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as storms, droughts, and rising sea levels.

President Donald Trump’s revived interest in buying Greenland attracted worldwide attention to the Arctic and triggered renewed geopolitical discussions about the region. These policy and academic debates mainly focus on traditional military threats and protecting national interests linked to great power rivalries—specifically a broader global competition involving the USA, Russia, and China.

When the executive branch of the United States government authorized the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in early January, it was the latest turn in a series of escalating events between the two nations. The Venezuelan President’s capture drew the ire of both the international community and some members of Congress because of its impact on national sovereignty and the future of the rules-based international order.

“Where is the tea?” I asked after our class had hiked through densely wooded hills for half an hour, looking around in confusion. I was among a team of Duke Kunshan University (DKU) graduate students led by Dr. Binbin Li to study tea crops grown in the tropical forests of Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province. 

Multilateralism is under threat, as many global powers increasingly choose to center their security priorities around defense and economic competition over international cooperation. This shift toward short-term national interests risks undermining progress on joint challenges, including climate change, peace and justice. What will be lost if the climate security agenda becomes a battlefield of competing interests? How can peacebuilding and development actors respond?

Indonesia produces more than half of the world’s nickel output – a critical component in batteries for four- and two-wheel electric vehicles (EVs).  Mostly Chinese-owned smelters work around the clock in Sulawesi to process the nickel ore and ship it across the globe. Indonesia’s resource nationalism – the government policy banning ore exports and forcing domestic processing appears to have worked well – but only in the upstream segment of the supply chains.

Rivers, lakes, and aquifers ignore borders and politics, binding countries, people, and ecosystems together. This shared reality has long required cooperation, even among states divided by tensions or conflict. Through technical dialogue, data sharing, and joint institutions, countries have often quietly managed floods, negotiated infrastructure, and protected water quality.

Aviation is one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions globally, contributing around 2.5% of total global CO₂ emissions. In China, aviation contributes about 12% of the nation’s transport-related emissions, making it a critical sector to address as the country aims for carbon neutrality by 2060. Despite ambitious global targets, international sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production is falling behind schedule. A recent report highlights that worldwide production could fall 30% to 45% short of the global aviation sector’s 2030 goals due to high production costs, economic uncertainty, and slow adoption rates.