In today’s episode of “The Arc,” ECSP’s Angus Soderberg and Claire Doyle interview Nisha Singh and Kavin Mirteekhan from Women for Women International. We dive into the organization’s recent report, “Cultivating a more enabling environment: Strengthening women’s resilience in climate-vulnerable and conflict-affected communities,” to hear how women around the world are disproportionately impacted by conflict and climate shocks—and what we can learn from their solutions.
A recent report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization analyzed data from 24 low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) across five regions and over 100 thousand rural households to measure the impacts of climate change on rural women, youth, and people living in poverty. It found that climate change’s impacts disproportionately impact households headed by women, with income losses due to extreme heat (8% income loss) and flooding (3% income loss), relative to households led by men. The income gap between men and women was also widened as a result.
In today’s episode of New Security Broadcast, ECSP Program Director Lauren Risi speaks with Sarah Ladislaw, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Climate and Energy at the National Security Council (NSC). In the conversation, Special Assistant Ladislaw describes her role at the NSC and the most pressing climate security challenges facing the US. She also reflects on her recent address at the Munich Security Conference, and her vision for achieving “mutually assured resilience.”
Walruses have traversed the Arctic for millennia, gregarious pinnipeds that rest en masse on drifting pack ice, diving to feed on crabs, clams and other seafloor delicacies. Icy platforms also serve as safe birthing and nursery grounds. But as the far north rapidly warms and sea ice disappears, some herds now huddle on overcrowded shorelines, with deadly consequences for young calves: Because more disturbances occur on shore than at sea, calves are regularly trampled during panicked stampedes by the 1-ton-plus adults.
In many African drylands, especially in Kenya, large-scale irrigation projects are attracting significant attention and funding. The concept of “greening the desert” has the potential to create economic opportunity and boost available resources in drought-threatened territory. However, these large-scale projects have often brought negative impacts for pastoral communities.
High in the remote mountains of western Fujian Province, Changkou—part of Sanming Prefectural City—became the first village to launch a new forestry carbon ticket system in May 2021. Changkou farmers have long received little benefit in managing forests because of fragmented forest land, high investment risks, and limited ownership rights. To solve those problems, the Sanming Forestry Bureau issued tickets to forestry farmers, granting them the right to earn carbon emission credits for protecting forest land and trees.
How effective is the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)’s work on the fight against climate change? Its Annual Report analyzed the work it has done over the past year to do so. The UNEP supports key areas in which progress has been made, including waste reduction through the Global Framework on Chemicals and global instrument on plastic pollution, biodiversity protection efforts through various frameworks, and loss and damage mobilization through COP28.
In today’s episode of New Security Broadcast, ECSP Program Director Lauren Risi follows up with Iris Ferguson, the US Department of Defense’s (DoD) Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Arctic and Global Resilience, on their previous conversation previewing the DoD delegation to COP28.
Deputy Assistant Secretary Ferguson discusses her takeaways from COP28 and the importance of listening to stakeholders outside the Pentagon. She also outlines some of DoD’s key energy and climate security priorities in 2024.