A window into what we’re reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program

Declining Fish Stocks Threaten Lake Tanganyika Fishing Communities (Al Jazeera) 

For the millions who live on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, fishing is a way of life that has sustained generations. However, recent declines in fish production in the world’s largest freshwater lake have devastated Tanzania’s fishermen and prompted questions of the sustainability of the decades-long practice.

Fifty-three years have passed since the 1972 United Nations Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment that led to the establishment of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). Yet a recent UN report describes the global efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) created to articulate aims and track progress over the past decade as “alarmingly insufficient.”

A window into what we’re reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program

The Success of Community-based Conservation in Africa (Yale 360)

Across Africa, herders once seen as threats to wildlife have now become vital conservationists. In a transformative shift from “fortress conservation” to community stewardship, they are protecting iconic species like elephants and lions as they coexist with their livestock.

A window into what we’re reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program 

Room for Justice in Vietnam’s Energy Transition? (The Diplomat)

Vietnam’s crackdown on environmental leaders such as Hoàng Thị Minh Hồng on disputed charges raises significant concerns about human rights, transparency, and civil society’s role in its energy transition. These arrests have garnered international attention, but Vietnam’s government argues that they had nothing to do with environmental work. And while Hoàng and other activists have been released, their work remains curtailed. The message is clear: you’re not welcome here.

At the recent G20 meeting in June 2024 in Rio de Janeiro, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres gave an ominous warning: “Unless we limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, spiraling disasters will devastate every economy.” Guterres implored governments to “speed-up the just transition from fossil fuels to renewables,” and declared that “the end of the fossil fuel age is inevitable.”

A window into what we’re reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program 

Humanitarians Highlight the Climate-Conflict Nexus  (The New Humanitarian) 

Climate change’s disproportionate impacts on vulnerable populations exacerbate socioeconomic inequalities and conflict, particularly during natural disasters. This vexed connection has led humanitarians and peacebuilders increasingly to address climate and conflict challenges together in order to provide integrated relief, recovery, and aid.

A window into what we’re reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program 

Mekong River Development Faces Public Outcry (Mongabay) 

The Mekong River flows through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam—and a new development on this waterway near the downstream Thailand-Laos border has triggered protests in Thailand. The Pak Beng hydropower development is a joint project of China Datang Overseas Investment and Thailand-based Gulf Energy Development which is estimated to generate 912 megawatts of power to be sold to Thailand’s state energy company.