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

Final Version of Global Critical Minerals Treaty Stripped of Traceability Measures (Mongabay)

At the seventh U.N. Environment Assembly in December 2025, Colombia and Oman jointly proposed a legally binding international treaty to create traceability and due diligence mechanisms across global mineral supply chains. Their proposal faced resistance from multiple countries including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, Chile, and Uganda, and ultimately resulted in a watered-down nonbinding resolution on mineral governance that excluded traceability provisions entirely.

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?

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

Deforestation and Flooding Turns Fallen Timber into Projectiles in Indonesia (The New York Times) 

When Cyclone Senyar struck in late November, its death toll numbered 800 people across Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The Indonesian island of Sumatra saw a particular sort of damage as the storm unleashed sixteen inches of rain in parts of the island, wiped out four villages, and triggered flash floods and landslides. Decades of razing and converting natural forests into palm oil plantations, pulpwood farms, and gold mines drastically increased the region’s vulnerability to floods and landslides to the point that timber was transformed into projectiles that destroyed residences and infrastructure.  

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

Rising Food Insecurity is Driving Instability (Foreign Affairs)

Since 2020, the number of people facing acute hunger and chronic food insecurity has increased 130% above existing levels. And supply is not the issue. At present, the world produces enough food to feed nearly 10 billion people, yet there are 720 million people who are food insecure and a further 319 million face acute hunger. Today’s hunger is driven instead by barriers to access.

As COP30 in Belém nears, leaders are calling it the “implementation summit.” Trillions of dollars in climate funding are at stake in Brazil in mid-November. Every sector, from forests to AI, has dedicated Thematic Days. However, one critical issue is noticeably missing from the official agenda: peace.   

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

Corruption Stymies Environmental Crime Fight in the Amazon (Mongabay) 

In the Andean Republics, rampant systemic judicial corruption has challenged the entire justice system, with judges implicated in both bribery and extortion. Because leadership from judges is essential for the success of reform efforts ranging from anti-corruption campaigns to environmental crime enforcement, the result has been damaging to the entire justice system in the region for more than a decade. 

The global energy transition is often framed as a balancing act between climate commitments on one hand, and sufficient energy and economic security on the other. That framing assumes the transition will mean less: less energy, less growth, and a steady decline in fossil fuel use. But this rhetoric is, as Ambassador Anthony Agotha put it at last month’s Berlin Climate Security Conference a “false choice.”

Environmental crime has long been underreported, but globalization and the increased involvement of organized crime involvement is now contributing to a rise in such crime, especially when compared to other types of crime. The financial toll of environmental crimes has been estimated to be hundreds of billions of dollars while the damage they cause to ecosystems compounds the effects of climate change and inflicts a heavy toll on vulnerable communities.