Individuals face immense challenges in displacement contexts, particularly where climate, conflict, and displacement intersect. In Mozambique, climate impacts have combined with conflict to displace nearly a million people. Entire livelihoods, identities, and stability are vanishing. Women, men, girls, and boys are not just losing homes; they are losing their place in traditional societal roles, too. This chaos—and responses by the international community—are reshaping Mozambique’s gender dynamics.

Iraq is incredibly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Temperatures are increasing, rainfall is decreasing, and the country experiences prolonged periods of drought. These conditions, as well as the destruction of wells and irrigation systems in the Islamic State’s (IS) targeted 2014-2017 campaign to destroy agricultural livelihoods, have created a growing water problem in Iraq’s Nineveh Plains. Indeed, water levels there have dropped low enough to subject crops to drought stress, endangering drinking water systems and affecting the ability to grow crops and raise livestock.

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

Climate Change Worsens Human Trafficking of Impoverished Sierra Leoneans (Al Jazeera)

Poverty leaves many vulnerable to human trafficking in Sierra Leone. Youth unemployment is almost 60% there, and most of the population lives on less than $3 per day. Victims are offered employment, largely in the service industry. Yet when they arrive in their country of employment, their passports may be seized and they are forced into unpaid labor, often coupled with sexual abuse especially for young women.

This past summer was the hottest on record, bringing devastating impacts to many global communities. Iran was one of many nations that faced both debilitating heat and the subsequent water stress.

While Iran’s problems received significant media attention this year, water scarcity in the country is not a new problem. For decades, corruption and poor planning have plagued Iranian water policy, with impacts falling upon its increasingly disadvantaged provinces and, ultimately, on its ethnic minorities. Poor water policy also has contributed to an increasing number of cross-border disputes.

From Afghanistan, Nepal, and Libya to the Arctic, the new issue of Environment and Security takes a fresh look at emerging issues at the intersection of environment and security. Ashok Swain, Editor in Chief of Environment and Security, spotlights some of the new research and insights in this Q&A with ECSP staff.

Q:  The new issue of Environment and Security features an article on Arctic governance, including a close examination of the International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (Polar Code). How do the authors assess this regulatory instrument as it enters its 10th year since adoption?

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

The Worsening Environmental Impact of the War in Gaza

The Gaza Strip has long been uniquely vulnerable to the climate crisis, with rapid temperature increase and decreasing rainfall plaguing this whole region. Even prior to the current conflict, NGOs in the region and the UN have warned that climate change would be devastating, particularly for food and water security in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

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

Loopholes in the UN Climate Plan?

Climate negotiators’ pledges to address climate change at the U.N. conference in Dubai by committing to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 may be less solid than they appear. Scientists argue that these promises lack clear definitions and are filled with loopholes.

Severe flooding is a major cause of human displacement. According to the latest annual report by the International Displacement Monitoring Centre, around 61 million people were forced to move within their country of residence during 2022 due to conflict or disasters. More than one quarter of these—19.2 million people—were displaced by floods.