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Environmental NGOs as Tools of State Security Policy: A Growing Trend
›For a group of self-described environmentalists, the roughly two dozen Azerbaijanis who suddenly assembled along the highway near the Armenian border in late 2022 looked like a pretty atypical lot. None of them appeared to have a background in any kind of green movement. Nor did any of them, clad in largely matching cold weather gear, attempt to explain how they could protest mining operations (their declared raison d’être) without encountering problems in a police state. Indeed, they remained unbothered even as their numbers swelled over the following weeks.
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ECSP Weekly Watch | August 19 – 23
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program
What’s Next for the Teesta Water Disputes? (The Hindu)
The recent political upheaval in Bangladesh which led to the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the return of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammed Yunus as leader of an interim government is not the only tumult in this nation. A worsening trend in weather events there has heightened Bangladesh’s exposure to climate shocks and allowed a dispute over the Teesta River to reemerge.
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Reinvigorating US Development Assistance
›Americans often hear arguments demagoguing exorbitant and wasteful development assistance spending. In an election year, these voices multiply. And they have influence. Past polls have shown that Americans believe that their government spends roughly 25 percent of the federal budget on foreign aid. The real total actually hovers around less than 1 percent.
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Methane Emissions: Can the United States and China Find Common Ground?
›As relations between the United States and China become increasingly acrimonious, reducing methane emissions from oil and gas operations remains an exceptional arena where respectful engagement between both countries endures.
Methane is a highly-intensive, short-lived climate pollutant, and it is responsible for about 30 percent of current global warming. Two-fifths of the global total of human-caused methane derives from fossil fuel production, including oil and gas. And the U.S. and China play an outsized role. The US leads the world in oil and gas production and sectoral methane emissions, while China ranks in the top five producers. China is also the global leader in total methane releases, including agriculture, livestock, coal production, and waste emissions.
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ECSP Weekly Watch | May 13 – 17
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security ProgramUN World Wildlife Crime Report Reveals Harm of Wildlife Trafficking (UN Office on Drugs and Crime)
In the third World Wildlife Crime Report, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) discussed trends in illicit trafficking of protected species, analyzed wildlife crime harms and impacts, and took stock of all current knowledge on intervention effectiveness. This report is more comprehensive than its predecessors in 2016 and 2020 due to increased reporting. Despite 20 years of effort, wildlife trafficking persists and is connected with powerful organized crime groups operating in fragile ecosystems. This has implications not only for the spread of organized crime, but also for biodiversity loss and subsequent impacts on climatic fragility.
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Climate, Conflict, and Changing Demographics Command Attention in New Global Health Security Report
›A new report by the US Intelligence Community highlights what the world stands to lose if it fails to cooperate on global health. The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) “Dynamics Shaping Global Health Security In the Next Decade” outlines the dire effects of climate change, changing demographics, and the erosion of trust in institutions on global health security. The NIE on Global Health Security was made publicly available in April 2024, on the heels of the Biden-Harris Administration’s launch of a new Global Health Security Strategy.
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Don’t Panic US: China’s Nuclear Power Ascendancy Has Its Limits
›Like bamboo sprouts after the rain, nuclear reactors are going up quickly across China. There are 36 reactors under development, and Beijing can approve as many as 10 new ones a year. Within a decade, China will likely pass the United States—which has 93 operating commercial nuclear reactors at 54 power plants—as the world’s biggest generator of nuclear power.
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Climate Priorities in the Middle East and North Africa: Takeaways from a New Occasional Paper
›In a new Occasional Paper published by the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program and ECSP, journalist Taylor Luck examines the climate priorities of wealthy and middle-income countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Luck analyzes the policies adopted by MENA states, highlighting gaps and offering recommendations to strengthen climate action in a region strained by both instability and climate change.
Showing posts from category foreign policy.