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NewSecurityBeat

The blog of the Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program
Showing posts from category Infrastructure.
  • Slow Down? Environmental Regulators Tap the Brakes on China’s High-Speed Rail

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    China Environment Forum  //  December 15, 2022  //  By Xiao Ma
    https://www.newsecuritybeat.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/train-header-for-Xiao-Ma.jpg

    China’s high-speed railway (HSR) is the most recent poster child for the country’s rapid development, with more HSR tracks than the rest of the world combined. Since 2004, the Chinese government has invested more than 10 trillion RMB to build a 40,000-kilometer (km) network of trains that zip between stations at speeds reaching 350 km/hr (or 220 miles per hour). Not to be outdone, by 2035 the government aims to expand this train network by 75 percent to help the country reach its transport connectivity and low-carbon transportation goals. 

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  • The Cost of Going Solo in Solar

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    Guest Contributor  //  November 21, 2022  //  By John Paul Helveston, Gang He & Michael Davidson

    SONY DSC

    Three decades. That is how much time is left to decarbonize the world’s energy systems to limit global warming to 1.5°C, according to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. Achieving this feat requires renewable energy systems be deployed at an unprecedented speed and scale. While daunting, however, the good news is that this transformation may not cost as much as many expected just a decade ago, thanks to rapid cost declines in renewable energy technologies.

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  • Meeting Africa’s Demographic Challenge

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    Guest Contributor  //  November 14, 2022  //  By Phillip Carter III & Stephen Schwartz
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    Often cast into the backwaters of U.S. foreign policy, sub-Saharan Africa now looms large as the Biden Administration grapples with a wide range of global challenges. President Biden will soon host the upcoming Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington, that acknowledges the U.S. government must do much more in Africa in order to advance U.S. interests and global prosperity.

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  • New Analysis by Peter Schwartzstein: How Water Strategizing is Remaking the Middle East

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    Water Security for a Resilient World  //  October 27, 2022  //  By Wilson Center Staff
    Elazig,-,Turkey.,08.28.2019,Panoramic,View,Of,The,Elazig,Keban

    In the run up to COP 27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, the first summit of its kind to be hosted in the region, water is rising on the agenda, and for good reason. In a new essay for the Wilson Center, Global Fellow Peter Schwartzstein explores how governments across the Middle East are approaching a world with less water – and to what effect. Drawing on a decade of environmental reportage from the Middle East, Schwartzstein sketches out how, why, and with what consequences states have adopted often dramatically divergent strategies.

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  • The Complex Dance Around China’s Overseas Projects

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    China Environment Forum  //  Guest Contributor  //  October 6, 2022  //  By Alvin Camba & Victoria Chonn Ching
    Padalarang,/,Indonesia,-,August,18,,2020:,Established,Aerial,View

    China dominates the world in its overseas development finance into power plants, mines, dams, and other infrastructure. However, while many projects sail through, a good many get stalled. The results have less to do with Beijing and more with the strength of the host country partners. There is a complex dance between governments, elites, and bureaucrats to win the best “deal” with China, including Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects. These deals may benefit not just the economy, but also may empower one of these three actors. 

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  • Water Diplomacy can Learn from Realist Ideas

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    Guest Contributor  //  Water Security for a Resilient World  //  July 19, 2022  //  By Sumit Vij, Jeroen Warner, Mark Zeitoun & Christian Bréthaut
    UNSC - 1

    As Russia’s war in Ukraine continues and nations are returning to behaviors best explained by realism, we are wrestling with these trends’ longer-term implications on water diplomacy. States are becoming inward-looking and prioritizing national sovereignty. Debates about water and climate are resurfacing, and we should better understand how hard power and inward-looking approaches can impact water diplomacy and cooperation. To inform policymakers about power sensitivities and power games played in diplomacy, water diplomats must rethink the future of water security and peace. They should reexamine leadership styles, cultural sensitivities, and knowledge exchange from the lens of realism.

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  • When Climate Change Meets Geopolitics

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    Guest Contributor  //  January 4, 2022  //  By Giulio Boccaletti
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    Deteriorating security in Ethiopia, a country W.E.B. Dubois once described as where “the sunrise of human culture took place,” is deeply concerning. The last few months have seen a dramatic involution for a country that was once a poster child for sustainable development. The conflict between the government and rebel forces in Tigray is not just a matter of regional security, but a significant blow to the world’s efforts to fight climate change.

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  • Imagine a Future Without Single-Use Plastics

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    China Environment Forum  //  November 18, 2021  //  By Hiroaki Odachi
    Malaysia's Broken Global Recycling System

    If producing plastic waste were a race, Japan would be rushing for the gold medal. Japan and the United States both rank the highest per capita for plastic packaging waste in the world. Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration set a goal to reduce Japan’s plastic waste production by 25 percent by 2030 and recent polls show the majority of the Japanese public wants strong actions to reduce plastic waste. Nevertheless, Japan is not doing enough to stem the tide of plastic entering the ocean. If Japan and the rest of the world fail to act more boldly, global oceanic plastic waste could triple by 2040. Current commitments of governments and corporations would only reduce global plastic leakage seven percent below the business-as-usual scenario. Japan’s current waste management system prioritizes recycling and incineration, encouraging a make-take-waste linear model of plastic consumption. Japan needs a circular economy built on a culture of reduction and reuse instead of single-use plastics.

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