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ECSP Weekly Watch | June 10 – 14
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security ProgramPublic Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, recently released a report outlining the plight of Latin American Indigenous communities battling against international mining corporations. The study details several examples of transgressions, including an episode from the early 2000s involving Bear Creek, a Canadian mining company awarded a license to explore Indigenous Aymara territories. Their activities sparked organized protests, road blockades, and even violent clashes with police that resulted in deaths and injuries—and forced Peru’s government to revoke Bear Creek’s license.
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Who Should Pay for Soil Contamination in China?
›On April 18, 2016, I was on the train with my Friends of Nature (FON) colleagues for a work trip when a shocking piece of news erupted on social media: hundreds of students in Jiangsu Province fell ill after moving into a newly built middle school. Reported symptoms included itchy skin with rashes and lesions, coughing, and a decline in white blood cell count. Students and parents later learned that their beautiful new school was built next to a contaminated site, previously home to three chemical manufacturing facilities, the largest of which had produced pesticides for decades. After these companies closed, a company contracted by the local government to clean up the site failed to properly collect and dispose of toxins in the soil. These toxins leaked into the air and sickened the students.
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ECSP Weekly Watch: February 19 – 23
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security ProgramProgress—and Room for Improvement—in UNEP’s Annual Report (United Nations Environment Programme)
How effective is the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)’s work on the fight against climate change? Its Annual Report analyzed the work it has done over the past year to do so. The UNEP supports key areas in which progress has been made, including waste reduction through the Global Framework on Chemicals and global instrument on plastic pollution, biodiversity protection efforts through various frameworks, and loss and damage mobilization through COP28.
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The Complicated Relationship Between Climate, Conflict, and Gender in Mozambique
›Guest Contributor // February 12, 2024 // By Gracsious Maviza, Mandlenkosi Maphosa, Giulia Caroli, Thea Synnestvedt & Joram TarusariraIndividuals 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.
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ECSP Weekly Watch | January 8 – 12
›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.
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ECSP Weekly Watch | December 18 – 22
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program
Severe Water Crisis in Gaza
As intensive coverage of the war in Gaza has waned, the severe water crisis there has only worsened. Constant bombardment is impacting water production and distribution networks, forcing children and families are using water from unsafe sources.
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ECSP Weekly Watch | November 27 – December 1
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program
Why is COP Important?
Governments, policymakers, advocates, and observers have entered another annual UN climate conference cycle. Known as a “COP” (or “conference of parties”), these annual government-level gatherings focus on climate action, including assessments of progress toward the Paris Agreement and the creation of even more ambitious plans.
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Gaza, Yemen, Syria, Human Rights, and Oil: The Elephants in the COP28 Room
›The annual multilateral Conference of the Parties (COP) has become one of the most important meetings on the global agenda. So the fact that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will host COP28 starting this week in Dubai—on the coattails of another Arab country, Egypt, hosting COP27 in 2022—is a big deal. Bringing such important international meetings to the Global South is a step forward in decentering and reorienting global climate action.
Showing posts from category loss and damage.