Launched in 2013, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has drawn wide global attention, with scholars and policymakers examining its geopolitical and economic implications. Much less explored, however, are the subnational impacts of BRI in participating countries. The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), adopted as Pakistan’s flagship BRI project in 2015, offers a case in point.

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

Nickel Mining Threat to New Raja Ampat UNESCO Biosphere Reserve (Mongabay) 

When Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago received a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve designation on September 27, 2025, the new designation adding to the status it won as a Global Geopark in 2023. Yet this dual honor highlighting the archipelago’s exceptional biodiversity is now under threat from intense pressure from global demand for nickel for electric vehicle batteries that is challenging the reserve’s conservation goals.  

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

High Seas Treaty Passes UN Ratification Threshold for Implementation (New York Times) 

Last week, the High Seas Treaty reached 60 ratifications in the United Nations, crossing the threshold to take effect and triggering a four-month countdown to full implementation. The agreement creates a comprehensive regulatory framework to protect all international waters beyond any single country’s jurisdiction.  

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

Mexico’s Mercury Boom is Poisoning People and the Environment (Associated Press)

In Mexico’s Sierra Gorda mountains, soaring international gold prices also have created a mercury boom. Since 2011, mercury prices have skyrocketed from $20 per kilogram to between $240 and $350 per kilogram today. Most of Mexico’s mercury is trafficked to Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru for use in illegal Amazon gold mining operations that contaminate rivers and ecosystems. Yet the country’s adoption of a 2017 UN convention banning mercury mining and exports also allows artisanal mines to operate until 2032.

While the devastating cyclones Dineo (2017) and Idai (2019) may feel like distant memories on the global stage, their impact remains etched into daily life in Zimbabwe’s Tsholotsho and Chimanimani districts. A punishing regional drought in 2024 makes the picture here even clearer: food, land, and water systems have been reshaped in ways that directly influence social cohesion and stability.

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

New Report On Women’s Access to UN Indigenous and Community Land Rights Funding (Mongabay) 

A study published by the Rights and Resources Initiative and the Women in the Global South Alliance reveals that despite the central role women play in conservation and community resilience, 50% of women’s organizations lack core funding and rely heavily on volunteer labor. The report assessed how network members are benefitting in real terms from the $1.7 billion in funding for Indigenous and community land rights pledged at the 2021 UN climate conference. 

Amazon Nations Sign Political Blueprint for Rainforest Protection (Associated Press)

Presidents from South America’s Amazon nations gathered in Colombia’s capital to sign the Declaration of Bogotá on August 22, 2025,. This political blueprint establishes cooperation across a region that spans over 2.5 million square miles and has a crucial role in to play as a massive carbon sink that slows global warming. Signatories hope that it is a sign that the region will move past political rhetoric to concrete actions.

The Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 has kept two nuclear-armed rivals – India and Pakistan – in a stable river sharing arrangement for more than six decades. Yet that significant achievement now seems to be at risk.

India’s government has stated it is holding the treaty in abeyance and is threatening to cut off water to Pakistan after a terrorist attack killed more than 20 Indian citizens in late April 2025. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the treaty as a “blunder” and a “betrayal” of India’s dignity committed by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and proclaimed that “blood and water cannot flow together.”