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

Green Corridor Addresses Conflict Economies in Virunga National Park (Mongabay)

In the Eastern Congo, Virunga National Park faces an intertwined crisis of conflict and environmental destruction rooted in economic desperation. Communities residing within the park rely on charcoal production and forest clearing for survival. Simultaneously, armed militias exploit these same resources to finance ongoing violence. In response, Virunga administrators have developed an integrated model using renewable energy as the foundation for an alternative economy.

This article was originally published on South Asian Voices, a publication of the Stimson Center.

“Do not give away Diego Garcia,” warned U.S. President Donald Trump on February 19, as the United Kingdom moved forward with plans to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius. While the Chagos Archipelago has often been viewed through the prism of the sovereignty dispute between the United Kingdom and Mauritius, the islands today serve as a fulcrum for regional rivalries and great-power competition.

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

US Pressure Adds to the Suffering in Cuba’s Worst Economic Crisis  (The New Humanitarian)

Cuba is on the brink of a total humanitarian collapse as its people bear the brunt of cascading crises driven by the Trump administration’s decision to block Venezuelan oil shipments to the island. It is a crisis compounded by a decades-long US embargo and years of economic mismanagement. The power blackouts which previously lasted for 12 to 14 hours now exceed 20 hours, thus further crippling hospitals, food storage, and water systems. Without new fuel deliveries, the island might reach complete fuel depletion this month amidst its worst economic crisis since the 1930s.

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

UN Report: One in Five Fish Products Tied to Fraud (Inside Climate News)

A new UN Food and Agriculture Organization report finds that up to 20% of fishery and aquaculture products worldwide are mislabeled. The $195 billion industry is especially vulnerable due to supply chains involving over 12,000 traded species. The study is the first of its kind for the organization, and describes a pattern of fraud that takes many forms, from coloring tuna to appear fresher, to selling farmed fish as wild-caught, to substituting cheap species for expensive ones entirely. In the US alone, as much as a third of seafood may be mislabeled, yet less than 1% of imports are ever tested.

This article was originally published as a commentary by the Stimson Center.

If anyone needed a signal of global interest in critical minerals and supply chains, the events in Washington D.C. earlier this month offered a clear one. In the midst of questions about the reliability of U.S. partnerships, uncertain tariff policy, and rhetoric around annexing Greenland, 54 countries and the European Union came together in D.C. at the Critical Minerals Ministerial to seek deeper collaboration to secure critical minerals supply chains and de-risk from China’s influence.

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

High Seas Treaty Takes Effect as Global Ocean Protection Framework (Associated Press)

The High Seas Treaty is the world’s first legally binding agreement to protect marine life in international waters, and its broad impacts began when it entered into force on January 17, 2026. The treaty governs the nearly half the planet’s surface comprised of vast ocean areas beyond any individual country’s exclusive economic zone—an area which faces threats from destructive fishing, shipping, plastic pollution, overfishing, and potential deep sea mining.

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.