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

Chinese Company Accused of Covering Up Extent of Major Toxic Mining Spill in Zambia (Associated Press)

In February, a dam collapse at Chinese-owned Sino-Metals Leach Zambia copper mine released toxic waste into the Kafue River, which provides water for over half of Zambia’s 21 million people. An independent investigation by South African company Drizit found that 1.5 million tons of toxic material were released in the spill, which is 30 times more than Sino-Metals admitted to spilling. When Drizit’s investigation was set to reveal extensive contamination verified through 3,500 samples, Sino-Metals terminated their contract one day before the final report was due.

Climate-related catastrophes are posing significant challenges in already-fragile South Sudan. When record-breaking floods again swept across the country in mid-2024, for instance, the disaster affected 1.4 million people, with the cumulative years of flooding submerging two-thirds of the country.

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.”

In today’s world of fast fashion, a $4 crop top travel across continents faster than a letter, and new trends die before a customer hits the “checkout” prompt. Yet the global obsession with cheap clothing creates apparel soaked in a cocktail of dyes, plasticizers, and forever chemicals, that linger far longer than the consumer forces that make them trendy.

The global apparel sector is valued at over $1.8 trillion, and it is the world’s second most chemical-intensive industry after agriculture. For big manufacturing hubs in Southeast Asia (particularly India, Bangladesh, Pakistan), textiles represent an economic lifeline.

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

A Water Security Crisis Grips Pakistan’s Indus Delta (Al-Jazeera)

The Indus delta in Pakistan is experiencing severe environmental collapse as seawater intrusion makes farming and fishing impossible. Salinity levels have risen 70% since 1990, forcing tens of thousands from coastal districts. Over 1.2 million people from the broader delta region have abandoned their homes in the past two decades. The construction of irrigation canals and hydropower dams, compounded by the impacts of climate change on glacial melt, has accelerated the crisis and reduced downstream flow by 80% since the 1950s. More than 16% of fertile Indus delta land has become unproductive, as salt crusts cover the ground and boats must transport drinking water to the region’s remaining villages.

The Mekong River’s seasonal floods nurture the world’s most productive inland fishery and irrigate rice paddies that feed millions. Approximately 70 million people live in the lower Mekong Basin, and 75% of them depend on fishing and farming for their livelihoods. But hydropower expansion and other development projects are fragmenting the river and disrupting its natural rhythms, with severe consequences for those living downstream.

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

The World’s Children Face the Most Severe Impacts from Wildfire Smoke (Mongabay)

Evidence of the alarming impacts of wildfire smoke on child health is growing. Children’s developing lungs, faster breathing rates, and greater outdoor exposure make them uniquely vulnerable, and the threat is intensifying as wildfires grow more extreme, incinerating not just forests but urban areas, releasing toxic heavy metals and chemicals. 

For decades, China has been the dominant force in hydropower development across the Mekong subregion, financing, and constructing massive dam projects that have transformed Southeast Asia’s economic and environmental landscape. Many analysts have framed this expansion as a meticulously orchestrated strategy to extend Beijing’s economic and geopolitical influence. But this narrative obscures a more complex reality—one in which China’s dam-building in the Mekong has been shaped by trial and error, reactive policy shifts driven by external shocks, local resistance, and intensifying geopolitical competition.