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NewSecurityBeat

The blog of the Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program
Showing posts from category Iran.
  • The Environment Has Become a Hostage of Armed Conflict

    ›
    Guest Contributor  //  November 6, 2019  //  By Wim Zwijnenburg
    Syria_BurningCrop_FB

    This year, 2019, marked a new nadir for the environment that may reflect an ominous trend in warfare: Environmentally sensitive targets are being weaponized and taken hostage. Farmland went up in flames and burning oil tankers dominated the headlines, serving as a stark reminder of conflict’s ripple effects.

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  • Uncomfortable Companions: Fertility Decline and Ideology in Iran

    ›
    Guest Contributor  //  March 5, 2018  //  By Richard Cincotta
    Protests_in_Tehran_by_Fars_

    It should be an excellent time to be a young Iranian: High school and college enrollments in the Islamic Republic rank near the top of Muslim-majority countries. Women have only about two children on average, compared to 6.5 in the mid-1980s. And childhood mortality is projected to approach North American levels in the next 15 years. Yet, as the recent protests show, many young Iranians feel left out. Job growth—especially for young adults—has failed to keep pace with development, while persistently high rates of inflation steadily drive up the cost of living and cut deeply into Iranians’ savings.

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  • 8 Rules of Political Demography That Help Forecast Tomorrow’s World

    ›
    Guest Contributor  //  June 12, 2017  //  By Richard Cincotta
    Venezuela-Protest

    In a world rapidly churning out unpredictable political shocks, intelligence analysts occasionally need to clear their heads of the daily barrage of newsworthy events and instead work with simple theories that discern the direction and speed of trends and help predict their outcomes. Political demography, the study of population age structures and their relationships to political trends and events, has helped some analysts predict geopolitical changes in a world that, from time to time, appears utterly chaotic.

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  • ND-GAIN Updates Climate Adaptation Index: Good News for Myanmar, Bad News for Brazil

    ›
    Eye On  //  June 2, 2017  //  By Azua (Zizhan) Luo
    Myanmar

    As climate change leads to more weather variability and natural disasters, the need for adaptation is more urgent than ever. The Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-GAIN) aims to enhance understanding of adaptation and inform the public and private sectors on actions and investments.

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  • Water and the Rise of Insurgencies in the “Arc of Instability”

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    From the Wilson Center  //  April 12, 2017  //  By Azua (Zizhan) Luo
    Displaced-family

    Water scarcity has contributed to an “arc of instability” characterized by conflict and displacement that stretches from West Africa to the Middle East, said a panel of experts at the Wilson Center on March 1. Two authors from an upcoming compilation of case studies on water security and violent conflict by World Wildlife Fund gave overviews of challenges in Nigeria and Iran and recommendations for U.S. engagement.

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  • Afghanistan’s Water Plans Complicated by Worried Neighbors

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    Guest Contributor  //  March 20, 2017  //  By Elizabeth B. Hessami
    Kajaki-dam

    More than 40 years ago, the Soviet Union attempted to harness hydropower to modernize Afghanistan. Between 1960 and 1968, they poured money and technical knowledge into the 100-meter Naghlu gravity dam outside Kabul and a village for its workers called Sharnak. Although the town has been damaged and the boons of modernity remain elusive for many Afghans, the dam remains a crucial source of power for the capital and is the largest power plant in the country with an installed capacity of 100 megawatts.

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  • Christine Parthemore, Center for Climate and Security

    How Are Climate Plans Affecting Nuclear Security?

    ›
    May 5, 2016  //  By Wilson Center Staff
    Kalpakkam-Complex

    The original version of this article, by Christine Parthemore, appeared at the Center for Climate and Security.

    Today, new nations are pursuing civilian but dual-use nuclear capabilities, the threat of non-state actors seeking nuclear materials may be growing, and countries continue to debate proper ways to enhance nuclear safety, security, and nonproliferation systems to keep up with the pace of change. At the same time, governments worldwide are having difficulty managing the effects of a rapidly changing climate, such as more damaging natural disasters and resource stress. The relationships among nuclear, climate, and security risks are growing more complex and interconnected, and these issues are likely to begin converging in new ways. By early 2016, it has become clear that the international community must take a fresh look at the ways in which they are likely to connect and potentially collide in the years ahead, and foster deeper dialogue on what should be done about it.

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  • Ruth Greenspan Bell, Foreign Affairs

    What Will It Take to Break the Climate Gridlock? Learning From Iran and Cuba

    ›
    September 29, 2015  //  By Wilson Center Staff
    Obama-oval-office

    The original version of this article, by Ruth Greenspan Bell, appeared on Foreign Affairs.

    United States President Barack Obama invested four years and his top diplomats in containing Iran’s nuclear capabilities. He did this because an armed Iran is an existential threat to its neighbors, its region, and the world. Obama’s efforts in the talks stand in marked contrast to those geared toward addressing an even bigger and longer-term existential threat – containing climate change. The conditions that allow humans to survive, evolve, and thrive on earth are being compromised; radical changes in the climate promise a very uncertain future.

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