-
ECSP Weekly Watch: April 29 – May 3
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security ProgramEnvironmental Prize Winners Highlight Local Communities’ Fight Against Fossil Fuels (New York Times)
On Monday, several environmental leaders won the Goldman Environmental Prize, which the Goldman Environmental Foundation awards annually to grassroots environmental activists from each of the world’s six geographic regions. This year’s prize comes as environmental advocacy groups, especially indigenous ones, increasingly fight legal battles against companies or government entities that wish to use their land for oil and gas acquisition or coal mining.
-
ECSP Weekly Watch: April 22 – 26
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security ProgramInter-American Court of Human Rights Hears from Climate Victims (The Guardian)
Globally, courts are increasingly linking climate change and human rights violations. Earlier this month, for example, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that weak Swiss government policies violated human rights. Another hearing on the opposite side of the world this week will examine states’ legal responsibilities to tackle climate change. In an inquiry instigated by Colombia and Chile, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights will define states’ legal responsibilities to tackle climate change. It will be the third international court tasked with providing an advisory opinion on climate change, but the only one focusing on human rights.
-
ECSP Weekly Watch: April 15 – 19
›UNFPA’s State of World Population 2024 Report Highlights SRHR Inequalities (UNFPA)
Over the last 30 years, the world has made immense progress in improving sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) for women and girls around the world. Since 1994, when governments agreed that SRHR was a cornerstone of international development at the Cairo International Conference on Population, rates of unintended pregnancies have fallen 20%, 162 countries have adopted anti-domestic violence laws, and maternal deaths have decreased by 34%.
-
ECSP Weekly Watch | April 8 – 12
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program
Cholera in Southern Africa Linked to Climate Threats (The New Humanitarian)
In Southern Africa, climate change is encouraging rural-to-urban migration that is also creating a public health crisis. Cholera outbreaks have infected 188,000 Southern Africans since 2022, with 4,100 deaths. Zambia currently faces the harshest impacts, with 705 reported deaths and 21,000 infections since October. Its president, Hakainde Hichilema, even called for citizens to move out of cities to prevent the spread of cholera in January—largely due to increasing concern of the diseases’ spread in informal settlements.
-
ECSP Weekly Watch: April 1 – 5
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program
Indonesia’s Deforestation Intensifies Extreme Weather Impacts (Associated Press)
Indonesia’s vast biodiverse forests have long sustained livelihoods, food supplies, medicine, and cultural practices. Yet the past seven decades have put them under threat. Since 1950, over 74 million hectares, or nearly 286,000 square miles, of rainforest has been logged, burned, or degraded. The country’s key industries—palm oil, paper, rubber, and mining for oil and critical minerals—are largely to blame. This is occurring in a specific context: Indonesia is not only one of the largest global CO2 emitters globally, but it is also highly vulnerable to climate change—particularly climate change-induced extreme weather events.
-
Plowing Under the EU Green Deal? Climate Policy and the European Parliament Elections
›This article originally appeared on the blog of Wilson Center’s Global Europe Program.
The recent farmers’ protests that erupted across several EU countries have put the EU climate debate in the limelight of the European Parliament election campaigns. From Spain to Poland, farmers have been expressing grievances over falling margins; rising costs for energy, fertilizers, and transport; increasing competition from Ukrainian imports; and complex bureaucratic procedures.
-
ECSP Weekly Watch: March 25 – 29
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program
UN Report Highlights Relationship Between Water and Peace (UN Water)
Freshwater consumption is growing at a steady rate, driven largely by agriculture, yet roughly 50% of the world’s population experiences severe water scarcity for at least part of the year. Poor water quality in low-income countries is attributable to low wastewater treatment, whereas in high-income countries, agricultural runoff does the damage. Extreme droughts or heavy rainfall, exacerbated by climate change, also have worsened in frequency and intensity, creating a deepening impact on global water security.
-
ECSP Weekly Watch | March 18 – 22
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program
WMO Says 2023 Saw Record Heats (World Meteorological Organization)
In a new report, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) revealed that records for greenhouse gas levels, surface temperature, ocean heat & acidification, sea level rise, Antarctic Sea ice cover, and glacial retreat were smashed over the past year. The State of the Climate study also confirmed that 2023 was the warmest year on record, with temperatures 1.45 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The WMO also noted that the past decade marked the warmest 10-year period on record.
Showing posts from category Eye On.