Dam building projects could fuel water stress in Middle East
While scientists warn of their negative impact on biodiversity, the autonomous Kurdistan Region is building multiple dams to respond to water insecurity. Local groups fear shortages and raised tensions could follow. Over the last 30 years, Jassim Al-Asadi has witnessed the Mesopotamian Marshes of southern Iraq where he was born undergo dramatic changes. Once the [...]
A Worsening Water Crisis Is Threatening Iraq’s Future
Instability will continue in Iraq so long as its long-neglected water crisis is not addressed The many ongoing challenges in Iraq—from political upheaval and COVID-19 to plummeting oil prices and the resurgence of the Islamic State—often overshadow the precarious state of the country’s water resources, even though water shortages are exacerbating many of those very [...]
On militarism: In the wake of the coronavirus, are we ready to redefine ‘security’?
COVID-19 has brought light to the connections between the environment, health, livelihoods, economies, food systems, personal safety, communities and political stability – and how a shock to one can send ripples throughout the rest. Last autumn, a report compiled at the request of UN Secretary-General António Guterres raised the alarm on the “very real threat [...]
Can militant groups be environmentalists?
The case for engaging with militant groups to protect the environment Competition over scarce natural resources is often a key driver of the tensions that fuel armed conflict in different corners of the world. Yet in the heat of battle, environmental considerations are often relegated to afterthoughts, as smoke from burning buildings clouds the skies [...]
On the frontline of war, Yemeni women are building peace
The lived experience of those most affected by war, and those working hardest to end it, has led to a tangible understanding that without women, there can be no just peace in Yemen. It was the third year of the war when Muna Luqman heard of a conflict over water in Al-Haymatain, a remote area [...]
An environmental movement for times of war, too
While current global action focuses on the impact of humans and industry on the environment during peacetime, what about during conflict? Oil wells set ablaze in Iraq. Forests pillaged in Colombia. Wildlife populations decimated across the Sahara-Sahel. Around the world, armed conflicts continue to cause significant damage to the environment. In turn, this damage often [...]
Hitting nature where it hurts: Iran feels the pernicious effects of U.S. sanctions on biodiversity conservation
US sanctions are hampering conservation interventions necessary to protect critically endangered species from going extinct Situated at the confluence of the Mediterranean, arid west Asian and temperate semi-humid Caspian climatic zones, Iran is home to a rich and complex array of biodiversity, including the world’s few remaining Asiatic cheetahs. Efforts to protect its biodiversity, however, [...]
Can rewilding restore Europe’s biodiversity and help change the way we think about nature?
The reintroduction of wildlife, which receives disproportionate media attention, is but one element of a broad spectrum of measures that rewilding encompasses. A griffon vulture soars above the Rhodope Mountains that cut across the Bulgaria-Greece border. The colony it belongs to makes its home on the Greek side of the Rhodopes, but often goes in [...]
The olive oil industry is confronting death by spittlebug in Europe
Xylella is one of the 'most dangerous plant bacteria worldwide' and has been confirmed in Corsica, the Balearic Islands, southern France, Spain, Portugal and Germany It was in the winter of 2018 when Juan Escandell first noticed something was wrong. Leaves on some of his olive trees were withering and turning brown, while the fruits [...]