In The News

Climate Refugee Threat in Tropics Rises, International Action Lags

Roxane Horton July 23, 2014
There is no easy way to put it – the tropics can expect an apocalyptic future not of their making. Severe storms, droughts and rising seas will pose water and food shortages, unrest, conflicts over territory. More desperate refugees are anticipated from a region where more than two thirds of the world’s poor live. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees dismisses massive international migrations...

Attitudes to Water in South Asia

Gareth Price July 21, 2014
Per-capita water use is low and declining in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and even Nepal and Bangladesh – and water disputes exacerbate strained relations, suggests a Chatham House report, with Gareth Price as the lead author. About 90 percent of the water is used for agriculture. Competition rather than cooperation is the norm. Challenges include wide seasonal variations, a lack of data and...

A Field Day for Fracking

Wenonah Hauter July 16, 2014
The US and EU initiated a new round of closed discussions on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, a free trade agreement, with much of the content still kept top secret. However, the EU position on raw materials and energy was leaked in May, and the deal could eliminate restrictions on US exports of natural gas to Europe, reports Wenonah Hauter for Other Words. Concerns have...

A Greener Energy Matrix for the Caribbean and Central America

Harold Trinkunas July 4, 2014
The high cost of electricity and imported manufactured goods from the US rings the alarm for a future energy crisis in the Caribbean Islands and Central America. Electricity costs in some islands are about three times higher than those in the US. An alternative proposal based on green energy and other natural resources, such as natural gas, could help reduce carbon emissions, improve living...

UN: Surging Environmental Crime Funds Conflicts, Hurts Growth

June 27, 2014
Rising wealth for middle classes around the world drives demand for status symbols, in turn spurring environmental crime. Illegal logging, elephant and rhino hunting for ivory and horns, among other practices have created instability in many countries. According to the United Nations and Interpol, illegal practices help fund armed conflicts, militias and insurgents and curtail international aid...

Rise to the Rising Sea Levels

Nayan Chanda June 26, 2014
Evidence of a warming planet is on full display – advanced degrees in science is no longer needed. Farmers cope with droughts, insurers compensate victims of violent storms, pilots on transatlantic flights point out a Greenland with massive swaths no longer white with snow and ice in springtime. “Warm weather is leading ice sheets to break up and turning glaciers into flowing streams,” writes...

The Potential Downside of Natural Gas

Matthew L. Wald June 20, 2014
The natural gas industry suggests that reliance on its fossil fuel rather than coal will reduce carbon dioxide emissions, but the effects are difficult to quantify. A US plan to control carbon emissions at power plants centers on that promise. Natural gas produces fewer emissions than coal, but may not be superior to nuclear energy. Two consequences of replacing nuclear power with natural gas:...