In The News

For the US, Sailing Around the South China Sea Is Not Strategy

Harry J. Kazianis June 2, 2016
China is intent on dominating the entire South China Sea, including sections claimed by neighboring nations like the Philippines and Vietnam. The coercion has caught the United States off guard. Using tracking systems and military installations, “China has set the stage to turn areas around its near seas … into what some are calling a ‘no-man's land’ for US naval vessels and aircraft,”...

Japan Trains Others to Enforce Law in East, South China Seas

Yoichi Funabashi May 19, 2016
China has emphasized a bilateral approach on disputed claims in the East and South China Seas and fragmented the opposition. A united regional front could uphold the rules-based order and reduce the potential for conflict, argues journalist and author Yoichi Funabashi. “Mindful of its own tensions with Beijing in the East China Sea, and the importance of avoiding a split between Asia and the...

Mourn the Death of the Great Barrier Reef

Irene Banos Ruiz May 3, 2016
With minimal enforcement for protecting the ocean commons, coral reef are being destroyed. Coral reefs survive within a narrow range of temperatures, and a report from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies points out that more than 90 percent of the Great Barrier Reef has endured a bleaching event due to warmer temperatures and acidification. “Reefs dampen...

South China Sea: The Fight China Will Take to the Brink of War

Peter Hartcher April 28, 2016
China and the United States are competing for military dominance of the western Pacific Ocean and war could flare over the South China Sea, reports Peter Hartcher for the Sydney Morning Herald. Beijing has said it won’t comply with a ruling from the International Court of Justice in the Hague that upholds claims from the Philippines. The United States and Australia are not taking sides in the...

Obama's Cautious and Calibrated Approach to an Assertive China

Robert Sutter April 19, 2016
The world’s two largest economies are rivals that fare best when cooperating on their many shared interests, whether stemming climate change or nuclear proliferation. A key area of contention between the two powers is the South China Sea, and under Xi Jinping, China has been more aggressive in pursuing its broad claims. Robert Sutter, author and international affairs professor, describes the...

Study Reveals Stunning Acceleration of Sea Level Rise

John Upton February 23, 2016
The 20st century stands out for sudden rising sea levels, much more than any of the previous 27 centuries. “The new study, the culmination of a decade of work by three teams of farflung scientists, has charted what they called an ‘acceleration’ in sea level rise that’s triggering and worsening flooding in coastlines around the world,” reports John Upton for Climate Central. “The findings also...

Scientists Are Floored by What’s Happening in the Arctic Right Now

Chris Mooney February 19, 2016
The data from NASA is ominous: January is reported as the ninth straight month of record-breaking global warmth. The warmth is not evenly distributed around the globe though, but concentrated in the Arctic. “Global warming has long been known to be particularly intense in the Arctic – a phenomenon known as ‘Arctic amplification’ – but even so, lately the phenomenon has been extremely pronounced...