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The Greatest Story Never Told
›“If the pope is interested, everyone is interested,” said Alexandre Roulin, accepting the 2019 Environmental Peacebuilding Research Award in Irvine, California. The University of Lausanne professor’s project—on how conserving barn owls in the Middle East brings together people in Israel, Jordan, and Palestine across political divides—is certainly unique and intriguing. (Also, cute owls!)
The spiritual leader of the world’s 1 billion Catholics reached out to Roulin because the “Barn Owls Know No Boundaries” project promises a possible way to build peace in one of the world’s most intractable religious conflicts. A tremendous story, right?
But despite having all the hallmarks of a great tale, a quick Google search finds only a handful of stories about it. This lack of media attention is unfortunately an ongoing challenge for what I have long viewed as “the greatest story never told.”
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Fish Wars, Deadly Dams, and Water Laws: Top Posts for August 2018
›Are we headed for a global fish war? In our top post for August, Vulcan’s Johan Bergenas argues that “fish may become the newest addition to the list of resources driving geopolitical competition.” In “Like Water and Oil: Fish as a Geostrategic Resource,” he identifies five parallels between oil and fish that point to the need for a more sustainable fishing industry.
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Pangolins, Terrorism, and Blockchain: May’s Top 5 Posts
›Pangolin trafficking has reached critical levels, writes Wilson Center Global Fellow Sharon Guynup in May’s most popular post. Originally published in Mongabay, “Pangolins on the Brink” tracks the expansion of the deadly trade in this unique species across Africa, India, China, and even the United States.
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Story of the Decade: Population Dynamics (and Women and Water) Top List of Our Most Popular Posts
›This One Goes to 11.
Eleven years ago this week, the New Security Beat began covering population, environment, and conflict connections. Today, our goal remains the same as in 2007: to provide insight on today’s new security threats and to share overlooked opportunities for cooperation. As we wrote then, “countries in crises often share the problems of rapid population growth and deteriorating environmental resources”: and unfortunately, the same trends continue undermine peace and deepen poverty. But we’ve also analyzed notable global efforts, including the Sustainable Development Goals and the growing resilience agenda, that offer hope for progress.
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The Melting Arctic Could Spur Even More Migration in the Sahel, But There Are Some Surprising Solutions
›A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says that melting in Greenland could change ocean currents and cause unprecedented drought in Africa’s Sahel region, the Washington Post reported last week: “The consequence could be devastating agricultural losses as the area’s climate shifts. And in the most severe scenarios, tens of millions of people could be forced to migrate from the area.”
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Can Citizen Science Help Small Communities Combat Big Fishing Fleets?
›This Earth Day weekend, the U.S. Department of State is hosting more than 2,000 coders in more than 40 cities to encourage creative thinking about technological solutions to ocean issues. The third annual Fishackathon could produce new tools for local communities to track long-distance fishing, a growing problem in some places, as China, in particular, scales up its efforts.
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The Environment and Energy Stories to Watch in 2016
›The climate agreement reached in Paris last December, seen by many as a critical step toward lowering greenhouse gas emissions, was big news – perhaps too big. Pointing to the thousands of articles about COP-21, National Geographic Senior Editor Marla Cone asked at a recent Wilson Center panel, “Is this a wise use of resources, when newsrooms are so stretched thin, to have everybody pretty much chasing the same stories?”
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An Empty Table? Food-Climate-Conflict Connections in Paris
›Security, terrorism, conflict, and peace: you won’t find any of these words in the landmark agreement released on December 12 at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP-21). It’s never been front-and-center on the agenda at previous Conference of Parties, from Copenhagen to Cancun. But in Paris, a city reeling from terrorist attacks, the specter of climate-related conflict haunted delegates and the potential of a climate-resilient peace inspired grassroots protests.
Showing posts by Meaghan Parker.