A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program

The Perils of Climate Reporting: Global Threats to Journalists Surge

Environmental journalists are under attack. That is the conclusion of a new global survey conducted by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and Deakin University. These researchers found that nearly 40% of climate and environment journalists have been threatened with harm, with 11% experiencing actual physical violence—often from individuals involved in illegal logging, mining, and other activities. Testimony from journalists at a recent ECSP event titled Environmental Journalists on the Frontlines of Democracy also made it clear that covering such illegal activities is increasingly perilous.

From record-breaking heat in 2023 to alarming levels of biodiversity loss, our global climate and environmental crises pose a growing threat to human and planetary wellbeing. But even as these crises intensify, the work of documenting them has itself become increasingly risky.

Across the world, threats and attacks against journalists who report on environmental degradation and investigate environmental crimes are on the rise. A recent UNESCO survey reported 300 attacks against environmental journalists in the last five years—a 42 percent jump from the previous 5-year period.​

Central Asia is known for its rich mineral resources and oil reserves, and its unique geographic position between Russia, China, and Iran. But it is also beginning to position itself as a potential leader in water diplomacy. This June, policymakers, academics, and those in the private sector will convene in Tajikistan for the Dushanbe Water Process. In partnership with the United Nations, the country is hosting biennial conferences between 2018-2028; this June will mark the third international high level conference on the topic.

A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program

Panama’s First Climate-Related Relocation

The Guna Indigenous people of Gardi Sugdub—an island in Panama’s San Blas Archipelago—are moving to new mainland homes in Carti Port’s Isber Yala neighborhood. This move is part of a larger relocation effort supported by the country’s government since 2010 to address the impacts of climate change on its indigenous peoples.

A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program

Southern Africa’s Drought Offers a Window into the Region’s Climate Future

Southern Africa has been hit by one of its worst droughts in decades, and this calamity highlights the vulnerability of smallholder farmers who rely on rainfed agriculture. For the first time, farmers like Esnart Chogani, who works on a farm just outside Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, were unable to bring in a harvest. The region is normally a major exporter of maize, yet it now has begun importing the grain to meet demand.

Human-produced pollution is the single leading cause of mortality today, yet it is not widely considered a form of violence. On July 28, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted—with 161 in favor and eight abstentions—that living in a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a human right. Building on a similar declaration by the United Nations Human Rights Council in October 2021, the UNGA has now reinforced the notion that the growing assaults on human health through environmental hazards are transgressions against the basic rights and freedoms of people. Efforts to create a human right to a healthy planet, and even a planetary right to health that would signifying potential rights of nature, are growing both in real activity and demand.

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%.