This article originally appeared on Enheduanna, a blog of the Wilson Center’s Middle East Women’s Initiative.

Only a few years ago, the world celebrated the women-led revolution in Sudan that ousted the former dictator Omer El-Basher after 30 years in power. Women were fed up with his government. Those who used to live in the urban areas experienced the humiliating public order laws: they were arrested and flogged for wearing trousers or walking around with no headscarves.

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

The Success of Community-based Conservation in Africa (Yale 360)

Across Africa, herders once seen as threats to wildlife have now become vital conservationists. In a transformative shift from “fortress conservation” to community stewardship, they are protecting iconic species like elephants and lions as they coexist with their livestock.

The Dot-Mom column of the Environmental Change and Security Program’s New Security Beat blog serves as a platform for diverse perspectives and insights from global experts in maternal and global health, gender equality, and peace and security. In 2024, the Dot-Mom column, hosted by the Wilson Center’s Maternal Health Initiative, was marked by an incredible number of guest contributor articles.

As an economic model that emphasizes the continual use of resources by rethinking waste and product design and promoting a shared economy mindset, the “circular economy” (CE) now resonates across a wide range of stakeholders—including key players in the private sector, major environmental groups, individual countries, multilaterals, and donors. Yet progress in adopting CE among developing nations has been slow and uneven.

In recent weeks, users of the social network Bluesky were able to watch a compelling video featuring Jessica Newberry Le Vey—a Climate Change and Health Policy Fellow at Imperial College’s Climate Cares Centre. The video begins with Le Vey’s direct-to-camera assertion that the climate crisis is a health crisis affecting people around the world. Then Le Vey’s image disappears—yet we hear her (or someone who sounds eerily like her) speak over a compendium of combat footage that includes video of ATACAM missiles being fired and larger strategic missiles on the move. Climate is important, declares the speaker, but there are more serious problems that threaten our security.

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

Room for Justice in Vietnam’s Energy Transition? (The Diplomat)

Vietnam’s crackdown on environmental leaders such as Hoàng Thị Minh Hồng on disputed charges raises significant concerns about human rights, transparency, and civil society’s role in its energy transition. These arrests have garnered international attention, but Vietnam’s government argues that they had nothing to do with environmental work. And while Hoàng and other activists have been released, their work remains curtailed. The message is clear: you’re not welcome here.

In April 2024, Thai government officials traveled to the Chinese provinces of Fujian and Guangdong with a single-point agenda – convincing the leading Chinese electric vehicle (EV) battery makers to invest in their country. Two months later, the global leader in the EV battery industry, China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL), announced an initial investment of over $100 million to set up an assembly plant in collaboration with a local Thai state-owned company.

“When babies are born early, they actually are not prepared to be in an environment that’s below [the temperature] of the human body, and they have to start pulling calories to be able to keep their body temperature at 37 degrees Celsius,” said Dr. Ann Hansen, a neonatologist at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Boston Children’s Hospital and Founder of the Global Newborn Solution during a recent event held in commemoration of World Prematurity Day. “To keep them in what we call a thermal neutral environment, they need to have an external heat source.”