-
‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’: U.S. conflict prevention policy in a world of climate change
›The crisis in Ukraine is rightly at the center of U.S. foreign policy attention but, even in the midst of that justified focus, the latest IPCC report unflinchingly reminds us of another emergency: we are running out of time to avoid the most devastating effects of climate change, including the social, economic, environmental and security risks that can actually drive war.
-
China’s Growing Environmental Footprint in the Caribbean
›China continues blazing a trail across the Wider Caribbean through large capital flows, loans, and investment. In the last two years alone, more than a dozen Caribbean nations have signed on to China’s Belt and Road Initiative—even as some still recognize Taiwan, perhaps the only remaining sticking point preventing further signatories. The deepening of relations did not happen overnight, but it is only recently that the Belt and Road Initiative has drawn attention to China’s strategic investments and growing political bonds with Caribbean island nations.
-
Making Room at the Table for Businesswomen in Jordan: A Conversation with Reem Badran
›“People told me it was only for men,” says Reem Badran, Founder & CEO of Al Hurra for Management and Business Development and former member of the Jordanian House of Representatives, when speaking about her decision to run for the Amman Chamber of Commerce in the latest episode of the Riyada podcast from the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program. Badran is a Jordanian trailblazer and was recently named One of the World’s Most Successful Women in Business by the International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge Foundation in New York. In 2009, she became the first woman elected to the board of Amman’s Chamber of Commerce since its establishment in 1923. To this day, she remains the only woman to be elected to this post. “In our community [and] region, it is not easy for women to be able to penetrate the business community. It takes a while for people to believe in a woman and that she can have a successful business.”
-
It’s Not Ok: How Data from Nigeria Reveals the Role of Addressing Community Attitudes to End Violence Against Women
› -
Climate Resilience for Whom? The Importance of Locally-Led Development in the Northern Triangle
›“One of the challenges of responding to climate risks is that climate’s impacts and how those impacts interact with existing systems on the ground are so varied and specific to a given place,” said Lauren Risi, Director of the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change & Security Program, at a recent PeaceCon conference panel on climate change, violence, and migration in Central America. “But there is also an opportunity in how we respond to develop more agile, just, and sustaining programs and policies that go beyond a singular focus on responding to climate change and instead build the overall resilience of communities.”
-
The Gasses That Will Make or Break Climate Change Mitigation
›New worldwide attention on methane has increased the potential for countries to implement methane policy in the energy sector. In November 2021, the countries gathered at COP 26 in Glasgow launched the Global Methane Pledge, an agreement that aims to reduce methane emissions at least 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030. If the 111 participating countries are successful, this endeavor could curb over 8 gigatons of carbon equivalent emissions and prevent more than 0.2 degrees Celsius in warming by 2050.
-
COP 27 in Sharm: Few Opportunities and More Challenges for MENA Environmentalists
›In November, the world’s marquee climate conference will come to one of its fastest warming regions. Over roughly two weeks, global leaders, businesspeople, and, in theory, civil society organizations, will negotiate and schmooze along the shores of the Red Sea at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. After a rather mixed outcome of last year’s COP 26 in Glasgow – and even more chilling IPCC report releases since then, global environmentalists are counting on this year’s COP 27 to produce the kinds of game-changing, emissions-cutting measures that climate risks so desperately demand.
-
Break the Bias: Breaking Barriers to Women’s Global Health Leadership
›We need to ensure that diversity is shaping and influencing global health decision-making and this is what we mean when we call for gender transformative leaders, said Dr. Roopa Dhatt, Executive Director of Women in Global Health, at an International Women’s Day event hosted by Women in Global Health to launch the first-ever book on women’s leadership in global health. “We’re calling for diverse leadership with intersectionality looking at transforming power and really making sure we’re going to the root drivers of inequities and driving systems change,” said Dr. Dhatt. Some 28 authors and 11 interviewees from 17 countries across 6 regions came together to write this rallying call to redress gender inequity in health leadership. Women and Global Health Leadership: Power and Transformation explores barriers and facilitators to women’s global health leadership; showcases the personal, professional, and political journeys of women leaders across global health sectors including government, academia, and civil society; and offers pragmatic solutions to increasing women’s representation at all levels of leadership, said Dr. Rosemary Morgan, Associate Scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.