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John Scanlon on the Case for Criminalizing Wildlife Trafficking under International Law
›“The world is still feeling the full brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic which most likely had its origins in a wild animal,” says John Scanlon AO, Former Secretary-General of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and Chair of the Global Initiative to End Wildlife Crime, in this week’s Friday Podcast. Scanlon spoke at a recent Wilson Center event on the connections between wildlife crime, human health, and security.
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The Top 5 Posts of June 2021
›In our top post for June, Steve Gale shares 5 consequences out of the National Intelligence Council’s recently released Global Trends report that development actors should be particularly attuned to. In addition to the “long tail” of the COVID-19 pandemic, the report recognizes the environmental consequences of climate change, including unprecedented numbers of wildfires, increased intensity of tropical storms, and sea-level rise. As a result, migration will be more pronounced and require more targeted aid approaches as demographics shift.
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We Have to Put the Last Mile First: Ensuring Sexual and Reproductive Health for All
›Whether marginalized populations, such as adolescents, LGBTQ+ people, migrant workers, and sex workers are included in health services can be a “litmus test” of our progress towards universal health coverage (UHC), said Sivananthi Thanenthiran, Executive Director of Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW). Thanenthiran spoke at a recent Wilson Center event with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research about the importance of engaging stakeholders in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) to achieve UHC for all. In SRH services, the most marginalized and most vulnerable populations are often left out, she said. When engaging stakeholders, representatives from these groups must be included to ensure equity in healthcare services.
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Displacement, Migration, and Urbanization in the 21st Century
›Guest Contributor // Urban Sustainability Laboratory // July 6, 2021 // By Gad Perry, Chris Upchurch & Laura ClineOver 79 million people are currently forcibly displaced within their own country or across international borders as a result of conflict or natural disaster. As Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, explained in 2020, “resolving forced displacement is not only a moral or humanitarian imperative, but also deals with issues at the heart of the [Security] Council’s mandate to maintain international peace and security.”
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Aquaculture Fish Feed – Can China and the U.S Break the Ocean Connection?
›Fish is brain food. This is a lesson we learned from our mothers and grandmothers. They were right—the Omega-3 fatty acids in fish are good for our health. Omega-3 is an essential fat, but our bodies cannot make it, so it must come from the food we eat, and fish is the best source. Fish, like people, cannot make Omega-3, so they too get it from their food.
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The Cost of Care: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Has Exacerbated the Baby Bust
›The decision to have a child usually requires a feeling of stability and confidence in the future, says Natascha Braumann, Director of Global Government and Public Affairs for Fertility at EMD Serono, on this week’s episode of Friday Podcasts. But with COVID-19, especially in the first months of the pandemic, there was no feeling of stability. “No one knew what was going to happen.”
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Local Environmental Governance to Reduce Conflict and Deforestation in Afghanistan
›How should the international community support the stabilization of Afghanistan after U.S. and NATO troops withdraw? Answers from President Biden, high ranking U.S. administration officials, and lawmakers have focused on funding the Afghan military and police and remotely retaining U.S. lethal capacity. Development aid is mentioned only in the vaguest of terms. But as withdrawal plans solidify, peace and resilience against insurgencies urgently require the administration to shift the focus to development and include support for local environmental governance. Looking at how crucial forests are to Afghanistan’s local economy and governance systems, we sketch the resource-conflict links and propose possibilities for local, environmental governance that the international community could support to quell insurgency and build the political, economic, and environmental foundations for peace in the country.
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Energizing Zero-waste Practices in Rural China: Q&A with Chen Liwen and Qiu Yuxue of China Zero Waste Village
›Growing up in Xicai village in rural Hebei Province, Chen Liwen spent plenty of her childhood outdoors, where she cultivated a deep connection with nature. This connection eventually led her to pursue a career working at environmental NGOs. Early in her career while she was surveying landfills outside of Beijing, she discovered “mountains” of putrid waste that were leaking into waterways, making nearby residents sick. That incident sparked her to focus her work on reducing waste and waste pollution. After working on urban waste issues Chen became concerned that pollution reforms to expand waste sorting and recycling in cities were not extended to rural areas, where 40 percent of China’s population live.