Why managing sand sustainably is a gritty problem
Sand from fragile rivers, beaches, and the sea floor is being mined to meet the vast demand for construction materials, resulting in major environment and
From Our Blog
The Science of Destruction
In 1965, 29-year-old Dang Hong Nhut was visiting her husband in the Chu Chi region of Vietnam when the planes came. ‘After they had gone,
Lake Chad shrinking? It’s a story that masks serious failures of governance
Lake Chad is a hydrological miracle – a life-giving, freshwater lake in the Sahara desert. But the region around the lake has been engulfed in
Climate Security in Afghanistan: Should it even be on the radar?
Today (Tuesday 17th September) the UN Security Council will debate the renewal of the mandate for UNAMA—the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan—a twice-yearly event that
Heating up: mediation and climate change
Mediation – the process of helping groups in, or at risk of, armed conflict settle their differences peacefully – rarely gets the attention it deserves
Driven to Extraction: Can Sand Mining be Sustainable?
Sand is a critical ingredient for many of the materials that we take for granted: concrete, glass and asphalt. Sand and coarse aggregates form the backbone
Better the Devil You Know: The Importance of Measuring Climate Risk
Avoiding the worst impacts of climate change requires a better understanding of what those may be and impartial ways to track them. [This piece first
Stopping the Great Splintering: A 5-Step Plan to Revive Multilateralism
I miss 2015. It was a landmark year. In the space of 12 short months governments signed a slew of groundbreaking agreements: the Sustainable Development
Craft and the Council: Will Kelly Knight Craft end climate action at the UN Security Council?
In late February, Donald Trump announced Kelly Knight Craft, a 57-year-old Kentucky native, as his pick to succeed Nikki Haley as US Ambassador to the
Who defends the defenders?
They came for Niloufar more than a year ago. On 24th and 25th January 2018, Niloufar Bayani, a former colleague of mine at UN Environment,