Environmental Security

A New Era for Climate Diplomacy

The groundbreaking agreement reached at the 2015 Paris climate change conference is a diplomatic triumph. Laurent Fabius, foreign minister of France and president of the meeting formally known as the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) called the final text “differentiated, fair, dynamic, durable, balanced, and legally binding.”

Lessons from the Development of Binational and Civil Society Cooperation on Water Management at the U.S.-Mexico Border

Mexico and the United States are partners in a number of agreements that imply joint management of natural resources and have had a long and productive history of sharing water resources. The two countries share water resources in the Colorado and Tijuana river basins, and in the Rio Grande basin; the joint utilization of their waters is defined by the Treaty of February 3, 1944 and its Minutes. 

State of World Population 2015 - 'Shelter From the Storm: A Transformative Agenda for Women and Girls in a Crisis-Prone World' (Report Launch)

The sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls must be protected, even – especially – during “the toughest of times, in the hardest of places,” said Kate Gilmore, deputy executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), at the Wilson Center on December 3.

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The Asia-Pacific Rebalance, National Security, and Climate Change (Report Launch)

In the hierarchy of global and national security challenges, climate change comes out near the top, said a panel of distinguished defense, diplomacy, and intelligence leaders at the Wilson Center on November 17.

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Insights from a National Dialogue on Climate Change, Energy, and Security

In the midst of a minefield on day two of Desert Storm Task Force Ripper, Marine Corps Operations Officer Richard Zilmer stepped out of his armored personnel carrier, squinted up at the sky, and saw nothing but black from horizon to horizon. Iraqi forces, trying desperately to blunt the attack of coalition armies, had set fire to hundreds of Kuwaiti oil wells and oil-filled trenches.

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Decarbonizing China’s Power Sector for Cleaner Air and Climate Smart Cities

At the US-China Climate Smart/Low Carbon City Summit held September 15-16 in Los Angeles, 11 Chinese cities and 3 provinces committed to taking steps to reduce carbon emissions and reach “peak coal” earlier than China’s national 2030 target. Continued expansion of renewables, gas, nuclear power and energy efficient buildings in China’s cities will depend heavily on efforts to decarbonize the country’s power grid.

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CEF Director Jennifer Turner Quoted in U.S. News & World Report Article on China's Commitment to Reducing Carbon Emissions

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the White House on Thursday may seem like just another in a long line of general diplomatic meetings where much is discussed but little is resolved​​​​​​​​​​​. But behind closed doors the Obama administration has built a stable diplomatic relationship with China that shows no signs of collapsing, experts say, even as the discussion between the two superpowers becomes increasingly blunt.

Peace, Conflict, and the Scale of the Climate Risk Landscape (WEBINAR)

The Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program is promoting a five-session webinar series hosted by The Security and Sustainability Forum and the Global Security Initiative (GSI) at Arizona State University to facilitate a national dialogue about the global security implications of climate risk.

REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR HERE

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African Security Issues: An Update on Current Challenges and Future Threats

James Schear, a Global Fellow with the Wilson Center's Africa Program and Environmental Change and Security Program, is a former Assistant Deputy Secretary of Defense with an expertise in the many security challenges facing the African continent. From Boko Haram to ongoing conflict in South Sudan, there is no shortage of issues. We spoke to Schear about a host of topics and also about the potential represented by the Security Governance Initiative agreed to by the U.S. and six African nations. That’s the focus of this edition of Wilson Center NOW.

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