Pressure to ban PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ over their toxicity and environmental persistence is growing but their military applications beyond firefighting foams have received limited attention. Linsey Cottrell explores their broader military uses, and why regulators shouldn’t let militaries keep using them.
In many ways, peace and security had never enjoyed a higher profile than they did at COP29 in Baku and yet developed countries failed fragile and conflict-affected states. In this post Ellie Kinney takes stock of what happened at COP29 and looks ahead to COP30 next year.
The Conflict and Environment Academic Network (CEAN) has celebrated its first anniversary with a full day of talks and posters at the 2024 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. In this post, Rob Watson charts CEAN’s progress over the last 12 months and outlines the network’s aims for the following year.
25 years since the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention entered into force, its Fifth Review Conference is taking place amidst the accelerating crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. Linsey Cottrell reviews how the mine action sector is responding to the triple crisis, and what more is needed.
World leaders, negotiators, and civil society are heading to Baku for what its Azerbaijani hosts have labelled the “COP of Peace”. Set against the backdrop of an increasingly unpeaceful world, and the urgent need for states to agree on a new climate finance goal, Ellie Kinney explores what we can expect on militarism, conflict and climate at COP29.
In this post Doug Weir examines whether framing the climate crisis primarily as a security threat slowed the growth of the partnerships and public consent needed to support rapid military decarbonisation.
A year of escalating conflict across the Middle East has had a range of direct and reverberating consequences for the region’s environment. In this post we identify the current and emerging trends that are threatening human health and often fragile and degraded ecosystems.
The war in Yemen has profoundly affected solid waste management, increasing open dumping and with it risks to the environment and public health. In this post, Hanna Schulten explores how satellites can identify dumpsites and so help inform remedial measures and waste management policies.
