Search

Begin New Search Topic Environment

1. Recycling Regime, Environment, and Exclusion of Electronic Scrap Workers in Delhi

Author:
Gayatri Jai Singh Rathore
Publication Date:
11-2026
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI)
Abstract:
In recent years, the Indian e-waste sector has undergone a process of formalisation through the implementation of E-waste Management Rules (2016), leading to the creation of what I call recycling regime. The upper and middle classes, along with NGOs and industry actors, are frontrunners in thinking about e-waste policies. They were prompted by a twofold motive: the desire for a “world-class”, clean, and pollution-free city; and seizing business opportunities by extracting value from e-waste. Rather than replacing the State, they co-opted the State so that it would legislate to safeguard the environment, and address toxicity and health problems associated with e-waste. Recycling regime relies on formalisation processes embedded in multiple technologies – technicity, capital-intensive facilities, certifications, authorisations, and licences – that work together to exclude the “informal” sector from the e-waste governance system. Recycling technologies act as “technologies of domination” that further contribute to sidelining the “informal” labour of scrap workers or e-kabadis, who as Muslims already find themselves on the margins of society. However, the recycling regime fails to safeguard the environment in the end as e-waste trickles down back to the informal sector via authorised actors.
Topic:
Civil Society, Economics, Environment, Globalization, Health, Markets, Poverty, Governance, Law, Urbanization, Emerging States, and Norms
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

2. Kuwait Country Report 2024

Author:
Arab Barometer
Publication Date:
05-2026
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Barometer
Abstract:
Since the last Arab Barometer survey in Kuwait, conducted in 2022, major changes have taken place, significantly affecting political stability in the country. While political life in Kuwait was saturated with crises, and its indicators were clearly visible in the dissolution of the National Assembly (Parliament) repeatedly before completing its term, the shifts, changes, and political instability that dominated the public arena, between late 2022 and the current period of 2024, included even more severe events. Kuwait faced the unconstitutional dissolution of the National Assembly and the suspension of some articles in the constitution, now for the third time in Kuwait’s history. The first two such crises were in 1967 and 1986. To summarize the events that took place from June 2022 until the dissolution of the Parliament and the suspension of the constitution in May 2024, they are as follows: On August 3, 2022, the National Assembly was dissolved constitutionally, in response to the sit-in of a number of MPs inside the Parliament and their overnight stay there. The Crown Prince (the current Emir) gave a speech in which he emphasized adherence to the constitution, and also presented initiatives in electoral reform. He emphasized that the government would not vote for the candidate for the speaker of the National Assembly, and that the elections would be through the national ID card (effectively changing electoral circuits). The protesting MPs considered these reforms a victory. As a result, Ahmed al-Nawaf was appointed Prime Minister
Topic:
Corruption, Education, Environment, Gender Issues, Health, Migration, Governance, Democracy, Economy, Discrimination, Institutions, Labor Market, Freedom, and Political System
Political Geography:
Middle East and Kuwait

3. MIRAGE Model Documentation Version 2.0

Author:
Antoine Bouët, Lionel Fontagné, Christophe Gouel, Houssein Guimbard, Cristina Mitaritonna, Balthazar de Vaulchier, and Yu Zheng
Publication Date:
01-2026
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales (CEPII)
Abstract:
MIRAGE is a multi-region, multi-sector computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, initially devoted to trade policy analysis and more recently applied to long-term growth and environmental issues. It incorporates energy, carbon pricing, imperfect competition, and rigid investment allocation, in a sequential dynamic setup where installed capital is assumed to be immobile. The model provides trade analysis with detailed treatment of trade costs and Armington specifications, drawing upon a detailed measure of trade barriers through the MAcMap-HS6 database. Production features nested CES functions with capital-energy bundles under both perfect and imperfect competition frameworks, while final demand follows a LES-CES utility function. The sequential dynamic framework enables longterm simulations by combining total factor productivity calibration with macroeconomic projections from the MaGE model. The most recent version offers significant improvements in electricity sector modeling with renewable energy representation, base-load and peak-load dinstinctions, and detailed greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accounting with carbon market mechanisms. This documentation provides complete technical specifications, calibration procedures, and implementation guidelines for researchers and policymakers using MIRAGE for economic policy analysis.
Topic:
Environment, Trade Policy, Carbon Emissions, MIRAGE, and Computable General Equilibrium (CGE)
Political Geography:
Global Focus

4. Land Tenure in Lebanon: The Elephant in the Room of Agricultural Policy Debates

Author:
Christophe Maroun
Publication Date:
01-2026
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
“Land for those who work it.” This popular slogan, heralded by anti-colonialists and anti-imperialists worldwide, as well as by peasant movements such as La Via Campesina and the Landless Workers’ Movement in Brazil, encapsulates a global demand for agrarian reforms that put peasants at the heart of food systems. Yet while global conversations about food production and rural development have had to confront the uncomfortable issue of land tenure, in Lebanon land remains the elephant in the room of national agrarian policy debates. The question of land distribution and access in Lebanon touches on the very foundations of the country’s political economy, which is based on rent extraction, clientelism, and elite capture. A tangle of different land regimes has enabled political and economic elites to continuously convert land into speculative private assets, slowly eroding the social value of land while turning it into a commodity and a source of political power. The persistence of land-based power and elite resistance has historically blocked any meaningful structural reform. In parallel, by preferring donor-driven, technical interventions in agrarian and food policies that avoid the core issue of unequal land access, the Lebanese state functions as a guarantor of existing class structures. This article argues that reforming land access in Lebanon is the essential structural condition for cultivating a fair and sustainable agricultural system rooted in agroecology. It also proposes specific reformist policies and measures toward that goal. In the current political landscape, redistributive land reform – the transfer of tenure rights to new beneficiaries to provide more equitable access – remains distant. Nevertheless, pragmatic alternatives exist to improve land access to vulnerable communities and safeguard precarious agricultural lands. These include strengthening the use of communal amiri lands, protecting agricultural zones from speculation, and activating idle land.
Topic:
Environment, Transitional Justice, Land Tenure, and Agricultural Policy
Political Geography:
Middle East and Lebanon

5. How IPLCs Can Leverage BRICS for Inclusive Environmental Governance

Author:
Metolo Foyet
Publication Date:
02-2026
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Nkafu Policy Institute
Abstract:
As global power shifts toward multipolarity, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs)face a pivotal chance to influence the emerging governance architecture of the BRICS+ alliance.Western-led frameworks (UNFCCC, CBD) recognize Indigenous rights but still struggle withimplementation. BRICS, representing over half the world’s population and major biodiversity,offers an alternative platform to advance plural knowledge systems and South–South solidarity. This brief proposes embedding Indigenous leadership within BRICS institutions, aligning newnorms with UNDRIP and ILO 169, and creating financial and knowledge instruments that sustaincommunity-led conservation. The goal is shared sovereignty in environmental decision-making,not token participation. The central question is whether BRICS can evolve from a geopolitical and financial bloc into a rights-based governance platform where IPLCs become co-architects ofglobal environmental policy, and whether multipolar governance can close implementation gapsby embedding Indigenous authority at the design stage.
Topic:
Environment, Governance, Indigenous, BRICS, and Multipolarity
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6. Navigating the Challenges of Environmentalism in an Increasingly Authoritarian Iraq

Author:
Taif Alkhudary
Publication Date:
02-2025
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
There has been a marked increase in environmental activism in Iraq in recent years. This shift has taken place in the context of what has often been presented as a new stability, due to the absence of active armed conflict in the country since 2017. However, as “stabilization” efforts give way to “development”, Iraq is also coming to terms with the slow violence of protracted wars,1 an astronomical and rapid rise in oil production, and the impacts of climate change – most visible in the widespread incidences of pollution and public health crises, as well as in the drying up of ancient rivers and lakes and desertification, which is destroying livelihoods and causing mass migration across the country.2 The rise in interest in the environment has also come in the aftermath of the 2019 Tishreen uprising, to which the government and associated militias have responded with a widespread crackdown on freedom of expression and assembly, making any form of activism increasingly dangerous. This study examines how self-identified environmentalists active in Iraq interact with this complex context and the challenges they face. To navigate the increased authoritarianism of the Iraqi state, this research finds that environmentalists tend to adopt small, carefully framed initiatives that are usually presented as supporting the government in solving some of the environmental issues it faces, as opposed to being overtly adversarial. This approach also means that Iraq’s environmental movements lack autonomy, and that certain issues – particularly those that might harm the business interests or standing of the political elite – remain off-limits. As a result, environmental initiatives in Iraq tend to make shallow interventions that do little to address the root causes of environmental degradation or to mitigate the effects of climate change. These dynamics are compounded by the funding structures of donor organizations, who prefer to award grants to small-scale, time-bound projects the outcomes of which can be easily measured. Environmental actors active in Iraq have also begun to form coalitions with the government, the private sector, and other members of civil society, such as political activists. However, this remains in its infancy and is often limited to a small number of individuals acting alone. Coalition building remains a substantial challenge and is often actively blocked by the government, used by corporations for greenwashing, and sees the efforts of environmental activists and organizations coopted by politicians for their own political and financial ends. The findings of the current study corroborate and extend the work of Wiktor-Mach et al. on Kurdistan, especially their characterization of environmental activism in the region as “a specific type of activism that does not question mainstream policies and practices but intends to push for change within existing systems and that has a cooperative character”.3 However, it is also important to note (as will be discussed in greater detail in this paper) that in Federal Iraq, the uptake of such non-confrontational tactics is the result of the increased crackdown on civil society post-Tishreen, which has raised the stakes and dangers of more adversarial work. In addition, while in Kurdistan episodes of mass contention are relatively rare and often focus on issues such as salaries and service provision, in Federal Iraq there has been at least one episode of mass mobilization in response to environmental issues in recent years in the form of the 2018 water protests in Basra.
Topic:
Environment, Politics, Authoritarianism, and Activism
Political Geography:
Iraq and Middle East

7. Improving the Efficiency of NRC Power Reactor Licensing: Environmental Reviews

Author:
Matt Bowen and Rama T. Ponangi
Publication Date:
04-2025
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP), Columbia University
Abstract:
Achieving net-zero emissions in the United States by mid-century requires the rapid buildout of low-carbon energy infrastructure. One challenge to this rapid buildout is the environmental reviews required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which are part of federal approval processes for new energy projects. This process has increasingly caused significant delays and added costs, and the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) of 2023 was passed by Congress in part to address these issues through amendments to NEPA that impose timelines on environmental reviews. For nuclear power, a low-carbon energy source that has a role in many US net-zero scenarios, environmental reviews are conducted by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) as part of its reactor licensing process. Because this process has at times been lengthy and costly, Congress passed the 2024 ADVANCE Act in part to require the NRC to implement its responsibilities under NEPA more efficiently. During the 2000s and 2010s, most of the environmental impact statements (EISs) these reviews produced would not have complied with NEPA’s new FRA timeline (two years or fewer) and page limit (150, or in extraordinary cases 300). More recent NRC environmental reviews for test reactor deployments have been somewhat quicker and had shorter review documents, perhaps a recognition by the agency that the efficiency of this process needed improvement. This report, part of a series of publications on nuclear licensing reform at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA, focuses on how the NRC can fulfill the new legal mandates on time and page limits for environmental reviews and in general improve the efficiency of these reviews. The report demonstrates that earlier (1970s–80s) environmental reviews for nuclear power reactors licensed under the 10 CFR 50 licensing pathway took less time and generated shorter review documents than those conducted under 10 CFR 52 during the 2000s and 2010s. The latter reviews—all of which were for large light water reactor projects—also utilized substantial NRC resources, thereby incurring significant costs to the applicants. None of these reviews found that the reactor projects were expected to create what the NRC calls “large adverse” environmental impacts, which could destabilize environmental resources. Although some “moderate adverse” impacts were identified, they typically came from unavoidable elements such as new transmission lines and traffic that would result from any large construction project. And beneficial impacts always came in the form of jobs and taxes. At the very least, these findings raise questions about the allocation of time and resources to various aspects of the NRC’s environmental review.
Topic:
Environment, Regulation, Carbon Emissions, Nuclear Energy, and Permitting
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

8. Community Forestry Addresses Environmental Destruction in Mexico

Author:
Linda Farthing
Publication Date:
05-2025
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:
Community-based governance structures put decision-making about Ixlán de Juarez’s forests into local hands, creating economic opportunity and reversing centuries of deforestation in the town.
Topic:
Environment, Governance, Deforestation, Forestry, and Community Initiatives
Political Geography:
Latin America and Mexico

9. Despite Regional Opposition, a Canadian Company Pursues Mining in Santander

Author:
Lital Khaikin
Publication Date:
02-2025
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:
In the face of rifts over securitization issues and calls for conservation, Aris Mining intends to launch the Soto Norte mine in Santander, Colombia, in 2029.
Topic:
Environment, Mining, Conservation, and Securitization
Political Geography:
Canada, Colombia, and South America

10. Climate Change and El Nino Phenomenon Heat Up Malaysian Waters

Author:
Thaarshini Paramasivan
Publication Date:
01-2025
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Maritime Institute of Malaysia
Abstract:
Malaysia has recorded intense peaks of temperature due to a heatwave in the Southeast Asia region in 2024. The heatwave sweeping across the nation had a significant impact on human health, resulting in a concerning rise in heat-related illnesses. By April 2024, a total of 45 cases of heat-related illnesses, including two fatalities from heatstroke, have been reported. Alongside the health risks, significant impacts were also observed through the Malaysian waters, including a series of algae blooms and mass coral bleaching affecting the country. These events, once considered rare occurrences, are becoming more frequent and severe, largely due to the changing climate and rising sea temperatures. These issues are not just ecological concerns but have also begun to affect the economic activities tied t o t he m arine environment, such as aquaculture, specifically at the Peninsular Malaysia, which put pressure on Malaysia’s coastal economies.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Health, El Niño, and Heat
Political Geography:
Malaysia and Southeast Asia

11. US interests can benefit from stronger congressional ties with the Caribbean

Author:
Wazim Mowla and Maite Gonzalez Latorre
Publication Date:
06-2025
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
The Caribbean’s geographic proximity to the United States—as well as its use as a transit point for US citizens, goods, and financial services—makes it a crucial hub for US national interests. However, the relationship has suffered from inconsistent and infrequent assistance. Changes in US policy priorities bring ever-changing adjustments to US engagement, leaving the Caribbean, its leadership, and its institutions with insufficient time to benefit from US policy action. For Caribbean countries, policy continuity is critical for implementation and to see tangible and meaningful development. The region’s small populations and markets, vulnerability to natural disasters and changing global commodity prices, and limited institutional capacity slow the pace of receiving and utilizing development assistance and support. Underpinning US-Caribbean ties with stronger US congressional engagement can provide needed longevity to the relationship. Congressional actions—like newly appropriated resources and committee hearings—can bring tangible benefits to US-Caribbean relations.
Topic:
Security, Environment, Politics, and Economy
Political Geography:
Caribbean, North America, and United States of America

12. Harvard Project Releases Second Discussion Brief on Climate-Change and Trade Policy

Author:
Valerie J. Karplus
Publication Date:
02-2025
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
Valerie Karplus explores relationships between trade and climate-change policy, with a geographical focus on China, the United States, and Europe. She asks how, “[a]gainst a backdrop of escalating trade tensions and signs of softening climate ambition…we can make progress — or at least minimize backsliding” on climate action. She responds by citing the need for “safe spaces”: “…in trade: could certain key inputs to the green economy be potentially exempted from tariffs, without thwarting the ambitions of protectionist programs?” “…for the emergence and diffusion of decarbonized energy technologies” “…that support infrastructure and systems necessary for decarbonization.” Karplus concludes by “…offering a few ways these safe spaces might be established.”
Topic:
International Relations, Climate Change, Environment, Renewable Energy, Trade Policy, Energy, and Green Industry
Political Geography:
Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific

13. Stimulating Clean Hydrogen Demand: The Current Landscape

Author:
Rachel Mural, Matt Floyd, Sebastian Berns, and Ai Takahashi
Publication Date:
02-2025
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
Hydrogen is expected to play an important role in the global energy transition as a chemical feedstock and fuel; when produced with renewable energy, hydrogen offers a means of decarbonizing hard-to-abate industrial processes and the heavy transportation sector.1 To support market growth, current hydrogen programs aim to expand clean2 (also called “green”) hydrogen production by providing substantial subsidies in the form of supply-side funding and tax incentives. In 2023, global public investments in clean hydrogen reached $308 billion, with the vast bulk of funding allocated to production-side support.3 While worldwide clean hydrogen production targets4 reached 27-35 megatons (Mt) in 2023, demand targets have stalled at just 14 Mt.5 This trend reflects regional asymmetries in production and demand uptake. Under current projections, demand for renewable hydrogen in Europe is expected to hit 8.5 Mt by 2030, far behind the region’s planned 20 Mt of supply.6 Similarly, although the passage of the United States’ (U.S.) Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022 spurred an explosion of announced clean hydrogen projects, project offtake has lagged behind policy ambition. Supply-side incentives alone are insufficient to build robust markets for clean hydrogen; therefore, stakeholders must investigate additional demand-side innovation policies to facilitate market growth and development. In the remainder of this brief, we summarize the hydrogen policy landscape in the United States and European Union (EU), concluding with an examination of the causes of demand-side stagnation in the clean hydrogen market.
Topic:
Environment, Science and Technology, Natural Resources, Regulation, Public Policy, and Hydrogen
Political Geography:
Global Focus, United States of America, and European Union

14. China's Green Belt and Road

Author:
Yang Jiang
Publication Date:
03-2025
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
In the past 15 years, green industries have developed rapidly in China, and China has assumed a leading position in several global supply chains of renewable energy. Because the domestic solar, wind and biomass markets have become quite saturated, Chinese companies have intensified their search for overseas markets, and the Chinese government is strengthening its support for that pursuit under the Green Belt and Road Initiative. For the governments and businesses in the green industries in the West, the Green Belt and Road Initiative could result in more competition over market shares and geopolitical influence, but it also encompasses opportunities for cooperation. For developing countries, more competition and diversification between foreign partners can be an advantage, allowing them to negotiate with the development partners.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Development, Environment, Natural Resources, Business, and Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
Political Geography:
China and Asia

15. Who counts as ‘local’ in conservation and biodiversity strategies?

Author:
Adam Moe Fejerskov and Alma Tjalve
Publication Date:
06-2025
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
What does it mean to work 'locally' in conservation, and how can practitioners navigate the complex power dynamics this entails? A new DIIS Working Paper explores the evolving landscape of inclusive conservation approaches, examining how concepts like community-based conservation, Indigenous-led stewardship, and critical localism interpret and operationalise 'the local'. As development partners intensify their conservation engagement globally, understanding these diverse frameworks and their implications for practice has become essential. The paper maps out how different conservation approaches conceptualise locality and community participation, from collaborative partnerships to full community control over resource management. Through analysing various models — including Community-Based Natural Resource Management, Integrated Conservation and Development Projects, and Indigenous-led conservation — the authors explore how each interprets empowerment, knowledge integration, and decision-making authority differently. The study concludes with practical principles for inclusive conservation programming, emphasising that working effectively with 'the local' requires careful attention to power dynamics, rights recognition, and the integration of multiple knowledge systems across scales.
Topic:
Development, Environment, Natural Resources, Conservation, and Biodiversity
Political Geography:
Global Focus

16. Ghana’s electrification via rural mini-grids has been disappointing

Author:
Abdul-Bassit Abubakari
Publication Date:
05-2025
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
Despite Ghana’s explicit plans to deploy mini-grids for the electrification of off-grid and remote communities, progress has been slow and disappointing. This paper explores how political dynamics and policy shifts have shaped the governance of mini-grids over time. It examines the evolution of mini-grids in Ghana in three phases: preliminary design stage (2007–2013); active implementation period, marked by policy modifications (2013–2019); and subsequent consolidation under a predominantly public-led model post-2019. Guided by an adapted political settlements framework and process tracing methodology, the paper argues that misalignment between the government of Ghana and donors over governance and ownership models, mediated by the country’s competitive clientelist politics, explains Ghana’s limited progress in the development of mini-grids. The paper provides nuanced insights into the complex ways transnational factors and domestic politics interact in shaping the development of mini-grids with wide implications for debates on energy governance and reform in sub-Saharan Africa.
Topic:
Environment, Natural Resources, Electricity, and Development Policy
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

17. Ocean Rights – Challenges and Prospects

Author:
Jasper Mührel
Publication Date:
07-2025
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law (GoJIL)
Institution:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law (GoJIL)
Abstract:
The pressing environmental crises of the Anthropocene are inherently connected to ocean health. Yet, the oceans are currently in a critical state. The article explores the idea of giving rights to oceans as one way to enhance their legal protection. It draws on scholarship and practice regarding the existing legal rights of nature, and discusses the challenges and prospects of ocean rights. In doing so, the article raises and addresses three fundamental questions for the recognition of such rights: first, why oceans should hold their own rights in the first place; second, who, i.e. what exact entity or entities, shall hold ocean rights; and finally, how such rights could be implemented and represented and thus be given practical effect.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, International Law, Oceans and Seas, Anthropocene, and Rights
Political Geography:
Global Focus

18. The Environmental Crisis Is a Capitalist Crisis

Author:
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Publication Date:
10-2025
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Abstract:
One of humanity’s greatest challenges today is the environmental crisis, which threatens our very existence. Our latest dossier explores its class character, showing that the climate catastrophe is a product of capitalism’s relentless drive for accumulation.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Capitalism, and Class
Political Geography:
Global Focus

19. Solar Power and Environmental Peacebuilding in South-central Somalia

Author:
Ann-Sophie Böhle and Kheira Tarif
Publication Date:
02-2025
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
Abstract:
In Somalia, widespread energy poverty and a heavy reliance on conventional energy sources are deeply linked to ongoing conflict dynamics. Dependence on firewood and charcoal worsens environmental degradation and intensifies competition over natural resources. These challenges are further exacerbated by the effects of climate change and limited access to basic services. To address these interconnected challenges, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Somalia is advancing rural electrification through solar power as part of a broader environmental peacebuilding strategy. This SIPRI Policy Brief explores how the IOM’s approach to solar power and the facilitation of local public–private partnerships (PPPs) can support environmental peacebuilding at three levels: the community level, the local business level and the district council level. By creating local PPP agreements to implement solar power projects, the initiatives aim to foster cooperation, reduce resource-based tensions and strengthen government legitimacy in south-central Somalia. The brief shares learnings from early implementation stages and provides recommendations for donors and implementing organizations seeking to enhance the peacebuilding potential of solar energy projects.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Environment, Solar Power, and Peacebuilding
Political Geography:
Africa and Somalia

20. Iran: A Report on the DACOR Bacon Foundation’s 2025 Annual Conference

Author:
Keith McCormick
Publication Date:
11-2025
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
American Diplomacy
Institution:
American Diplomacy
Abstract:
The DACOR Bacon House Foundation’s 2025 Annual Conference, held on September 12, focused on Iran. The conference brought together academics, former diplomats, and policy activists to analyze the new situation facing Iran in the Middle East after a string of military setbacks, and the prospects for diplomacy with the United States. A list of participants is appended to this article.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Demographics, Diplomacy, Environment, Human Rights, Sanctions, and Ideology
Political Geography:
Iran, Middle East, and United States of America

21. Environmental Struggle in the Middle East and North Africa: A Research Agenda

Author:
Julia Choucair Vizoso
Publication Date:
05-2025
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
Environmental struggle is increasingly salient in the Arab region. From protests over land use in Egypt or fracking in Algeria, to garbage handling in Lebanon and Tunisia, to water mismanagement in Iraq and Morocco, we have witnessed the rise of environmental mobilization born out of environmental harm and degradation. In some instances, environmental issues have triggered mass protests at the national level or become intertwined with broader demands for socioeconomic and political change. In Tunisia, many of the mobilizations in early 2011 embraced the environmental agenda as a tool of resistance against the political system.1 Iraq’s 2019 Thawrat Tishreen, in addition to its more familiar political and socioeconomic dimensions, can also be seen as an ecological rebellion by Iraq’s youth who demanded a sustainable future.2 Also in 2019, Lebanon’s mass uprisings featured environmental grievances not as niche or localized concerns, but as an epitome of widespread indignation at the status quo.3 During Algeria’s Hirak in 2019-2020, activists took up the demands of an earlier anti-fracking movement, linking the issue of shale gas to questions of democracy and national sovereignty.4 Environmental nongovernmental organizations, a more institutionalized form, have also proliferated across the region. Other civil society organizations that focus on economic policy or human rights are now more active on the environment, their members campaigning at home and representing the region more regularly and visibly at international meetings on environmental causes. Moreover, activists and scholars alike are increasingly drawing environmental connections to long-standing political-economic issues that have created social conflict. According to the Global Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas), a collaborative data collection platform launched in 2012, there have been at least 239 cases in 21 Arab countries of contentious mobilizations of civil society actors in which explicit social-environmental claims were made against a specific project or economic activity.5 Considering that the EJAtlas is non-comprehensive and relies on self-reporting, the number of socio-environmental conflicts in MENA is likely significantly higher.6 Amid the resistance to Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians and its indiscriminate bombing of Lebanon, condemnations of ecocide have surfaced, showing how Israel’s warfare also causes severe, widespread, and long-term damage to the natural environment in order to destroy all possibilities of life.7 At the same time, the discourse about environmental and climate action at the state level has shifted in the region. Over the past decade, all Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) have set net-zero targets and announced national development plans and strategies to meet them – though they continue to expand fossil fuel production. Saudi Arabia and the UAE – the world’s largest exporters of crude oil and liquified natural gas – are also seizing leadership positions in international climate negotiations and in the new market of carbon offsetting and carbon accounting mechanisms.8 In North Africa, governments are positioning themselves as champions of sustainability and the green transition with schemes for large-scale production of energy through solar, wind, and green hydrogen. The fact that two Arab cities, Sharm El-Sheikh and Dubai, hosted the last two editions of the largest international summit on climate action, the COP (Conference of Parties), symbolizes the ascendancy of the environment in the political landscape of the region. What these “green and energy transition” shifts at the state level will mean for the conditions that face environmental activists is an open question.
Topic:
Environment, Research, and Activism
Political Geography:
Middle East and North Africa

22. Rethinking Sudan’s Environment and Conflict Nexus: Naming, Blaming, and Claiming

Author:
Abdalftah Hamed Ali
Publication Date:
12-2025
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
Sudan faces a compounded crisis: a deadly blend of conflict and economic hardship that intersects with climate change, environmental degradation, governance breakdown, and vicious cycles of conflict.1 This environmental degradation and ecological mismanagement have exacerbated resource scarcities and public health hazards, fueling social grievances in a country already beset by civil wars and political turmoil since its independence.2 Yet dominant positivist approaches to policy analysis, with their emphasis on linear stages, technical rationality, and objective problem-solving, often fail to capture the contested, socially constructed, and power-laden nature of environmental issues in fragile contexts like Sudan.3 By treating problems as neutral facts awaiting solutions, they obscure the role of narrative, legitimacy, and agency in shaping which issues are recognized, whose voices are heard, and how conflicts evolve. Hence, in moving past the dominance of prevailing positivist approaches, this analysis employs an interdisciplinary lens rooted in the sociology of social problems to interrogate how Sudan’s environmental crises have been framed or ignored over time, including any justifications; and how this framing has shaped policy action (or inaction) and conflict dynamics.4 The dynamics of environmental grievances in Sudan are not simply technical challenges; they are embedded in broader struggles over narratives, priorities, power, legitimacy, and justice. The suppression of local claims has transformed ecological issues into catalysts that create deeper crises, as unresolved grievances accumulate and resurface in violence. In this sense, interpretatively, this demonstrates that environmental policy cannot be separated from broader questions of governance: who defines problems, who bears responsibility, and who gains or loses in their resolution. Understanding this nexus is essential for designing interventions that, beyond treating symptoms, can address the underlying structures that perpetuate vulnerability, exclusion, and disputes. This paper traces the historical and institutional trajectory of Sudan’s environment conflict crisis through four phases: (1) marginalization and disregard (pre-1990s), when environmental issues were ignored or suppressed; (2) official recognition and internationalization (1990s-2000s), when Sudan’s environmental problems belatedly received official recognition due to global contexts (often due to conflict linkages); (3) environmental integration into policy (2000s-2018), when the regime began incorporating environmental considerations in laws and treaties, though mainly in form rather than substance; and (4) post-revolution reframing (2019-present), when Sudan’s popular uprising opened space to redefine environmental issues within a justice and peace narrative, until the new conflict emerged. These stages reflect not linear progress but cycles of recognition without resolution. Each stage reveals blocked attempts to transform grievances into claims, showing how authoritarianism and conflict repeatedly reset environmental governance. Across these stages, the paper highlights critical episodes that expose failures in claims made regarding environmental justice, from toxic and nontoxic waste dumping and pesticide scandals to climate discourses and communities’ struggles for redress. Drawing on Sudanese newspaper investigations, NGO reports, and studies, the analysis shows how these issues were repeatedly brought to light by claimants only to be met with issue reframing, denial, repression, confinement, or authorities’ inaction. We argue in this paper that for environmental policy to be effective, it must be designed in response to communities’ legitimate grievances and demands, rather than framed in ways that delegitimize their suffering or avoid their mobilization. The cases presented underscore how power asymmetries and secrecy have systematically blocked accountability. Using this framework, the paper demonstrates how governance failures at each stage prevented ecological crises from driving policy reform, instead allowing them to become catalysts of instability and violence. Ultimately, in analyzing the societal conditions under which environmental issues emerged as social concerns and tracing their transformation into public action, the paper illuminates the conflictual and demand-driven dynamics that shape the production of public policy.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Governance, Public Policy, and Armed Conflict
Political Geography:
Sudan and North Africa

23. Just Transition Green Bridge: Tunisian Case Study

Author:
Yasmina El Amine
Publication Date:
03-2025
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
Tunisia's increasing energy demand, depleting oil and gas reserves, limited access to foreign currency, and dependence on Algerian gas have significantly strained its energy sector and national budget (Council of Energy Sciences, 2023). Despite these challenges, the country’s energy transition has remained largely stagnant over the past decade (World Bank, 2024). Recent shifts in national governance and geopolitical developments have created conditions that could accelerate the deployment of renewable energy (Al Bawsala, 2024). The rise in authoritarianism under President Saied, following his July 25th coup, and its subsequent influence on the governance of the energy sector appear to have unblocked some long-standing barriers to renewable energy expansion. These political changes align with Europe’s carbon neutrality goals for 2050 and its escalating energy crisis since 2022, which prompted the EU to prioritize “green” energy security and reduce its dependence on Russian gas (EC, 2022). This agenda includes importing renewable energy, particularly green hydrogen, from North Africa—positioning Tunisia as a potentially key player in this evolving landscape. Against this backdrop, Tunisia has set ambitious goals for its energy transition, aiming to increase the share of renewables to 35 percent of its energy mix by 2030 (MoIME, 2023). Since 2021, an initial wave of concessions approved 500 MW of renewable energy projects (El Amine, 2023). This was followed by the launch of a second phase targeting the installation of 1,700 MW under the 2024–2027 concession scheme (Zawya, 2024). Within this framework, the Ministry of Industry Energy and Mines, in collaboration with international actors, envisions transforming Tunisia into a “green growth engine” (World Bank, 2024). The action plan to meet these targets is driven by large-scale, foreign, and private sector-led projects, as well as investments in green hydrogen initiatives intended primarily for export (MoIME, 2023). While these developments have been presented as “win-win solutions,” they have not been without contestation. Trade unions and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) initially opposed and blocked this trajectory, citing concerns over job security and socio-economic impacts (Depluche and Poletti, 2021; Ben Rouine and Roche, 2022; Ben Ammar, 2022; Louati, 2022; El Amine, 2023). From strikes, sit-ins, and protests to the blockade of a solar farm project in Tataouine, resistance to large-scale, foreign-led renewable energy projects emerged over the years. In response, there has been an increasing call for alternative energy transition pathways that prioritize energy sovereignty and justice, democratic participation, and community ownership through decentralized solutions (Ben Ammar, 2022). However, at this point, energy transition pathways remain confined to strategies, agreements, and Memorandums of Understanding with limited tangible outcomes. This gap highlights the need for a critical assessment of potential trajectories, particularly from socio-economic and justice perspectives. In this context, key questions become pertinent: what does Just Transition mean in the Tunisian context? Who are the winners and losers of this transition? Who benefits and who is left behind? How will this transition be financed and who bears the costs? What role, if any, can CSOs play in shaping inclusive and equitable processes and outcomes? Lastly, can a just transition truly occur in the face of Tunisia’s deepening erosion of democracy?
Topic:
Environment, Civil Society Organizations, Energy, and Green Transition
Political Geography:
North Africa and Tunisia

24. Environmental Organizations and Mobilization in Tunisia

Author:
Mohamed Ismail Sabry
Publication Date:
04-2025
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
With the outbreak of significant social protest in Tunisia’spost–2011 Revolution period, environmental mobilization received much attention. New environmental campaigns – such as Manish Msab (I Am Not a Dump) and Stop Pollution behind which local communities rallied – gained recognition at the national level, raised awareness of environmental harms, and succeeded in inducing state action. Yet social protest was only one of the forms of environmental mobilization that Tunisia witnessed in the revolution’s aftermath. Several movements with different organizational forms and affiliations, operating in various geographical locations, have been active since 2011, and some even prior. This study investigates environmental mobilization in Tunisia, focusing on the period from 2011 until the end of 2024. It relies on an empirical study based on a survey and interviews conducted with 11 environmental civil society organizations (ECSO) based in Tunisia, many of which played a considerable role in various forms of environmental mobilization in the country. The mission of most of these organizations is hardly confined to achieving environmental objectives. Rather, environmental objectives mingle with social, political, and economic ones, and these other objectives often take precedence. Environmental movements engage in various forms of mobilization and interact among themselves and with various other actors – such as the state, business, labor, and international organizations – in ways that vary between cooperation and confrontation and in their level of trust and coordination. Such interactions shape their environment-oriented activities and their outcomes. The study is a part of a wider research project entitled “Developing Inclusive Research through Activism and Informed Advocacy”, bringing together the Arab Reform Initiative (ARI) and the Moroccan Institute for Policy Analysis, and funded by the Canadian International Development Research Centre. The project’s main aim is to investigate environmental mobilization in the Arab world with the purpose of creating knowledge on the various forms, expressions, and demands of environmental movements, their organizational parameters, interactions with other state and non-state actors, and the conditions they face.1 Considering the multidimensional environmental challenges faced on a global scale, exploring the dynamics of ECSOs is of utmost importance given that they are the actors often most concerned with addressing these challenges. Tunisia, located at the center of North Africa and one of the closest points to Europe, highlights the environmental dimensions of north-south disparities and discourses about green colonialism. Moreover, the nature and pace of political changes in the country since 2011 demonstrate how changes in governance – i.e., a democratic transition and authoritarian resurgence – and ongoing, unsettled sociopolitical struggle reverberate and interact with environmentalism. The study starts with exploring the political-economic context in post-2011 Tunisia and how the opening of the political field led to the emergence of various ECSOs. This section also explores the most important environmental challenges that the country faces, with a focus on industrial and service sector pollution, water usage, and the green transition. The study then engages in a mapping of ECSOs, their modes of organization, geographical distribution, strategies and tactics, objectives and priorities, and the challenges they face. A subsequent section studies how ECSOs interact with each other and with state, social, and international actors, with a focus on the fields and the extent of cooperation, confrontation, and coordination. An assessment of the successes and failures of ECSOs then follows. The study concludes with a summary of findings and practical implications.
Topic:
Civil Society, Environment, Protests, and Mobilization
Political Geography:
North Africa and Tunisia

25. Participatory Approaches to Conflict, Climate Change and Environment: Case Studies from the Middle East and North Africa

Author:
Sammy Kayed, Shivan Fazil, Hussam Hussein, Asma Khalifa, and Abeer Butmeh
Publication Date:
03-2025
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
The MENA countries have been confronting profound and far-reaching climate shocks. Experts widely agree that human-driven activity intensely shapes escalating climate stressors—including extreme weather events—dwindling natural resources, and persistent environmental degradation. These climate dynamics are expected to deepen existing conflicts, destabilizing an already fragile landscape. Conflict contributes to further visible environmental deterioration, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake. Despite this intimate interplay, environmental and climate considerations are often ignored during peacebuilding efforts. More than ever, the situation in the region is shaped by conflict and war. The climate-conflict nexus takes on greater urgency in the Middle East and North Africa. The unpredictable security situation, coupled with rapidly changing conditions on the ground, has presented challenges for this publication: the inclusion of a dedicated chapter on Lebanon had to be reconsidered due to war. The remaining country analyses, however, capture and present the current situation. This publication marks a collaborative effort between the Arab Reform Initiative and the Robert Bosch Stiftung as part of our joint program, “Conflict, Climate Change and Environment in the Middle East”, which we launched in 2021. The program’s central aim is to create spaces for exchange and sharing expertise among diverse local, national and regional actors, practitioners, and scholars from the MENA. By fostering these connections across sectors and geographies, we are building networks and alliances that support local actors, amplifying the voices of those most affected by both conflict and environmental change. Due to unforeseeable events on the ground, some of the chapters in this publication have been rendered outmoded, a testament to the environment’s volatility during times of conflict. We extend our deep gratitude to the dedicated contributors of this publication, particularly Hussam Hussein, Sammy Kayed, and Tobias Zumbraegel, whose commitment has helped bring this work to fruition; and to the authors’ meticulous contributions towards each of the chapters. Special thanks go to Zaki Boulos for his careful editorial guidance. Lastly, we are grateful to all the local stakeholders and sources who enriched this publication with their insights and expertise, adding depth and nuance to the analyses. This publication is both a call to action and a resource, designed to catalyze collaboration and informed action on the complex relationship between climate, conflict, and environment in the MENA. We look forward to continuing this vital work alongside all those committed to building resilience and fostering sustainable peace in the region.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Conflict, and Participation
Political Geography:
Middle East

26. Planetary Health and the Perils of Progress: A Framework for Governing the Global Commons

Author:
Pey Peili
Publication Date:
08-2025
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
As the Planetary Health movement marks its tenth anniversary, the global community faces a critical dilemma, exemplified by the debate over deep-sea mining for the green transition. This NTS Insight argues that this is not a new challenge but a recurring historical pattern of progress-driven environmental degradation, with a clear precedent in the 19th-century annihilation of the American bison. This analysis demonstrates how the Planetary Health framework, by integrating principles of systems thinking, precaution, and justice, provides the essential governance lens needed to diagnose and break this destructive cycle. The piece concludes with policy pathways for embedding a Planetary Health approach into the governance of the global commons, including navigating regional norms like ASEAN’s non-interference principle, to ensure that the pursuit of sustainability does not create new zones of ecological sacrifice and geopolitical inequity.
Topic:
Environment, Governance, Mining, Sustainability, ASEAN, and Green Transition
Political Geography:
Asia and Global Focus

27. A Decade of Planetary Health: Learning from the Past and Securing Earth’s Future

Author:
Pey Peili
Publication Date:
08-2025
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
A decade after its conception, Planetary Health remains a vital framework linking human and planetary well-being. It challenges a dangerous historical pattern where progress was accompanied by wanton environmental destruction, from the 19th-century bison slaughter to increased production of palm oil and modern deep-sea mining. To secure a resilient future, a shift towards integrated and systemic governance is required.
Topic:
Environment, Governance, Mining, Global Health, and Extinction
Political Geography:
Global Focus

28. In Remembrance of Dr Jane Goodall: Systematising Empathy for a Planet in Crisis

Author:
Pey Peili
Publication Date:
10-2025
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
Dr Jane Goodall’s passing is a reminder that the era of relying on singular charismatic “giants” to lead the environmental movement has passed. Confronting today’s planetary health crisis now demands collective, systemic action. As this necessary transition unfolds, her legacy of uniting scientific rigour and empathy must be integrated into institutions and policies for enduring and collective change.
Topic:
Environment, Global Health, Empathy, and Jane Goodall
Political Geography:
Global Focus

29. Addressing the Nexus of Planetary Health and Mental Health in Asia

Author:
Pey Peili
Publication Date:
10-2025
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
On World Mental Health Day, it is pertinent to examine the growing psychological impact of environmental degradation in Asia. This commentary assesses the phenomenon and argues that climate policies, such as integrating nature into urban planning and empowering local communities, can serve as effective public mental health strategies.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Mental Health, Empowerment, and Urban Planning
Political Geography:
Asia

30. Constitutionalizing the Environment in 21st Century Europe: Innovations for Greener Constitutions

Author:
Goce Kocevski
Publication Date:
04-2025
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Liberty and International Affairs
Institution:
Institute for Research and European Studies (IRES)
Abstract:
This paper analyzes and systematizes innovations in the constitutional entrenchment of environmental protection provisions, moving beyond the mere recognition of the right to a healthy environment or the affirmation of general policy declarations. Using the comparative constitutional method, it examines relevant provisions in the constitutions of France, Montenegro, Hungary, Austria, and Slovenia. The findings reveal significant diversity in the scope and manner of environmental constitutionalization, contrasting with the similarities observed among constitutions adopted in the 1990s. Identified approaches include the integration of environmental law principles, the constitutional recognition of procedural environmental rights, and the establishment of institutions dedicated to environmental protection. These constitutional innovations demonstrate significant potential for broader adoption, thereby strengthening frameworks for environmental protection and enhancing the safeguarding of human rights and liberties.
Topic:
Environment, Human Rights, Constitution, Innovation, and Amendment
Political Geography:
Europe

31. LNG Projects Are a Bad Deal for Germans and Americans

Author:
Milena Pressentin, Josefin Schmidt, and Julian Schwartzkopff
Publication Date:
06-2025
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for American Progress - CAP
Abstract:
Subsidizing fossil gas, especially long-term contracts for liquefied natural gas (LNG), undermines Germany’s energy independence, national security, public health, and climate goals, while also raising energy prices and pollution for Americans. On the other hand, accelerating the deployment of affordable and cleaner technologies across sectors could lower costs and pollution.
Topic:
Climate Change, Diplomacy, Environment, Trade, Donald Trump, and Energy
Political Geography:
Europe, Germany, North America, and United States of America

32. Addressing environment-related risks in the EU’s crisis management: From greening to foresight and preparedness

Author:
Emma Hakala
Publication Date:
02-2025
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA)
Abstract:
The EU and its crisis management efforts are increasingly challenged by environment-related risks, such as extreme weather events and their implications for stability, migration and food security. Greater recognition of environmental risks could bolster resilience and preparedness not only within specific crisis management missions, but also across the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy. The integration of environmental issues into crisis management has been hindered by unclear mandates, lack of knowledge and expertise, and a failure to recognize the potential benefits for preparedness. For better mainstreaming, the environment needs to be seen as a key part of comprehensive preparedness, for example by producing foresight data, identifying linkages between the environment and security, and contributing to early-warning systems.
Topic:
Security, Climate Change, Environment, European Union, and Crisis Management
Political Geography:
Europe

33. Sustainable cost of quinoa production in Bolivia: A landscape approach integrating the recovery of agricultural heritage (COSPH)

Author:
Javier Aliaga Lordemann and Adriana Caballero Caballero
Publication Date:
10-2025
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Advanced Development Studies (INESAD)
Abstract:
This study analyzes the sustainable production cost, integrating the recovery of agricultural heritage (COSPH), for quinoa cultivation in the Bolivian High Plateau (Altiplano), seeking to answer: How much does it cost to make quinoa production sustainable over time in Bolivia? And, How does this change when considering agricultural heritage conservation? Specifically, the study evaluates how good agricultural practices (GAP) can mitigate climate change impacts and whether they are cost-effective, integrating the costs of agricultural heritage, which are particularly important for the quinoa real (royal quinoa) crop in Bolivia. Methodologically, the research combines a microeconomic model of imperfect competition calibrated for quinoa — capturing price differentiation based on sustainability and heritage conservation — with the NL-CROP model (Non-Linear Crop Optimization Model), which simulates non-linear interactions between climate, soil, and farming practices. Key findings show that GAP significantly reduce yield losses: under moderate climate conditions, productivity declines decrease from 5-7% to 1.8-2%, while in extreme events, losses drop from 16-30% to 2.5-6.2%, attributed to sustainable soil management. GAP remain viable in scenarios with up to two to three standard deviations, where profit margins cover additional costs. However, in severe crises (50% yield losses), negative margins (-4.7%) make agricultural insurance necessary (premiums of 7-10%), as well as tailored policies to balance climate adaptation with smallholders’ economic viability. When heritage conservation costs are included (COSPH), results show improved resilience (yield loss reduced to 10.5% under a moderate climate scenario) at a moderate additional cost (5.75% compared to 5%), suggesting that preserving agroecological heritage contributes to long-term sustainability. These findings highlight the strategic role of combining sustainable agriculture with the protection of cultural landscapes in vulnerable highland farming in Bolivia.
Topic:
Agriculture, Climate Change, Economics, Environment, Heritage, Farming, Adaptation, Production, and Quinoa
Political Geography:
South America and Bolivia

34. A Glimpse of Environmental Procedural Democracy in Poland: Thwarting the Civil Society’s Pursuit of Legal Action Against Environmental Plans

Author:
Karolina Karpus
Publication Date:
06-2025
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Polish Political Science Yearbook
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
Public participation in environmental matters through access to justice is an indispensable aspect of environmental democracy. It has become increasingly evident that this type of democratic social control over the activities of public authorities should also encompass legislative acts. This poses a significant challenge for the contemporary political-legal system, as is demonstrably evident in the case of Polish environmental plans. Civic control of the legality of such general acts, enacted by public administration bodies in legislative or special procedures, is implemented in two steps. Firstly, it takes the form of participation through comments or questions on the draft of a plan submitted by civic society during the preparatory stage of the law-making process. Secondly, the control focuses on the plans after they are enacted. At this point, it takes the form of legal actions brought by members of the public before national courts in order to investigate the material and procedural legality of environmental plans. However, at present the access to justice in this respect is limited. The aim of the article is to analyse the legal reasons for this deficiency of Polish environmental procedural democracy and to assess it in the light of Poland’s international obligations.
Topic:
Civil Society, Environment, Democracy, Legislation, Justice, and Political Participation
Political Geography:
Europe and Poland

35. Navigating Indo-Pacific Waters: Maritime Governance and Why Australia and Japan Must Lead in Capacity Building in Southeast Asia

Author:
Aaron Magunna
Publication Date:
04-2025
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
Southeast Asian countries continue to face various maritime policy challenges. Beijing’s aggressive conduct toward other littoral states in the South China Sea and increased China-US tensions have highlighted the pervasiveness of traditional security threats while prospects for a more stable maritime order are undermined by the stalled negotiations between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) over a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea. Regional countries are also concerned about issues such as piracy and armed robbery at sea, the effects of the climate crisis, and illegal, unreported, and undocumented (IUU) fishing, which is estimated to cost ASEAN members up to $6 billion annually. Notably, these challenges are not solely linked to narrow maritime security issues but broader maritime governance capabilities, meaning the “capacity to enforce the framework of laws, regulations, policies, and institutions generated both within the legal jurisdictions of states and the international community.” As the new Trump administration has shifted US policy on aid, countries like Australia and Japan will have to increasingly step up in the delivery of maritime capacity-building programs in Southeast Asia.
Topic:
Crime, Environment, Governance, Maritime, and Regional Security
Political Geography:
Japan, Australia, Southeast Asia, and Indo-Pacific

36. Beyond Scarcity: Social Inequality and the Politics of Water in Morocco

Author:
Zakaria Ibrahimi
Publication Date:
04-2025
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
Water in Morocco is a political issue, as it is in most human societies, but it also presents itself primarily as a cultural and social one.1 The history of Moroccan society and the structure of its social and cultural institutions can be unreservedly characterized as shaped by water. This is due to facts confirmed by historical texts on Morocco, which document, for example, conflicts between Moroccan tribes over water, pastures, and all water-related resources.2 Others reveal the position of water in the policies of the Moroccan state throughout its history. Writings on the history of famines and epidemics also showed the role that water played in the demographic, social, cultural, and political changes that the country experienced throughout its history after each drought year.3 Perhaps this is what prompted General Lyautey, one of the founders of the French Protectorate, to say, "To rule in Morocco is to rain." Researchers on Morocco's political affairs, including Rémy Leveau, draw attention to the role that water played in establishing and legitimizing governance in Morocco.4 Equally, historian Abdallah Laroui revealed the succession of political unrest in Morocco after each drought year.5 The issue of water in Morocco is not and has never been a natural one. Rather, it has always been a public and collective issue, one that has shaped and organized most Moroccan institutions and through which social inequalities have emerged. This is why many Moroccan researchers did not find it awkward to distinguish between state water and community water, between sacred water and ordinary water, between water of God and water of the state, etc. These binaries emerged historically through the water policies adopted by Morocco from at least 1914 until today following the introduction of the first law under the French Protectorate, which refers to state ownership of water and natural resources and prohibits all forms of collective ownership by tribes, groups, and individuals who historically considered water to be the property of the group and an integral part of its identity and social organization, and have collectively built systems, sites, and authorities to regulate water and its distribution and to settle conflicts over it. Water has been used in the contemporary Moroccan state as a direct source for building the legitimacy of the political system, legitimizing some of the economic and political choices on which the post-independence state was built, penetrating political elites, and excluding others from any political ambitions.6 Therefore, the political economy on which the post-independence state was built, which favored agriculture and ensuring food security in a society living under an accelerated demographic transition, put in one way or another water and water-related policies in a central position. This paper seeks to uncover the political character of water in Morocco, and how discourses on water have evolved in recent decades, moving from a discourse of abundance to one of scarcity, from the water of God to the water of the state, of the community, and of the engineer, as well as the transformation of water within the current public space into a resource for struggle, protest discourses, temporary waves of discontent, and one of the key elements of contestation in various Moroccan spheres.
Topic:
Environment, Water, Inequality, and Scarcity
Political Geography:
North Africa and Morocco

37. Tunisia’s Climate Justice Movement

Author:
Mariem Madhi
Publication Date:
04-2025
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
As a hotspot for climate change risks, Tunisia faces pressing challenges. One of the most water-scarce countries in the world, Tunisia ranks 20th globally in water stress.1 In 2023, the country's per capita water availability was just 400 cubic meters annually, well below the 1000 cubic meters threshold for water poverty set by the UN. Climate change is projected to decrease rainfall by up to 30% by 2050,2 impacting agriculture, which contributes 9% to the country's GDP and employs 16% of the workforce.3 Coastal zones will likely experience rising sea levels, increased temperature, salinity, and acidity, causing significant impacts, including loss of urban areas, infrastructure, and ecosystem degradation. Over 3100 hectares of urban land are at risk of submersion, and 44% of the coastline is highly vulnerable to these effects. The tourism sector faces significant threats from coastal erosion and sea-level rise, with an estimated loss of 1000 jobs per year by 2030.4 Climate change will increase vector-borne, water-borne, and food-borne diseases, exacerbate air pollution-related health issues, and raise the risk of floods damaging infrastructure. These effects are already being felt. In the Kerkennah Islands off the east coast of the mainland, for example, local fishermen are facing declining fish stocks and increasing water salinity due to climate change, jeopardizing their livelihoods – a case that shows how climate change disproportionately impacts marginalized groups and underscores the urgent need for policies that address both ecological challenges and social inequities (Hafsi and Azouni, 2024).5 Most research to date on Tunisia’s climate politics has focused on governmental policies to address climate challenges. This study turns instead to the role of grassroots activism, particularly youth movements and civil society organizations (CSOs), in shaping Tunisia’s post-revolution climate actions. Through the lens of social movement theory, we investigate two central questions: How have grassroots movements shaped environmental governance in Tunisia following the revolution? How does Tunisian civil society engage international climate frameworks to influence local climate actions in Tunisia?
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Activism, and Climate Justice
Political Geography:
North Africa and Tunisia

38. Lebanon’s Climate Actors

Author:
Karen-Jo Mourad Karam and Mariem Madhi
Publication Date:
04-2025
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
Due to its geographic location and socio-political landscape, Lebanon is particularly vulnerable to climate change and is already experiencing its impact. Increasing temperatures, declining rainfall, and prolonged droughts and heatwaves are degrading the country’s natural resources and people’s health and livelihood. Further exacerbating the country’s vulnerability to climate change are rapid urbanization, political instability, fragmented governance, war, and ongoing economic and financial crisis – all of which hinder effective adaptation and mitigation strategies. To confront these challenges, and in an attempt to fill the gaps left by governmental inaction, Lebanese civil society organizations (CSOs) and activists are increasingly engaging with climate governance. Based on interviews with 16 of the main CSO actors involved in climate activism and advocacy in Lebanon, this brief delineates the landscape of climate activism identifying the actors involved, their demands, the challenges they face, their policy impact to date, and opportunities for progress.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Civil Society Organizations, and Activism
Political Geography:
Middle East and Lebanon

39. Toward Inclusive Climate Action in Jordan

Author:
Hussam Hussein
Publication Date:
04-2025
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
Jordan’s vulnerability to climate change and its reliance on external resources make it a key case study for understanding how inclusive approaches can drive meaningful climate action. This report explores Jordan’s evolving climate action landscape, focusing on grassroots mobilization and institutional engagement. It takes an inclusive approach and is rooted in research-based evidence that a participatory, rights-based approach can produce more effective, accountable, and legitimate outcomes. The insights derived from this report provide diverse recommendations for responding to barriers and opportunities for inclusive climate action.
Topic:
Civil Society, Environment, Water, Activism, and Inclusion
Political Geography:
Middle East and Jordan

40. Energy Transition Challenges in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region

Author:
Diana Kaissy
Publication Date:
11-2025
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
Iraq faces formidable obstacles in shifting to a cleaner and more equitable energy system. In 2023, Iraq ranked third globally in gas flaring – behind Russia (~59 billion m³) and Iran (20.4 billion m³) – burning roughly 17 billion cubic meters of associated gas, according to the World Bank’s Global Gas Flaring Tracker.1 This flaring not only wastes potential fuel and revenue but also pollutes the air and exacerbates climate change. Most of this flaring involves associated gas produced alongside oil, which could be captured and utilized. Non‑associated flaring is comparatively minor and usually linked to operational upsets, so Iraq’s pervasive flaring is largely avoidable if policy and infrastructure gaps are addressed. A significant portion – around 20% of Iraq’s flared gas – comes from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region (KRG) in the north.2 Unlike in remote deserts, many KRG oil fields are near towns and villages, meaning local populations are heavily exposed. An estimated 1.19 million Iraqis (mostly in the north) live within 1 km of multiple flare sites, suffering elevated health risks​.3 These conditions underscore the environmental justice issues at stake: rural and minority communities near oil sites bear the brunt of pollution and health impacts​. In fact, Iraq flares more gas than it imports from Iran to power its electricity grid, underscoring an energy‑security paradox: the country wastes domestic gas while relying on costly imports. Beyond flaring, Iraq’s broader energy transition challenge stems from heavy dependence on oil for revenues and power generation, weak infrastructure for gas capture, and decades of conflict and underinvestment. Iraq’s national grid is underpowered and often supplemented by diesel generators, while renewable energy is only beginning to be introduced. Crucially, political fragmentation between Baghdad’s federal government and the KRG has led to disjointed energy policies. However, deeper than this territorial divide is the closed nature of Iraq’s energy policymaking. Decisions about oil and gas are dominated by a narrow set of actors with minimal parliamentary oversight and no comprehensive legal framework, creating a “limited access order” that hampers investment, transparency and regulatory enforcement across both federal Iraq and the KRG. This briefing focuses on Iraq’s main energy transition challenges and the power dynamics impeding progress, with a special lens on the KRG. It also examines implications for gas flaring policy and offers recommendations – including engaging regional coalitions – to advance a just energy transition, one that is fair, inclusive, and transparent.
Topic:
Environment, Politics, Energy, and Energy Transition
Political Geography:
Iraq, Middle East, and Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI)

41. Regulating a Pluralistic and Decarbonized Electricity Supply through Public Service Principles of Equity and Solidarity

Author:
Alix Chaplain and Éric Verdeil
Publication Date:
10-2025
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
“Chaos”, “individualism”, “waste of resources”: while some experts see the boom in Lebanon’s solar market — now exceeding 1.3 GW of installed capacity — as an opportunity for “energy transition”, others denounce the unequal, uncontrollable, and erratic nature of this phenomenon.1 Promoted by public authorities until 2020, then driven by the collapse of Électricité du Liban’s (EDL) production and the rising cost of diesel for generators, decentralized photovoltaic (PV) systems are accessible in Lebanon only to a privileged minority of the population. The public authorities currently insufficiently regulate this electricity service commodification. Indeed, the Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE) Law 318/2023 provides electricity exchange mechanisms in a horizontal market and facilitates the development of renewable energies by encouraging private actor investment.2 The reform is based on the assumption that lower costs will ultimately automatically benefit all households. However, this seems unrealistic, leaving social justice out of reach in the current state of affairs. This policy brief aims to reflect on the development of a structurally pluralistic and decarbonized electricity supply, where public infrastructure is the main tool for mutualization and equity. To be effective, it requires the definition and implementation of public service principles. The great heterogeneity in electricity supply — combining the grid, generators, and renewable energies — requires a rethink in public service. It can no longer be based on the principles of a uniform service and equal user treatment that characterize conventional grid-based services. 3 Instead, it should be based on universal and equitable access to a diversified and increasingly decarbonized service. In supplying a public service, solidarity between users is key. Solidarity is socio-technical, involving pooling, sharing, and regulating between a wide range of systems that optimize national supply from an economic, technical, and environmental perspective. But solidarity above all is socio-political, with public services theoretically embodying equity and socio-spatial integration among citizen-users, thereby giving substance to fundamental rights inherent to national solidarity and citizenship in Lebanon. Our proposal is therefore to rethink these principles of public service, considering the electrical transformations currently underway in Lebanon. This work is based on the doctoral thesis defended by Alix Chaplain in 2023 and comparative research carried out as part of the Hybridelec project coordinated by Eric Verdeil and Sylvy Jaglin, updated with recent data.4
Topic:
Environment, Electricity, Public Service, Decarbonization, Equity, and Power Sector
Political Geography:
Middle East and Lebanon

42. Unlocking Solar Energy Access in Lebanon through Innovative Finance and Blended Models

Author:
Nicolas Farhat
Publication Date:
10-2025
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
Lebanon’s chronic electricity crisis has left citizens and businesses with only a few hours of daily power, forcing a reliance on costly private diesel generators. In the absence of public alternatives, solar adoption has grown rapidly since 2020. The rollout, however, has been fragmented and largely self-financed,1 leaving low-income households, Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and municipalities excluded from access. While solar offers a clean and viable alternative, the lack of enabling policies, regulations, and finance has meant that benefits remain concentrated among wealthier groups, undermining national recovery and energy justice. To address these gaps, Lebanon should adopt targeted financing solutions that make solar accessible to all segments of society. Priority actions include supporting microfinance institutions (MFIs) that extend small-scale loans for households, expanding blended finance vehicles such as SoLR& that can provide lease-to-own and rental packages for MSMEs, and developing risk-mitigated Public Private Partnership (PPP) frameworks that enable municipalities to host solar farms. In parallel, the government must reinstate tax and customs exemptions on solar equipment, issue the implementing decrees of the Distributed Renewable Energy Law, and operationalize credit- and risk-mitigation tools.
Topic:
Environment, Finance, Innovation, Solar Power, and Power Sector
Political Geography:
Middle East and Lebanon

43. Thirst for Water Justice in Tunisia

Author:
Yasser Souilmi
Publication Date:
11-2025
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
This research explores the multifaceted landscape of water justice in Tunisia, a country experiencing chronic water scarcity, institutional fragmentation, and growing socio-political tensions over resource distribution. Through a justice-centered framework that includes distributive, procedural, recognition, and capabilities dimensions, the study examines how inequalities in water access and governance disproportionately affect rural populations, small farmers, and marginalized groups. By combining a desk review of legal, institutional, and policy studies, with empirical methods, this report uncovers the systemic power imbalances and political choices that shape Tunisia’s water priorities. It also highlights the limited influence of civil society organizations (CSOs) in formal policy making, despite critical advocacy efforts. Ultimately, this research argues that achieving water justice in Tunisia requires a shift away from technocratic and donor-driven solutions toward inclusive, context-sensitive governance that puts at its center equity, public participation, and community needs.
Topic:
Civil Society, Environment, Water, Inequality, and Transitional Justice
Political Geography:
North Africa and Tunisia

44. Bridging the Energy Gap in Lebanon: Natural Gas, Renewables, and Regional Connectivity

Author:
Laury Haytayan
Publication Date:
10-2025
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
Lebanon is still waiting for its own natural gas. Since the ratification of the offshore petroleum law in 2010,1 the country has been struggling to find gas. Political deadlocks led to institutional instability, a collapse in the financial and banking systems in the country, and international companies’ interests in bidding for exploration and production contracts. In this policy brief, I argue Lebanon can still pursue its strategy to attract international oil companies to invest in its offshore oil and gas sector under certain conditions; in addition, it should focus more on enabling the private sector to invest in renewable energies; and it should connect the country to major regional economic and energy projects to prevent it from economic isolation and being excluded from energy connectivity projects.
Topic:
Environment, Renewable Energy, Energy, Natural Gas, and Power Sector
Political Geography:
Middle East and Lebanon

45. Pathways Towards Food Sovereignty in Lebanon

Author:
Zeead Yaghi
Publication Date:
09-2025
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
Lebanon faces a profound and compounding food crisis. According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) – an initiative comprised of 21 organizations and intergovernmental institutions to jointly classify the severity and magnitude of food insecurity and malnutrition – 1.26 million people in Lebanon are currently in crisis phase (IPC Phase 3), of whom 85,000 are in emergency phase (IPC Phase 4). This indicates an urgent need for humanitarian action.1 Syrian and Palestinian refugees are disproportionately affected, with 34% and 45%, respectively, in Phase 3 and above.2 The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Program (WFP) now consider Lebanon a “very high concern” hotspot for food insecurity, due to conflict escalation, displacement, and economic deterioration.3 The roots of this crisis are neither recent nor simply economic. They are entrenched in political legacies of colonial governance, neoliberal reforms, and a state structure that has repeatedly failed to support rural and agriculture development, persistently privileging an export-oriented agriculture sector over local needs. The obstacles impeding Lebanon’s path toward food sovereignty are shared across many states in the Global South: years of financial mismanagement and extractive developmental schemes that benefit a tiny local moneyed elite and global financial actors; physical challenges, such as the increased stress of climate change on local agricultural practices in the form of heat waves and droughts; and administrative and political blocks to major land reform that could democratize local farming. Over the past half-century, local policy makers, international experts, and major food business representatives molded Lebanon’s food system into one largely dependent on food imports for everyday consumption, while centering the agricultural sector on export-oriented products. These circumstances have undermined the food system’s ability to withstand financial, climate, and political shocks, subsequently diminishing the autonomy, livelihood, and political power of local growers. Furthermore, over the last two decades, Lebanon has witnessed the harms of climate change and a rise in temperatures, with fires, droughts, and dust storms becoming common occurrences. Lebanon is also located in a geopolitically tenuous region. To its South lies an ever-expansionist, intransigent, and militarized Israel whose latest war against the country decimated the urban fabric of its southern districts, killed thousands of people, and irreparably harmed thousands of acres of farming land in Lebanon’s fertile valleys to the East and South. Israeli actions have also repeatedly threatened Lebanon’s water security.4 Lastly, Lebanon is yet to emerge from a six-year financial crisis brought on by its kleptocratic political class, and which has decimated the middle and working classes, diluted their purchasing power, and made them more dependent on imports for sustenance.5 At the same time, in response to deepening precarity, food sovereignty initiatives and grassroots movements are emerging in Lebanon – as they are globally – to try to retain control over food systems through resistance, innovation, and advocacy. This study highlights the difficulties facing farmers and food sovereignty activists in organizing a coherent and influential political bloc, due to fragmented efforts, structural political obstacles, limited resources, and a lack of institutional support. A particular focus is placed on governance and accountability mechanisms, both within the Lebanese government and among international financial institutions and other key stakeholders. Attention is given to the availability and transparency of information on food-related projects and initiatives, as well as the roles and responsibilities of different actors in shaping policy and implementation. The research argues that a food-sovereign system that centers local producers is internally self-sufficient, provides dignified wages for farmers, satisfies local market needs, and is durable and adaptable to climate change – imperative for food security. To make progress on food sovereignty, farmers, advocacy groups across the political spectrum, as well as experts, educators, and civil society organizations must organize at the local, municipal, national, and regional levels into an effective political block capable of challenging the status quo, forcing their demands on the state, and ensuring the sovereignty of farmers. Moving beyond food security toward food sovereignty, Lebanon must invest in land reform, support grassroots cooperatives, and resist donor-driven input models. Only by returning power to producers and communities can the country build an adaptive, robust, just, and sovereign food system.
Topic:
Environment, Food Security, and Food Sovereignty
Political Geography:
Middle East and Lebanon

46. Beyond a Technocratic Solution: Iraqi Farmers and Local Climate Adaptation

Author:
Taif Alkhudary
Publication Date:
09-2025
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
The government of Iraq and international organizations operating in the country have taken a technocratic approach to climate change adaptation. In the agricultural sector, the government has provided incentives for farmers to adopt sustainable farming methods in the form of subsidies and loans for the purchase of drip irrigation systems and solar panels. The government also buys wheat at a slightly higher price from farmers who use sustainable farming techniques. For their part, international organizations have both shaped the Iraqi government’s policies on climate adaptation and equipped small numbers of farmers with solar and drip irrigation systems. They have also endeavored to provide training to farmers in sustainable farming techniques and in maintaining renewable energy systems. These technical approaches have failed to address the socio-economic inequalities and political hierarchies that farmers must navigate to practice agriculture, and which makes some social groups more vulnerable to climate change than others. Many farmers cannot afford to take out loans to purchase sustainable agricultural systems and corruption at various levels continues to hamper the efforts of both international organizations and the Iraqi government, limiting the effectiveness of these schemes. Moreover, the post-2003 neoliberalization of the Iraqi economy and the fact that the country’s political elite and affiliated militias have captured the agricultural sector has left Iraqi farmers without a market for their produce. In response, Iraqi farmers have adopted unstructured, spontaneous local adaptation strategies to try to navigate extreme weather conditions, political corruption, and neoliberalism. For example, to manage water scarcity, farmers have begun to dig wells and use groundwater for irrigation purposes. While well-digging risks depleting groundwater reserves, it is also a means for farmers to circumvent centralized, regularly politicized water allocations. In the face of extreme weather events, farmers have begun to grow new types of drought-resistant crops, planting more than one type of produce, so that if a particular crop fails during a season, they are still able to harvest and sell others. Yet often, they select crops they believe will be better able to compete with cheap imports from neighboring states. Iraqi farmers’ adaptation strategies point to the need to move away from mere technical solutions and to challenge existing structures in a bid to achieve transformative adaptation; that is, a system-wide transformation that addresses the root-causes of vulnerabilities to climate change, taking into consideration socio-economic factors and a fairer distribution of political, cultural, and institutional power in society.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Farming, Technocracy, and Adaptation
Political Geography:
Iraq and Middle East

47. Environmentalism and Disenchantment in a Destabilizing World: The Case of Lebanon

Author:
Sammy Kayed
Publication Date:
07-2025
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
This study interrogates environmentalism as a concept and contemporary practice in Lebanon by tracing how actors are positioned in relation to the Lebanese state when navigating changemaking, abandonment, and the imperative of persistence. It understands environmentalism as emerging from socio‑ecological transformation and as fundamentally different from environmentalization, which arises from reproductions within the current order—namely today’s variations of neoliberal capitalism and the prevailing everyday mindset treating it as the most reasonable way to live.1 Lebanon’s current order is organized around a sectarian form of aggressive neoliberal capitalism—marked by puzzling tendencies such as championing free markets while selectively shaping them to serve entrenched power.2 The study highlights how prefigurative politics—the enactment of desired futures by meeting everyday material needs for persistence—is emerging from Lebanon’s political margins3 and can give way to environmentalism.
Topic:
Civil Society, Environment, Destabilization, Activism, and Environmentalism
Political Geography:
Middle East and Lebanon

48. Youth Participation in Global Climate Governance: A Study on Contemporary IGO-NGO Relations

Author:
Buse Mina Tümkaya
Publication Date:
12-2025
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Novus Orbis: Journal of Politics & International Relations
Institution:
Department of International Relations, Karadeniz Technical University
Abstract:
The evolving relationships between youth environmental movements and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) within the framework of global climate governance are complex. Focusing on movements such as Extinction Rebellion (XR), Fridays for Future (FFF), Last Generation (LG), and Just Stop Oil (JSO), this article examines how these groups leverage contemporary tactics and mass mobilization to influence policy and public opinion. Utilizing the theoretical framework of Tana Johnson, this research categorizes and analyzes the intricate relations between these movements and IGOs through the 4Cs Taxonomy. While trying to determine which category these relations fall into (cooperative, co-optative, competitive or conflictual), the study also traces the shifts between categories over time and their reasons.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Governance, Youth, NGOs, Political Movements, and Intergovernmental Organizations
Political Geography:
Global Focus

49. The Devastating Impact of Lebanon’s Environmental Failures

Author:
Peter S. Germanos and Samara Azzi
Publication Date:
01-2024
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
For decades, Lebanon has suffered under a systematic and intentional mismanagement of country resources and capital, with devastating repercussions. Poverty rates in Lebanon have skyrocketed, and the healthcare and education systems have crumbled, leaving millions vulnerable. Less discussed but no less dangerous is the environmental degradation that the country’s elite have allowed to occur. Lebanon’s deteriorating environment adds another layer of tragedy to the widespread economic crisis; sewage contaminates drinking water, generators spew toxic fumes, excessive groundwater usage renders it saline, and irrigation with sewage water contaminates agricultural produce. The price for Lebanese is becoming increasingly well documented. Cancer cases have surged, and the Lebanese people can expect to continue to suffer in the future as well. This situation was not, however, a foregone conclusion, or due solely to global climate change outside of Lebanese control. Rather, Lebanon’s significant environmental degradation is due in large part to systemic corruption and a total lack of effective regulation. Understanding the scope of this issue is vital to realizing what the people of Lebanon are facing, along with developing a plan to address some of these interconnected environmental and governance challenges.
Topic:
Corruption, Environment, International Cooperation, Pollution, and Public Health
Political Geography:
Middle East and Lebanon

50. “Condemned to Sacrifice” in the Shadow of Argentina’s Vaca Muerta

Author:
Patricia Rodríguez
Publication Date:
01-2024
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:
From Patagonia, an environmental activist discusses her community’s struggle against a new oil pipeline and the threats of expanding extractivism in their territory.
Topic:
Environment, Oil, Pipeline, and Activism
Political Geography:
Argentina, South America, and Patagonia