New Security Beat

A window into what we’re reading at the Stimson Center’s Environmental Security Program Green Corridor Addresses Conflict Economies in Virunga National Park (Mongabay) In the Eastern Congo, Virunga National Park faces an intertwined crisis of conflict and environmental destruction rooted in economic desperation. Communities residing within the park rely on charcoal production and forest clearing for survival. Simultaneously, armed militias exploit these same resources to finance ongoing violence.

From Zambia to Indonesia, recent headlines about catastrophic toxic mining spills grimly underscore how the global push to secure one set of resources, critical minerals, might be compromising another: water. “This isn’t just an environmental story,” said Lauren Risi, Director of the Stimson Center’s Environmental Security Program, at a recent event on protecting water resources amid increasing mining, held ahead of World Water Day 2026.

In March 2026, Earth League International (ELI) published a report: Money Talks: What Criminals Told Us About Corruption. Our study synthesized over a decade of intelligence obtained firsthand by ELI’s undercover investigators from inside criminal networks to examine how corruption facilitates environmental and wildlife crime, as well as how these activities converge with other serious crimes.

A window into what we’re reading at the Stimson Center’s Environmental Security Program Argentina’s “Glacier Law” Opens Ecologically Sensitive Areas to Mining (Al-Jazeera) Politicians in Argentina approved a bill pushed by President Javier Milei to authorize mining in ecologically sensitive areas of the nation containing nearly 17,000 glaciers and/or rock glaciers and permafrost which heavily support the country’s water security.

By Mahlet Mesfin: Since they’ve been discovered, seabed minerals have been in active debate around who owns them, how they are harvested, and the impact of such activities. Some of these minerals can be found in international waters or areas beyond national jurisdiction, and the International Seabed Authority, or the ISA, was established to organize and control mineral resources in those areas.

By & In the summer of 2025, Tehran almost reached “Day Zero” – a designation for the moment when the city’s municipal water supply was no longer able to meet basic demand through normal distribution systems. Indeed, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has repeatedly warned that the capital may need to be relocated due to the worsening water crisis.

This article was originally published on South Asian Voices, a publication of the Stimson Center. “Do not give away Diego Garcia,” warned U.S. President Donald Trump on February 19, as the United Kingdom moved forward with plans to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius.

A window into what we’re reading at the Stimson Center’s Environmental Security Program Pakistan’s Grassroots Solar Mitigates Middle East Energy Crisis Impact (The Guardian) Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 also sparked a grassroots solar boom in Pakistan. Surging LNG prices and unreliable grid electricity resulting from the war’s broader effects pushed citizens to invest in rooftop solar as a one-time cost alternative to perpetually high electricity bills.

Last fall, I travelled back to my hometown in rural Wen’an County, Hebei Province, and was surprised to find my aunt Lu had installed 12 solar panels on the roof of her house. Because I am a low-carbon policy wonk at a Beijing consultancy, I peppered her with energy questions as we admired the rooftop panels. “So, where does the electricity go? To your own appliances, an aggregator, or the grid company?

Development practitioners enter the field hoping to make the world a better place. Yet, too often, they become jaded and cynical over time. The bureaucratic processes that shape the mechanics of development programs (funding, design, implementation, and evaluation) often make it difficult for practitioners to apply their expertise and judgment.