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Welcome to the archives of Peacebuilding Deeply. While we paused regular publication of the site on September 1, 2018, we are happy to serve as an ongoing public resource on global peace and security. We hope you’ll enjoy the reporting and analysis that was produced by our dedicated community of editors and contributors.
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Since the start of the Syrian conflict, Lebanon’s government has officially adopted a policy of ‘disassociation’ toward the war next door. However, now some Lebanese political parties and organizations allied with Bashar al-Assad seem to be trying to overthrow the policy.
No one seems to know how much water a massive desert industrial complex will ultimately require. But treated urban wastewater may help protect the imperiled Truckee River as more big companies move in.
The Arctic Council’s Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment working group gives Indigenous voices a meaningful say over sustainable solutions, making it a model worth emulating, says Steven Fry, a master’s student in international studies from the University of Washington.
Syria Deeply’s expert community weighed in on Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s recent remarks about working with Russia to create a “unified Syria,” and whether or not this contradicts Moscow’s de-escalation zone proposal.
Frederic C. Hof Director, Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East
The U.S. government should focus on post-ISIS stabilization in the east of the country if it hopes to block widening Iranian control, writes the Atlantic Council’s Frederic C. Hof.
A clinic for refugees in Colorado aims to provide an alternative model for refugee health services in the U.S. Its founder, P.J. Parmar, discusses his for-profit approach, Medicaid and the inefficiencies of the U.S. healthcare system.
Solar panel installations have primarily been installed on land. Now two California water utilities are building floating solar-power projects at their reservoirs to reap energy savings and other benefits.
In Kenya’s largest refugee camp, a young Somali mother lives in hiding amid constant death threats from her ex-husband. With U.S. refugee resettlement frozen, all her efforts to leave the country have so far been in vain. Ayaan tells us her story in her own words.
Ufra Mir is Kashmir’s first – and so far, only – ‘peace psychologist.’ In this strife-ridden region, she is trying to help women find peace in their lives and build it in their communities.
NOAA sent an expedition to remote Pacific Islands after the recent global bleaching events and found devastation at reefs once exploding with life, but also reason for optimism.
Russia’s power broker role in Syria negotiations means that any future debates around a new constitution will be an attempt to solidify Moscow’s proposal for the de facto partitioning Syria, while maintaining Assad’s position, writes journalist Lorenzo Trombetta.
EdSeed is a new mobile app that aims to connect individual and corporate donors with displaced university students. We talked with cofounder Rama Chakaki about the app’s pilot phase and edSeed’s ambitions to expand refugee education.
Jeff Crisp Formerly Head of Policy Development and Evaluation, UNHCR
While several states might want a quick solution to the plight of Syrian refugees, returns are not a realistic option until the conflict comes to an end, writes Chatham House Associate Fellow Jeff Crisp.
Jeff Crisp Formerly Head of Policy Development and Evaluation, UNHCR
While several states might want a quick solution to the plight of Syrian refugees, returns are not a realistic option until the conflict comes to an end, writes Chatham House Associate Fellow Jeff Crisp.
Scientists are not sure what to make of an unprecedented fire raging in western Greenland, but they suspect it is another sign of the impact of climate change in the Arctic.
On the Thai-Myanmar border, refugees who fled one of the world’s longest civil wars live in limbo, with alarmingly high suicide rates. As their options for resettlement narrow, some are beginning to return to Myanmar and the challenges of reintegration.
Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s military dominance in Idlib has not been translated into total popular support. Today, the province is split between those who accept the extremist group and those who are pushing back against its rise to prominence.
Charles Kenny Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development
Tanvi Jaluka Program Coordinator, Gender and Development Team at the Center for Global Development
The proportion of women in U.N. peacekeeping operations has been slow to rise. But there might be a way to speed things up: Give financial incentives to troop-contributing countries, say Charles Kenny and Tanvi Jaluka of the Center for Global Development.
Past efforts to reduce collisions between these highly endangered marine mammals and ships offer lessons for officials trying to save North Atlantic right whales in Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Decades after declaring 1,2,3-TCP a carcinogen, California is finally regulating the toxin. But the cost of remediation will be high and communities are turning toward litigation to pay for water treatment.
The rebuilding of Palestinian refugee camp Nahr el-Bared in Lebanon is the largest single reconstruction project ever undertaken by the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. A decade on and $200 million later, only half of the residents have been able to return.
Michael Clemens Economist, Center for Global Development at IZA Institute for the Study of Labor
Past waves of refugees had varied but limited effects on the jobs and income of workers in countries they moved to, finds Michael Clemens from the Center for Global Development. The impact of new arrivals in Europe will depend on governments learning the right lessons.
Russia sometimes behaves badly, but Arctic politics shows us there is a way to work multilaterally with the country, writes Andrew Chater, an expert in Arctic governance with the Polar Research and Policy Initiative, a U.K. think-tank.
Matilija Dam in Ojai, California, no longer functions as it was intended, but it has still been a battle to raise the funds necessary to remove the 168ft-high structure that is impeding fish and coastal habitat.
Kamal Alam Visiting Fellow, Royal United Services Institute
Over the past two years, China’s approach to Syria has transformed from being motivated by security concerns to pursuing economic interests, writes Royal United Services Institute fellow Kamal Alam.
Donald Scavia Professor of Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan
Too many nutrients washing into our waters create oxygen-deprived “dead zones.” But voluntary steps to reduce nutrient runoff and shrink dead zones just aren’t working, says environmental researcher Don Scavia.
Behzad Yaghmaian Professor of Political Economy, Ramapo College of New Jersey
Rich countries have a terrible record of policy intervention in the global South, exacerbating the vulnerability of the majority of the world’s refugees, says political economy professor Behzad Yaghmaian. He argues for a radical new approach to refugee protection.
Many refugees resettled in New York live in the upstate city of Buffalo. As the local population declines, advocates hope refugees can reinvigorate the city’s economy. The refugee entrepreneurs of West Side Bazaar have already had some success.
Traffic across Israeli checkpoints for medical procedures usually goes one way – towards Israel – but some women are moving in the opposite direction in order to choose the sex of their babies at West Bank hospitals.
The far-right activists’ group chartered a ship to disrupt rescue missions by NGOs in the Mediterranean. So far, their mission hasn’t been going very well.
Florida has been an important home to Cuban refugees for generations. As Cuban arrivals dwindled last year, hundreds of Syrians were resettled in the state, and some are struggling to integrate into Spanish-speaking communities.
The Trump administration’s decision to end a covert CIA program that provided arms and training to Syrian rebels may prompt the country’s battered opposition to side with jihadists in pursuit of a common goal: the overthrow of the Syrian government.
Michigan, with its long Arab-American history, offers refugees fleeing war in Iraq a family away from home. Yet the financial crisis made it even harder to find work there, while the arrival of secondary migrants drawn to Michigan’s sense of community strains resources.
Beach cleanup programs are generating a wave of information on plastics and other marine pollution, presenting policymakers with the challenge of turning that data into action.
A pioneering program in California aims to sequester carbon, improve water resources and boost plant growth, by treating the soil beneath farmers’ and ranchers’ feet as part of a living system.
The former head of the U.S. Office of Global Criminal Justice, Stephen Rapp, spoke with Syria Deeply about improving the possibility of holding Syrian war criminals accountable.
It will take political courage and planning to make Russia’s Northern Sea Route the main thoroughfare of a healthy, unitary country – but there is no alternative, writes Morgane Fert-Malka, a French Moscow-based political analyst.
Raw meat is a delicacy in many northern communities, but warming temperatures may be contributing to deadly outbreaks of botulism. Residents are learning to adapt while keeping ancient traditions alive.
The 50-year-old treaty with Canada governing the massive Columbia River system is up for revision. Aaron Wolf of Oregon State University explains what’s at stake as the two nations begin to discuss changes.
Abandoned fishing gear kills millions of marine animals every year. The Fishing for Energy program generates electricity from gear that’s been retrieved from the ocean.
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