Environment & Climate Change

34 Items

French soldiers paddling from house to house in an inundated western front village searching for food in France on June 7, 1940. The French voluntarily flooded the village in an attempt to hold up the blitzkrieging German army.

AP Photo

Journal Article - Quarterly Journal: International Security

Water and Warfare: The Evolution and Operation of the Water Taboo

    Author:
  • Charlotte Grech-Madin
| Spring 2021

Since the end of World War II, nation-states in international conflict have made concerted efforts to restrain the weaponization of water. Distinct from realist and rationalist explanations, the historical record reveals the rise of an international normative inhibition—a “water taboo”—on using water as a weapon.

Video - Arctic Frontiers

Building the Future: 2021 Arctic Frontiers Plenary Keynote

| Feb. 02, 2021

2021 Arctic Frontiers hosted a panel of young Arctic leaders alongside seasoned Arctic influencers who dove deeper into the opportunities and obstacles northern youth face now and in the future. Framed in the context of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, speakers were invited to discuss the pressing issues that they stand to inherit such as climate change, societal pressure, migration of young people to the south, and the question of whether the Arctic is facing its own cultural revolution. This session sought to build bridges between generations, borders, and disciplines to find the best solutions for a resilient Arctic.

Video - The Arctic Council

An Actionable Blueprint: The Arctic Resilience Forum 2020

| Dec. 02, 2020

The second Arctic Resilience Forum was hosted entirely online — and successfully so. The Arctic Council interviewed the two main organizers: Jennifer Spence, the Executive Secretary of the Council's Sustainable Development Working Group, and Joel Clement, Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. They spoke about the challenge to move the forum into the virtual realm, the unexpected benefits, and the ambitious next steps for resilience in the Arctic.

Finnish Icebreaker Polaris

AP/David Keyton

Analysis & Opinions - ArcticToday

Why Arctic Nations Should Invest in a Network of Green Ports

    Author:
  • Kevin Bain
| July 28, 2020

Climate change is opening Arctic sea lanes. With timely investment in green infrastructure, that could mean fewer — not more — emissions. Electrified ports would catalyze the greening of global shipping by supporting electric ships, a technology already benefiting from innovation.

A worker stands near a tunnel

AP/Vincent Thian

Journal Article - Ecosystem Health and Sustainability

A Global Analysis of CO2 and Non-CO2 GHG Emissions Embodied in Trade with Belt and Road Initiative Countries

| 2020

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an important cooperative framework that increasingly affects the global economy, trade, and emission patterns. However, most existing studies pay insufficient attention to consumption-based emissions, embodied emissions, and non-CO2 greenhouse gases (GHGs). This study constructs a GHG emissions database to study the trends and variations in production-based, consumption-based, and embodied emissions associated with BRI countries

Video - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Halla Hrund Logadóttir on Office Hours

| July 02, 2018

Halla Logadóttir, former director of the Iceland School of Energy at Reykjavík University and co-founder of the Belfer Center’s Arctic Initiative, speaks with Aroop Mukharji (@aroopmukharji) about the future of the Arctic region, sustainability in Iceland, and how Icelanders get their names.

Solar panel field and wind turbines

PIXNIO / hpgruesen

Book - Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.

Handbook of the International Political Economy of Energy and Natural Resources

| 2018

This Handbook offers a comprehensive overview of the latest research from leading scholars on the international political economy of energy and resources. Highlighting the important conceptual and empirical themes, the chapters study all levels of governance, from global to local, and explore the wide range of issues emerging in a changing political and economic environment.