Geopolitical Monitor - Environment - Geopolitical Analysis on Environment Issues Facing Asia, Europe, Africa, the Americas, and the Middle East

While growth remains as our main goal economic and environmental crisis will persist. A green economy requires us to aim at development rather than growth, through the responsible promotion of justice, the common good, and environmental sustainability.

Fukushima’s nuclear disaster is a nightmare. Ghostly releases of radioactivity haunt the Japanese countryside. Lives, once safe, are now beset by an ineffable scourge promising vile illness and death.

The international response to the food crisis of 2011 is less energetic and coherent than during the last emergency, in 2008. Both economic understanding and political impetus need to be improved.

Average life expectancy is falling in many parts of the United States and for many demographic groups, most notably women, according to a study being published Wednesday in the journal Population Health Metrics, and conducted by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington in Seattle.

The international community currently stands at a crossroads, and the path we choose will impact food security for the next 50 years. What we do now could mean the difference between building a resilient, secure global food system that stands the test of time or descending into resource nationalism and a cycle of famine.

The food crisis of 2008 was never resolved; it was merely put on hold by a global financial meltdown. Now, any serious discussion on a sustained economic recovery should take for granted that food prices will once again spike, bringing about a cascade of geopolitical consequences.

The rules governing the scramble for the Arctic are beginning to crystalize and surprisingly enough they indicate a peaceful process of conflict resolution going forward.

As BRIC countries prepare for a summit in China next week, trade skirmishes and disagreements within the bloc persist in casting doubt on its future relevance as a global entity.

The opening of the Arctic to ship-passage will transform the region’s political as well as environmental landscape.

The human cost of the terrible earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck Japan last week is clear for all to see. What’s less obvious however is the geopolitical impact of the tragic events currently playing out in Japan.