It’s been seven decades since the first peacekeeping mission was assembled under the banner of the United Nations. Since then 70 have been deployed across the world. Over the years different models for peacekeeping have evolved. Marking International Day of Peacekeepers, Charles T Hunt and Adam Day argue that the UN should abandon the current model because it doesn’t have the means of dealing with the deeper social and economic drivers of
conflict. Instead, it should consider a radical rethink and explore the option of having a spectrum of peace operations.
In other news, coronavirus may have brought the world to a halt, but the climate has continued to change. And while most of us were under lockdown, environmental researchers announced a series of new findings, many of which slipped under the radar. A 200-strong team of researchers measured more than half a million trees in 815 forests across the tropics and found 2˚C of warming will push most above their safe “heat threshold”. But in
cheerier forest news, scientists announced that using camera traps they’d completed the first survey of animals in one
of the world’s most remote jungles, where they found giant pangolins, Allen’s swamp monkey and something known as the four-toed sengi.
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Peacekeepers patrol the premises of a UN civilian protection site in Juba
Albert Gonzalez Farran/AFP via Getty Images
Charles T. Hunt, RMIT University; Adam Day, United Nations University
United Nations peacekeeping operations need to be refashioned to meet the needs of an ever evolving world.
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Environment
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Aida Cuní Sanchez, University of York; Martin Sullivan, Manchester Metropolitan University
Massive study looked at more than half a million trees in 813 forests across the tropics.
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Mattia Bessone, Liverpool John Moores University; Barbara Fruth, Liverpool John Moores University
A new method of using camera traps has brought good and bad news for conservationists.
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Science + Technology
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Simon Lamb, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington; Timothy Stern, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
New research confirms that massive plumes of buoyant hot rock once rose from near the Earth's core to the surface and triggered vast volcanic eruptions - and that New Zealand sits on top of one.
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Erwan Le Ber, University of Leicester
The trajectory of the Chicxulub asteroid led to the most efficient release of gas and projectile rocks – which was disastrous for life on Earth.
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Politics + Society
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Ruairidh Brown, University of Nottingham
As China recovers, its success in containing COVID-19 is being put down to the devotion and solidarity of the people.
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Roger Southall, University of the Witwatersrand
Moeketsi Majoro’s installation as Prime Minister is welcome. But it does not guarantee much needed political stability in an era of complex coalition politics.
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