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Jakob Steiner Nature Insights Interview: Jakob Steiner Nature Insights Desk We know from news coverage and social media that the event involved a slope failure and a debris flow that moved through the valley, gathering sediment, rocks, and water and destroying roads, settlements, and other infrastructure. We would like to go beyond what is already known and understand the event from a more technical and forward-looking perspective. Could you reconstruct the initial event that

There is a particular kind of loss that does not announce itself. It does not make the news. It comes the way salt comes, slowly, invisibly, carried by water that looks like ordinary water until the day you realize nothing grows in it anymore. Until the day you reach for something that used to be there and find only the absence of it. This is the story of Bangladesh's coastal mangrove forests. And it is, at the same time, the story of the women who lived inside them. What the

For millions of people living near the coast, mangroves are not just forests. They are the first line of defense when cyclones hit. They protect homes and farmland from waves and erosion. Their roots provide breeding grounds for fish, crabs, and shrimp that support coastal families and local markets. They also store large amounts of carbon, making them an important naturally in the fight against climate change. Yet mangroves are under pressure. Coastal development, shrimp far

Climate action is often associated with global conferences, policy negotiations, and scientific breakthroughs. Yet, some of the most meaningful environmental transformations begin far from international summits in small rural communities where young people choose to become agents of change. Across Bangladesh’s poultry-producing communities, youth are demonstrating that climate resilience is not only about responding to environmental challenges but also about transforming ever

CLIMATE & CRYOSPHERE Nepal's August 2026 flash flood did not begin with a cloudburst. It began high in the Himalayas, where the failure of ice and rock turned a mountain process into a devastating downstream flood. On the morning of 26 August 2026, a wall of water, mud, rock and ice rushed through the Nepal-Tibet border region and down the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli river system. Villages, roads, bridges and hydropower facilities were hit with extraordinary speed. What made the disa

International Development Finance and Impact Investment Expert, Alishba Khan, ACA, speaks to Nature Insights about valuing mangroves as natural capital, mobilizing climate and private finance, learning from successful global models and ensuring that investment strengthens both ecosystems and coastal communities. Mangroves have traditionally been viewed as ecosystems requiring conservation. But Alishba Khan, ACA, an international expert in development finance, climate finance

There is a particular kind of loss that does not announce itself. It does not make the news. It comes the way salt comes, slowly, invisibly, carried by water that looks like ordinary water until the day you realize nothing grows in it anymore. Until the day you reach for something that used to be there and find only the absence of it. This is the story of Bangladesh's coastal mangrove forests. And it is, at the same time, the story of the women who lived inside them. What the

Long before borders were drawn on maps, movement was the default condition of life. Migration is not a modern anomaly but an ancient inheritance, written into the biology of every living system, from birds tracing thermal currents to nomadic peoples following seasonal grazing lands. To ask whether a human being has the "right" to move is, in a sense, to ask whether water has the right to flow downhill. The question answers itself in the asking. Natural law origins Classical n

Eighty-one years since its signing on 26 June 1945 in San Francisco, the United Nations Charter remains the constitutive document of the international order after World War II. Drafted in the age of catastrophe with more than 70 million casualties, the United Nations Charter put forward noble goals: maintaining international peace and security; developing friendly relations among nations; cooperation in solving economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian problems; and respec

The Global Tipping Points Report 2025 warns that Earth is entering a dangerous new phase of the climate crisis. The report’s central message is clear: climate change is no longer only a gradual process. Some of Earth’s most important natural systems are now approaching, or already crossing, critical thresholds known as tipping points. A tipping point occurs when a system is pushed beyond a critical limit and begins to change rapidly, often in a self-reinforcing and difficult-

The World Cup 2026 is not only a stage of powerful nations; sometimes, it is the language of dignity of the smaller countries. Right now, Cape Verde is crafting such a language, a small African island nation comprising ten islands of the Atlantic Ocean, located about 600 kilometers away from the coast of Senegal, having a population less than half a million and the courage to challenge the giants of world football. Being able to hold the European champion Spain to a goalless

Introduction Central Aceh Regency, located in the Bukit Barisan plateau in Sumatra, Indonesia, and referred to as the Gayo Highland, is a critical upstream ecosystem that regulates the hydrological processes for downstream areas. Highland catchment areas such as Central Aceh play a disproportionate role in controlling runoff, sediment transport, and water availability, making their ecological integrity important for regional resilience (Bruijnzeel, 2004; FAO, 2015). By the

On the night of 13th May in Kandy, I witnessed something far more meaningful than just a cultural show. At Sri Wasala Dance Show, music, rhythm and dance revisited us the aspects of nature, life, spirituality and history. As the hall filled with the sound of traditional drums, dancers entered the stage wearing beautiful Kandyan costumes inspired by the era of ancient Sri Lankan kings. Every performance carried a story from Sri Lanka’s cultural heritage, and each dance reflec

It was a Friday morning, just after sunrise, when the light was still soft and yellow. I woke up, reaching for my daily ritual – a mug of green tea with cinnamon, a king suggestion from a wise friend. As I took slow sips, spiced notes traversing my body by the natural laws of gravity, the greenness of the tea gathered everything green in my peripheral vision, converging as a lens for me to sense something deeper: a whisper of Sufi love for nature, carried through symbols and

Community is commonly defined as a human creation, urban settlements, cultures, and networks that are defined by common purpose and identity. But this definition is narrow. It typically leaves out the fact that community is much older than humanity: community is a principle of life. Nature has been structured in interdependent systems long before humans appeared on Earth. Forests are communities, oceans are communities, grasslands are communities, and even tiny ecosystems are

In the changing landscape global order, we currently stand at a unique paradox. As much as technology has advanced and the world has become more connected, the fundamental factor of existence, energy, is now increasingly more vulnerable. From the madness on the streets of Dhaka to the expansive industries in Europe, there is only one thing we need to understand that energy has evolved from being a factor of human rights to a geopolitical tool. Energy usage from switching ligh

Contemporary wars not only destroy cities and make people homeless; they also change the nature of the environment that supports humanity. In Middle East and Central Asia during the last three decades armed confrontation has again destroyed energy infrastructure, water facilities, forests, and arable land. These are the environmental implications that are not always as visible as bombed structures or moving front lines but might continue long after the ceasefires are announce

- The Quiet Destruction of the Black Sea’s Marine Life by Russia Ukraine War The Black Sea has always been a place of paradox. To the ancient Greeks it was the Pontos Euxeinos which means the “hospitable sea," a legendary highway for the Argonauts chasing the Golden Fleece. Yet beneath its glittering surface lies a prehistoric horror: nearly 90 percent of its volume is anoxic, a vast, oxygen-starved abyss filled with poisonous hydrogen sulphide (H₂S) that has perfectly preser

We live in a world whose underlying assumptions are guided by conflict, leverage, and alliance-making. While the products of liberal and pacifist theories of international relations have done much good in the world, the realist core of how the world works has not been challenged. It really is a dog-eat-dog world, as many might say. The distribution of resources around the world is something that can hardly be described as being equal, and that is simply part of the diversity

History sometimes behaves like a geological force. Wars do not only change borders or governments; they reshape forests, rivers, oceans, and soil. The First World War (1914–1918) and the Second World War (1939–1945) left deep environmental marks across continents. When industrial technology was turned toward war, nature became an unintended battlefield. Landscapes were blasted, forests burned, rivers altered, and ecosystems disrupted in ways that lasted decades. Looking at th

When Refuge Becomes Ecological Pressure

-- A Conversation with Minar Thapa Magar War and disasters leave behind more than broken buildings and displaced populations; they fracture the invisible systems that allow human life to flourish. When a settlement collapses, the delicate relationship between people, infrastructure, and the surrounding environment is severed. Homes turn to debris, roads disappear, and as communities scatter, the environmental consequences ripple through the soil, water, and forests. Understan