February 5, 2021
The United States Institute of Peace (USIP), a think tank funded by the federal government, focuses on conflict resolution in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and other global hotspots. (Photo by Larry Luxner)
From Australia’s Asialink and Brussels-based Friends of Europe to the Zimbabwe Economic Policy Analysis and Research Unit, think tanks today flourish on every continent except Antarctica. They focus on a wide range of issues including healthcare, defense, fiscal policy and international relations.
Yet it seems that Washington, D.C., is home to more think tanks and better ones than any other city on Earth. In fact, six of the world’s 20 best such organizations are headquartered in the nation’s capital, according to the University of Pennsylvania’s Think Tanks and Civil Strategies Program (TTCSP).
By Robert J. Burrowes
In August 2010, the secretary-general of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Ahmed Djoghlaf, warned that ‘We are losing biodiversity at an unprecedented rate.’ According to the UN Environment Program, ‘the Earth is in the midst of a mass extinction of life’ with scientists estimating that ‘150-200 species of plant, insect, bird and mammal become extinct every 24 hours’ which is nearly 1,000 times the ‘natural’ or ‘background’ rate.
Robert J. Burrowes
Moreover, it ‘is greater than anything the world has experienced since the vanishing of the dinosaurs nearly 65m years ago.’ See ‘Protect nature for world economic security, warns UN biodiversity chief’.