A window into what we’re reading at the Stimson Center’s Environmental Security Program

Mexico City’s Rapid Land Subsidence is Visible from Space (CNN)

The foundation of much of Mexico City sits atop an ancient aquifer supplying over 60% the drinking water for the capital’s 22 million residents. Now a series of startling new images from space have revealed just how over-extraction of the aquifer and the added weight of urban development land in Mexico City to subside.

The NISAR satellite which took the images is a joint project between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Indian Space Research organization. Its pictures show  that parts of the city have subsided by 0.8 inches per month between October 2025 and January 2026. This subsidence amounts to over 9.5 inches of sinkage annually, which is fast enough to be visible from space. Specific locations in the city which have been affected include Benito Juarez International Airport and the Angel of Independence monument—which has had 14 steps added to its base as the ground beneath it sinks.

READ | Mexico City, Parched and Sinking, Faces a Water Crisis

Colombian Armed Group Seeks to Swap Conflict for Gold Mining (The Guardian)

The Comuneros del Sur is a splinter group from that broke away from National Liberation Army (ELN)–Colombia’s long-lived insurgent group—in 2024 to seek faster progress on achieving peace. Its commander, Royer Garzón, now sees legal mining as the only viable path to a return to civilian life for his group. So he has helped pioneer Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” agenda by signing 12 partial accords to exchange arms for legal gold mining in the country’s Nariño department. Garzón argues that coca can no longer sustain communities as its prices have dropped sharply due to overproduction and no pathway exits to legalization. Gold and other minerals offer clear alternative: gold prices have soared past $5,000 an ounce, and a surging global demand for manganese—a mineral currently funneled into cocaine processing—also could supply the EV battery market.

Yet the path to peace in Colombia remains precarious. Six armed groups compete for control of Nariño’s mineral wealth, In addition, the EMC — a dissident faction within the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) that remains outside the negotiations — has launched violent incursions into Comuneros-controlled territory. Key demobilization steps agreed between warring factions in June 2025 have stalled, and fighters are unwilling to disarm without guaranteed state protection and legal livelihoods. As Petro’s term ends and elections loom, many Colombians fear that a political transition could create a vacuum exploited by more violent factions.

READ | Lessons from Post-Conflict States: Peacebuilding Must Factor in Environment and Climate Change

Somalis Suffer Amid Aid Cuts, Drought, and Conflict (Al-Jazeera)

Three consecutive seasons of failed rains have doubled Somalia’s malnutrition rate, forcing over 300,000 people from their homes since January alone. Displaced families are fleeing both crop failures and the presence of al-Shabab militants who have seized the limited food supplies available in rural villages. Yet when they arrive at IDP camps, they find that existing conditions are scarcely better. Reported cases of malnutrition have tripled since last year, and five children have died of malnutrition since March alone. The camp’s sole hospital which is capable of treating severe malnutrition now turns away patients due to overcrowding.

Aid cuts ordered by the administration of US President Donald Trump have compounded the crisis. The UN’s Somalia humanitarian budget has been slashed this year from $2.6 billion in 2023 to $852 million year. Several international organizations have halted operations in the Kismayo camps, and more than 200 health centers and 400 schools have closed since last year. Rising fuel prices linked to the US-Israel conflict with Iran have further squeezed food and water supplies. These dire conditions have combined to force aid workers to make life-or-death triage decisions about who receives help.

READ | Somalia’s New Climate Roadmap as a Blueprint for Peace