Closed lecture for students of the George Mason Univeristy on the state of global terrorism and on transatlantic approaches to security. Produced by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP), he Global Terrorism Index (GTI) is a comprehensive study analysing the impact of terrorism for 163 countries covering 99.7 per cent of the world’s population. Given the significant resources committed to counter-terrorism by governments across the world, it is important to analyse and aggregate the available data to better understand its various properties. One of the key aims of the GTI is to examine these trends. It also aims to help inform a positive, practical debate about the future of terrorism and the required policy responses.

Security through environmental, social and economic sustainability | Breaking silos for national and international security. Environmental degradation, resource scarcity, and social inequality are direct security threats, not peripheral issues. Yet most defense frameworks still treat them separately. This panel integrates what should have been connected decades ago. Why now ? The race for critical minerals (lithium, cobalt, rare earths) is creating new geopolitical dependencies. Climate change is redrawing borders, creating refugee crises, and destabilizing states. Control over green technology and resources is becoming as strategic as 20th-century oil dominance. Current security doctrine ignores these multiplying threats. Key discussion areas: Resource Geopolitics - How renewable energy supply chains, Arctic melt, and water basins reshape strategic competition Energy Power Shifts - The green transition is restructuring global power; petrostates decline while green-tech nations rise Climate Disruption - Maritime boundaries, climate refugees, state failure (happening now, not theoretical) Social Stability - How inequality and fragmentation create conditions for extremism and external exploitation Economic Resilience - Supply chain vulnerabilities, economic dependency, and strategic autonomy Breaking Silos - Practical integration of sustainability into defense planning and vice versa Nations failing to integrate sustainability into security doctrine will be strategically disadvantaged. Those controlling clean energy, critical minerals, and sustainable systems are the emerging power brokers. Speakers Dr Audrey-Flore Ngomsil (Moderator): CSR strategist, Climate change advisor for Brussels-Capital Region, and CEO & co- founder of Trianon Scientific Communication Hélène de Rengervé: Senior EU Corporate Accountability Advocate at Human Rights Watch, where she led the organisation’s advocacy on the EU Forced Labour Regulation Serge Stroobants: Director for Europe and MENA at the Institute for Economics and Peace, bringing 25 years of military experience and expertise in global risk analysis. Stefan Sipka: Senior Policy Analyst and Head of Sustainable Prosperity for Europe Programme at the European Policy Centre Maguy Ikulu - Founder of Dada's Club, an international platform for women of color. A former war refugee from DRC turned political scientist and community organizer.

Join the Geneva Center for Security Policy and the Institute for Economics & Peace as we take a look at the links between climate change, ecological threats, migration, and conflict. This conversation is part of the Ecological Threat Report Series, dedicated to discussing the key findings of the sixth edition of the Ecological Threat Report. Research for the 2025 ETR shows that changing rainfall patterns are significantly amplifying conflict risks worldwide. The report finds that conflict death rates are substantially higher in areas where rainfall is concentrating into fewer months, compared to regions where rain is spreading more evenly throughout the year. These insights further strengthen our ability to map today’s fragility hotspots. Speakers (Moderator) Ms Anna Brach, Head of Human Security and Planetary Resilience, Geneva Centre for Security Policy Mr Serge Stroobants, Director for Europe & MENA Region, Institute for Economics & Peace Prof. Mark Zeitoun, Director General, Geneva Water Hub Ambassador Nahida Sobhan, the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN in Geneva

Keynote speech deliver by Mr Serge Stroobants, IEP Director for Europe & MENA, at the Project Peace Champions Workshops 2026. This project consists of Positive Peace Education workshops given across Nigeria and designed to engage Nigerian youth in peacebuilding and foster ethno-religious tolerance. Each workshop equips participants with peacebuilding, conflict awareness, and bias reduction skills, nurturing a generation of peace advocates throughout Nigeria.