Monthly Briefing

While I was in New York for UNGA81, I had the opportunity to attend the launch of Bhutan’s Gross Ecosystem Product, or GEP, with Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay. The idea behind GEP is pretty simple. We usually use GDP to measure the size of a country’s economy, but GDP does not tell us much about the value of its forests, rivers, clean water, soil, and other natural resources. GEP tries to put an economic value on those things.

At the event, Bhutan announced that its GEP for 2024 was around $6.2 billion, roughly twice the size of the country’s GDP. Bhutan plans to use GEP alongside traditional economic measures and its well-known Gross National Happiness framework. The goal is not to get rid of GDP, but to provide another way of looking at what a country actually has and what it might be losing when its natural environment is damaged.

What I found most interesting about GEP is the basic idea behind it. A forest, for example, has value beyond the timber that can be sold from it. It stores carbon, protects water supplies, supports agriculture and provides other benefits that rarely show up in normal economic statistics. Bhutan is essentially asking whether those benefits should be counted when we talk about a country's wealth.

Bhutan is already known for challenging the idea that GDP alone can tell us how well a country is doing. GEP takes that thinking in a new direction and raises an interesting question for other countries too: When we measure the wealth of a nation, what should actually count?

- A. R. Aniket Shafin.

I had the opportunity to attend the launch of The Peace Cookbook alongside Timor-Leste President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate José Ramos-Horta. Created by Wheeler del Torro in partnership with the Foundation for Post Conflict Development (FPCD), the book explores a different approach to peacebuilding: food. It brings together recipes and reflections inspired by g7+ countries, many of which have experienced conflict, and uses them to share their culture and traditions rather than defining these countries only by their struggles. The idea behind the project is simple: sitting around a table, sharing food, and learning about one another can create connections where politics sometimes cannot. The book describes food as one of civilization’s oldest forms of diplomacy and looks at how cuisine can help create dialogue, preserve identity, and bring people together. It was a unique part of my UNGA81 experience and a reminder that peacebuilding does not always have to begin in a conference room. Sometimes, it can begin around a table.

- A. R. Aniket Shafin.

The 81st United Nations General Assembly is taking place at a moment when the international system is facing pressure from multiple directions. World leaders have gathered in New York with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, climate change, AI, economic inequality, and the future of the United Nations itself being the center of the agenda. The wars across the Middle East have been among the most prominent issues.

The UN Secretary-General has called for an end to the fighting, expanded humanitarian access, and renewed diplomatic efforts. Ukraine remains the other main issue, with the UN calling for Peace consistent with the principles of the UN charter. This year's general assembly is about more than war. AI has emerged as one of the defining issues of this meeting with governments debating on how it should be governed and regulated. Climate change and the global energy transition have also received significant attention, but have been cast to the sidelines with the many other issues taking prominence.

- Jayden Wielgosz

Europe’s eastern flank has entered another period of heightened tension as Belarus conducts military exercises near its borders with Lithuania. The exercises have included mechanized and tank units practicing border protection and counter-drone operations near the Suwałki gap. This small stretch of territory connecting the Baltic states to NATO is crucial yet vulnerable. This has set off alarms across Europe, with many nations enacting measures to bolster war readiness. These exercises, of course, are in cooperation with Russia, furthering alarm across Europe as tensions rise with the never-ending war in Ukraine. NATO members in the region have responded by reinforcing their security, with additional US troops deployed in countries like Lithuania. For Europe, the central concern is escalation, as the military exercise does not mean an immediate attack is going to happen, but that NATO should be ready.

- Jayden Wielgosz