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The Thirsty Dragon: Cameroon & China Strike Water Deal
January 1st, 2008
When first reading the headline of this report at Terra Daily, I immediately thought that China – akin to its other efforts to “lock up” scarce natural resources in Africa (i.e. hydrocarbons, metals, etc.) – had moved its strategic reach further, into the world of water. While the details proved to be slightly less dramatic, […]
Read more »The Aral’s Agony: Hydrocarbons (yes); Water Restoration (a drop in the bucket)
January 1st, 2008
A recent report at Energy Daily on the race to exploit Central Asia’s last significant body of water – the Aral Sea – from a hydrocarbon perspective reminded us that the Aral basin is perhaps the planet’s most damaged freshwater resource, a brutal legacy of decades of Soviet centralized planning. Thus, while the Aral’s waters […]
Read more »Geopolitics and Petropolitics Over the Caspian Sea
January 1st, 2008
Via John C. K. Daly at UPI, a very detailed analysis of the Caspian region. While the report is written from the perspective of the search for hydrocarbons, it offers a careful look at some of the very real geopolitical complexities – and long-term environmental & hydrological implications – that may arise over the Caspian […]
Read more »Tajikistan – Delayed Plans to be the Battery of Central Asia
January 1st, 2008
An interesting article examining Tajikistan’s ambitions to become the “battery” of Central Asia, namely a delay in such due to shortages of concrete necessary for a big hydropower plant under construction. According to the article: “…Tajikistan plans to be the largest electricity exporter in Central Asia. Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan have already stated they are […]
Read more »Worse To Come: Global Warming’s Impact on West’s Water Crisis
January 1st, 2008
As reported by Treehugger, some researchers – in the face of the American West’s recent bout with several severe water shortages – have stepped forward and confidently asserted that there does indeed exist a link between global warming and the scarcity, namely the shrinking snowpacks. While this seems intuitive, this article is noteworthy as it […]
Read more »Laos as Southeast Asia’s Battery – Too Many Contact Points?
January 1st, 2008
Via Terra Daily, interesting details of the plans of mountainous Laos, one of Asia’s poorest nations, to exploit its hydropower potential to become the “battery of Southeast Asia” and sell electricity to its more industrialised neighbours Vietnam and Thailand. While the focus of the article is primarily over the potential environmental and freshwater impact a […]
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