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Water, Climate Change, and International Security
January 13th, 2010
The Pacific Institute recently released an interesting report entitled: Understanding and Reducing the Risks of Climate Change for Transboundary Waters. As with all Institute documents, this is well researched and thoughtfully presented. It focuses on a number of specific case studies including those listed below and is well worth digging into: The Nile River Basin […]
Read more »“Liquid Peace” In The Middle East
January 13th, 2010
Via Green Prophet, an interesting interview with Ashkelon, Israel’s mayor Benny Vaknin who is building a water bridge with the city of Gaza. As the report notes, how does Ashkelon’s mayor Benny Vaknin see “liquid†peace in the region? “…The former businessman is working to solutions for peace and cooperation with the nearby Gaza City. […]
Read more »Mekong Under Threat
January 13th, 2010
Courtesy of The Asia Pacific Journal, an examination of the threats facing the Mekong River. As the article notes: “…Until the 1980s the Mekong River flowed freely for 4,900 kilometres from its 5,100-metre high source in Tibet to the coast of Vietnam, where it finally poured into the South China Sea. The Mekong is the world’s twelfth longest […]
Read more »Sudan – Land of Water and Thirst; War and Peace
January 9th, 2010
Via The Circle of Blue, a detailed analysis of the critical role that water plays in the potential for peace in Sudan. As the article notes: “As we approach the January 2011 date for the referendum on the south, and as we see Darfur seemingly in an eerily, but uncertain, peaceful period, we need to […]
Read more »The Ring Tide of Mideast Water Tension: Neo-Ottomanism & Turkey As A Hydrological Superpower
January 9th, 2010
Courtesy of NPR, an interesting look at the acute water shortage in the Middle East, and downstream resentment from Arabs, Iraqis and the Syrians that Turkey is growing into a hydrological superpower. As the article notes: The massive Ataturk Dam (shown here in 1992), in southeast Turkey, harnesses water for one of the biggest irrigation […]
Read more »The Great Himalayan Watershed: Water Shortages, Mega-Projects and Water Politics in China, India, and Southeast Asia
January 7th, 2010
Courtesy of Japan Focus, a detailed look at Himalayan water shortages and politics among China, India, and Southeast Asia. As the article notes: “…Since we tend to take water for granted, it is almost a bad sign when it is in the news; and lately there have been plenty of water-related stories from South, East, […]
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