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Arid Disputes: Global Water Tensions On The Boil?
May 24th, 2010
Courtesy of The Economist, an interesting look at global water tensions and the possibility of water-related conflict. As the article notes: “…SINCE men fight over land and oil and plenty of other things, it would be odd if they did not also fight over a commodity as precious and scarce as water. And they do. […]
Read more »A Nile Basin Cooperative Framework …Sans Egypt
May 22nd, 2010
Via Terra Daily, a report that while four of the seven upstream Nile Basin Initiative countries decided to sign a new water-sharing agreement, Egypt – which takes the lion’s share of water from the Nile River – is refusing to give up a drop to upstream African states, escalating a long-running dispute over the river. […]
Read more »A Partial Nile Sharing Pact?
May 14th, 2010
As we discussed in an earlier post and as this Terra Daily article notes, the Nile nations remain split on proposed water-sharing pact: “…Seven African nations are expected to push through a new and more equitable deal this week on sharing the waters of the Nile despite strong opposition from Egypt and Sudan. “What we […]
Read more »Africa: The “Underdammed” Continent
May 9th, 2010
Courtesy of The Economist, a report on dam building initiatives in Africa, rife with controversy, hostility, and some optimism: “…AFRICA is the “underdammed†continent. It is the least irrigated and electrified, yet it uses only 3% of its renewable water, against 52% in South Asia. So there is plenty of scope for an African dam-building […]
Read more »A Political Storm Hovers Over Calm Nile Water
May 9th, 2010
With 300 million people dependent on the water of the Nile, it is not surprising that a deal on its usage by several countries is difficult to ratify. As Uganda’s Monitor reports the tenuous and contentious state of discussions have not yet subsided: “…It’s been a decade of negotiations-sometimes exemplified by mistrust, intrigue and walkouts. […]
Read more »Understanding the Linkage Between Water and Energy Security: The Geopolitical “Watergy Nexus”
May 9th, 2010
Courtesy of Hydro-Logic, an interesting look at how the interconnected dynamics of water and energy resources – what I have defined as the “watergy nexus” – affects global politics, security, and tensions related to water scarcity. As the article notes, the bottom line is that water and energy issues are inextricably linked. No longer can […]
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